Photo: Bryan Housel · CC BY-SA 3.0Mountainside has some of the highest household incomes of any U.S. town
Jobs and income earn Mountainside A+; getting around on foot earns it A+. Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Below the poverty line: 3.7% of residents, where New Jersey as a whole has 9.7%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Mountainside: the figures worth knowing
Mountainside draws workers from far and wide
The 5,124 jobs in Mountainside are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 26%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Mountainside is where the jobs are
Mountainside has 5,124 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Mountainside’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mountainside is New York City, NY, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (496) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Three in four Mountainside workers earn over $40,000 a year
78% of Mountainside’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
A lot of Mountainside works from home
25% of Mountainside workers work from home, against 17% across New Jersey. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Mountainside’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mountainside is better than 97% of U.S. towns, #32 of 468 in New Jersey. Household income is its strongest input ($211,538, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mountainside could be anywhere from A to A+.
The daily trip into Mountainside
Where Mountainside clocks in
16% of workers
5% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How a workday changes Mountainside
On a workday 2,997 residents head out to work, 166 work right here, and 4,958 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,300 people are in Mountainside on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Miles to work from Mountainside
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
69% of the jobs in Mountainside pay over $3,333 a month
5,124 jobs are based in Mountainside.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountainside, 2013 → 2023: 5,191 → 5,124. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mountainside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 36 minutes to work from Mountainside
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mountainside workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,494 commuters (the 25% who work from home are left out). Across New Jersey: 75% drive alone, 10% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Mountainside is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mountainside is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #142 of 468 in New Jersey. Both inputs place Mountainside near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,329 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 82% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 21% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 7.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 89% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.6% of Mountainside households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 11% of Mountainside’s commuters take a bus or train.
Mountainside places 123rd of 3,154 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,100 to 9,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Hainesport Township NJ | 6,197 | $143K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Old Tappan NJ | 6,686 | $205K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Bulverde TX | 7,337 | $112K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| 122 | Hidden Valley IN | 5,706 | $121K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 123 | Mountainside NJ | 7,346 | $212K | 3.7% | 3.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 124 | Pleasant Township KS | 5,459 | $113K | 0.8% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| 125 | East Pikeland Township PA | 8,654 | $147K | 0.9% | 3.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,154 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Mountainside, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
The towns around Mountainside
The biggest share goes to Westfield (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mountainside workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountainside | – | A+ | A+ | 36 min | $211,538 |
| Berkeley Heights Township | under 2% | A+ | A | 37 min | $204,658 |
| Westfield | 3% | A+ | A+ | 37 min | $232,629 |
| Summit | 2% | A | A+ | 34 min | $190,304 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mountainside’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Mountainside: questions
What is the median household income in Mountainside?
$211,538 (±$63,184) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountainside?
3.7%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountainside?
36 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountainside work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (16%, 22 mi), Newark (5%, 10 mi), Elizabeth (3%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountainside walkable?
Mountainside is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mountainside without a car?
11% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 21% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mountainside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountainside
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.