Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Norwood has higher household incomes than 98% of U.S. towns
Only 5% stay in Norwood for work; outside it, New York City is the main destination (23%, 22 miles). Below the poverty line: 2.8% of residents, against 9.7% across New Jersey. For jobs and income Norwood is among the top U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Norwood
A lot of Norwood workers cross into New York
23% of Norwood workers work outside New Jersey, most of them in New York, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Norwood’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Norwood is New York City, NY, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 23% of working residents (624) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Norwood has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Norwood went from 1,672 in 2014 to 2,274 in 2024, +36%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Norwood earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Norwood is among the top U.S. towns, #2 of 468 in New Jersey. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Norwood’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Norwood stays A+.
Where Norwood goes to work
Where Norwood clocks in
23% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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 far Norwood’s workers travel
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What the 2,274 jobs in Norwood are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Norwood, 2014 → 2024: 1,672 → 2,274. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Norwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Norwood
On a workday 2,575 residents head out to work, 143 work right here, and 2,131 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.84 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The daily trip from Norwood: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Norwood workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,277 commuters (the 21% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Norwood
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 13.2% across New Jersey, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,897 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.5% of Norwood households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Norwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Norwood next to U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900: 4th of 3,432 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| 4 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| 6 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Hainesport Township NJ | 6,197 | $143K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Mountain Lakes NJ | 4,649 | $250K | 1.3% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| 22 | Old Tappan NJ | 6,686 | $205K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 3% | 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 Norwood, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
Work in the towns next to Norwood
The biggest share goes to Closter (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Norwood workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwood | – | A+ | A− | 31 min | $178,311 |
| Closter | 2% | A | A | 33 min | $190,469 |
| Harrington Park | under 2% | A | A | 36 min | $180,500 |
| Northvale | under 2% | A− | A | 26 min | $127,625 |
| Rockleigh | under 2% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Alpine | under 2% | A+ | B+ | 32 min | $246,944 |
Same-state neighbors only. Rockleigh: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Norwood’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 2024, 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 Norwood: questions
What is the median household income in Norwood?
$178,311 (±$20,365) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Norwood?
2.8%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Norwood?
31 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Norwood work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (23%, 22 mi), Englewood Cliffs (3%, 7 mi), Englewood (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Norwood walkable?
Norwood is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Norwood without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Norwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Norwood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.