City safety & data profile

NewarkNJ

Newark, NJ is a 282K-resident city in Essex County with a median household income of $52,060.

Essex County, New Jersey. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Newark, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Newark has a population larger than 98% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $373,700, and 4 hospitals serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-04

282K
Population (place)
Top 2%
By size
$52,060
Median income (place)
$373,700
Median home (place)
23.4%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Newark

Newark posts a median household income higher than 11% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 4 hospitals serve the Newark area.

Bottom 12%
by median income, US cities
4
hospitals in & near Newark

Where Newark income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$52,060 Bottom 11% higher than 11% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Newark $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

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.

residents

What this shows Newark is the largest NJ city on this list; Short Hills leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in NJ

Median household income among the same 151-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Short Hills posts the highest place-level median income in NJ; Newark is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Newark, NJ beyond the headline numbers

Newark sits inside Essex County, New Jersey, at roughly 40.74°N, -74.17°W. Population 281,944, $52,060 median household income. Median home value $373,700, median rent $1,392. Poverty rate 23.4%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

4 hospitals in/around Newark, 2.3/5 avg rating, 3 with an ER.

23.4% of Newark, NJ residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

The median home in Newark costs around 7.2 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.

Only 7.3% of Newark workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.

Among the CDC measures on this page, lack of health insurance departs furthest from its peer median: 23.4% in Newark, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

19.3% of Newark workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Newark's median age is 34.7 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Newark 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.

Population (place)
281,944
Newark · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$52,060
-42% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$373,700
-10% vs avg
Median Age (place)
34.7
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Essex County): Newark'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.

20132024
Population
863K+10%
Median Income
$80,789+47%
Median Home Value
$524,100+44%
Poverty Rate
14.6%-12%
Unemployment
8.7%-37%

Economics

Economics indicators for Newark, NJ
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,392/mo
Poverty Rate
23.4% +89% vs avg
Unemployment 11.6%
Bachelor's Degree+ 19.7%
Work From Home 7.3%
Public Transit 19.3%

Population

White 12.6%
African American 45.7%
Asian 2%
Two or More Ethnicities 2.1%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
45.6%
Physical Inactivity
38.3%
Obesity
35.9%
High Blood Pressure
33.7%
Lack of Health Insurance
23.4%
Frequent Mental Distress
20%
Current Smoking
18.2%
Frequent Physical Distress
16.3%
Diabetes
14.6%
Binge Drinking
14.3%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 48.8%
Annual Checkup 74.8%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
11%
Coronary Heart Disease
6%
Stroke
4.4%

Hospitals 4 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
1
★★★
0
★★
1
★
1
Average Rating
2.3/5
Total Hospitals
4
With ER
3
SAINT MICHAEL'S MEDICAL CENTER
NEWARK · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★☆
NEWARK BETH ISRAEL MEDICAL CENTER
NEWARK · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★☆☆☆
THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
NEWARK · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★☆☆☆☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Newark?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Newark right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet NJ-NEWARK-NJ · Newark

Newark: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.

  • FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
  • LEAD-NONE Feed idle
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Newark; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse New Jersey state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Tracking Safety Alerts in Your Area

How Areazine tags Newark in the CAP feed
All safety guides →

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Newark, NJ? ▼
Newark, NJ has a population of 281,944 people, located in Essex County, New Jersey.
What is the median household income in Newark? ▼
The median household income in Newark, NJ is $52,060 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 23.4%.
What is the median home value in Newark? ▼
The median home value in Newark, NJ is $373,700. Median rent is $1,392/month.
What are the top health concerns in Newark? ▼
The top health indicators in Newark include Short Sleep Duration (45.6%), Physical Inactivity (38.3%), Obesity (35.9%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Newark? ▼
Newark has 4 hospitals with an average rating of 2.3/5 stars. 3 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Newark? ▼
The median age in Newark, NJ is 34.7 years. 19.7% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Newark, 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 (23.4% here).

Troy, NY 23.4% Calumet City, IL 23.4% Spring Valley, CA 23.4% Klamath Falls, OR 23.4%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside NJ ($52,060 here).

Daytona Beach, FL $52,058 Dyersburg, TN $52,064 Thibodaux, LA $52,072 Fulton, NY $52,046

Compare Newark 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.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Harrison, NJ 15K Kearny, NJ 42K East Orange, NJ 65K Belleville, NJ 37K Irvington, NJ 61K North Arlington, NJ 16K Hillside, NJ 22K Orange, NJ 34K
All cities in New Jersey → Compare Newark vs Harrison → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Newark'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 Newark 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 Newark 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 (Essex 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.