City safety & data profile
PlainfieldNJ
Plainfield, NJ is a 51K-resident city in Union County with a median household income of $85,908.
Union County, New Jersey. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Plainfield, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Plainfield has a population larger than 80% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $410,800.
Data updated 2026-09-03
- 51K
- Population (place)
- Top 20%
- By size
- $85,908
- Median income (place)
- $410,800
- Median home (place)
- 15.5%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Plainfield
Plainfield posts a median household income higher than 56% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.
- Top 44%
- by median income, US cities
Where Plainfield income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$85,908 Top 44% higher than 56% 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 Plainfield, NJ beyond the headline numbers
Plainfield sits inside Union County, New Jersey, at roughly 40.63°N, -74.41°W. Population 51,217, $85,908 median household income. Median home value $410,800, median rent $1,767. Poverty rate 15.5%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
Poverty in Plainfield, NJ stands at 15.5%, above the midpoint of reporting cities. A median income can look comfortable while a share this size sits well beneath it, which is why the two figures belong together.
A median home in Plainfield runs about 4.8 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.
Only 6.8% of Plainfield 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: 27% in Plainfield, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
5.2% of Plainfield workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
Plainfield's median age is 32.4 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Plainfield 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 (Union County): Plainfield'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 | 15.5% +25% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 8.9% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 22% |
| Work From Home | 6.8% |
| Public Transit | 5.2% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
What alerts and safety updates affect Plainfield?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Plainfield right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet NJ-PLAINFIELD-NJ · Plainfield
Plainfield: 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 Plainfield; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse New Jersey state hubs · Methodology
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 5
What is the population of Plainfield, NJ? ▼
What is the median household income in Plainfield? ▼
What is the median home value in Plainfield? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Plainfield? ▼
What is the median age in Plainfield? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Plainfield, 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 (15.5% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside NJ ($85,908 here).
Compare Plainfield 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 Plainfield'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 Plainfield 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 Plainfield 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 (Union 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.