West Orange is a medium-sized township located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 47,957 people and nine associated neighborhoods, West Orange is the 31st largest community in New Jersey.
Housing costs in West Orange are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in New Jersey.
Also of interest is that West Orange has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Of important note, West Orange is also a township of artists. West Orange has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape West Orange’s character.
A relatively large number of people in West Orange telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 18.98% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
In West Orange, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 35.31 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit.
Although the majority of commuting trips in the township are by private automobile, West Orange is somewhat unusual for a township of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the West Orange area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.
Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to West Orange, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. West Orange is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 52.87% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.
The per capita income in West Orange in 2022 was $60,079, which is upper middle income relative to New Jersey, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $240,316 for a family of four. However, West Orange contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
West Orange is an extremely ethnically-diverse township. The people who call West Orange home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of West Orange residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. West Orange also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 19.72% of the township’s residents. Important ancestries of people in West Orange include Irish, Italian, Haitian, German, and English.
West Orange also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 28.24%.
The most common language spoken in West Orange is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.