Clifton is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 88,709 people and 18 associated neighborhoods, Clifton is the eighth largest community in New Jersey. Housing costs in Clifton 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.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Clifton is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Clifton is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Clifton who work in office and administrative support (11.05%), management occupations (10.35%), and sales jobs (10.27%). Also of interest is that Clifton has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 8.06% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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. Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Clifton is somewhat unusual for a city 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 Clifton area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.The education level of Clifton citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 34.30% of adults in Clifton have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Clifton in 2022 was $42,701, which is lower middle income relative to New Jersey, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $170,804 for a family of four. However, Clifton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Clifton is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Clifton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Clifton residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Clifton also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 38.55% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Clifton include Italian, Polish, Irish, German, and English. Foreign born people are also an important part of Clifton's cultural character, accounting for 36.34% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Clifton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
