City safety & data profile
FordsNJ
Fords, NJ is a 15K-resident city in Middlesex County with a median household income of $115,861.
Middlesex County, New Jersey. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Fords, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Fords has a population larger than 28% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $438,000.
Data updated 2026-09-03
- 15K
- Population (place)
- Bottom 29%
- By size
- $115,861
- Median income (place)
- $438,000
- Median home (place)
- 6.4%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Fords
Fords posts a median household income higher than 80% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.
- Top 20%
- by median income, US cities
Where Fords income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$115,861 Top 20% higher than 80% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in NJ
Population among 151 NJ places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Newark
Newark, NJ
281,944 residents
- Jersey City
Jersey City, NJ
264,290 residents
- Paterson
Paterson, NJ
147,754 residents
- Elizabeth
Elizabeth, NJ
129,007 residents
- Trenton 89,620
Trenton, NJ
89,620 residents
- Toms River 88,791
Toms River, NJ
88,791 residents
- Clifton 86,334
Clifton, NJ
86,334 residents
- Camden 76,119
Camden, NJ
76,119 residents
- Passaic 71,085
Passaic, NJ
71,085 residents
- Union City 69,156
Union City, NJ
69,156 residents
What this shows Newark is the largest NJ city on this list; Short Hills leads median income.
Highest median incomes in NJ
Median household income among the same 151-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Short Hills
Short Hills, NJ
$250,001 median
- Springfield
Springfield, NJ
$250,001 median
- Upper Montcl…
Upper Montclair, NJ
$250,001 median
- Franklin Lakes
Franklin Lakes, NJ
$235,795 median
- Westfield
Westfield, NJ
$232,629 median
- Glen Rock
Glen Rock, NJ
$215,096 median
- Robertsville
Robertsville, NJ
$210,661 median
- Ridgewood
Ridgewood, NJ
$208,211 median
- Tenafly
Tenafly, NJ
$208,200 median
- Martinsville
Martinsville, NJ
$205,000 median
What this shows Short Hills posts the highest place-level median income in NJ; Newark is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Fords, NJ beyond the headline numbers
Fords sits inside Middlesex County, New Jersey, at roughly 40.53°N, -74.32°W. Population 15,187, $115,861 median household income. Median home value $438,000, median rent $1,913. Poverty rate 6.4%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
Hardship is low by national standards: 6.4% of Fords, NJ residents live below the poverty line, in the least-affected quarter of the 3,890 cities reporting a rate.
The median home in Fords costs roughly 3.8 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.
12.8% of Fords workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.
Among the CDC measures on this page, current asthma departs furthest from its peer median: 8.8% in Fords, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,722 cities reporting that measure.
5.3% of Fords workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Fords from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Middlesex County): Fords's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 6.4% -48% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 4.3% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 42% |
| Work From Home | 12.8% |
| Public Transit | 5.3% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
What alerts and safety updates affect Fords?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Fords right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet NJ-FORDS · Fords
Fords: 138 tagged alerts; lead category Environment Agency flood warning.
- VOL-HEAVY 138 on record
- MIX-LED 100% uk-floods
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
- NEAR-PEER 36 · Somerset
Tagged alert mix: Fords
Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag
- Flood Warnings
Flood Warnings
138
What this shows 138 tagged notices on record for Fords.
Nearest tagged-volume peer: Somerset, NJ (36 tagged · Δ102)
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Fords; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse New Jersey state hubs · Methodology
Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4
Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (138 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 5
What is the population of Fords, NJ? ▼
What is the median household income in Fords? ▼
What is the median home value in Fords? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Fords? ▼
What is the median age in Fords? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Fords, both outside New Jersey so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside NJ (6.4% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside NJ ($115,861 here).
Compare Fords with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using Fords's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Fords area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Fords against New Jersey peers on any ranking lens. Explore New Jersey
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Middlesex County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.