Jersey City is a large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 286,670 people and 77 associated neighborhoods, Jersey City is the second largest community in New Jersey. Much of the housing stock in Jersey City was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country. Housing costs in Jersey City 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, Jersey City is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Jersey City is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Jersey City who work in management occupations (12.27%), business and financial occupations (10.70%), and computer science and math (9.90%). Also of interest is that Jersey City has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Of important note, Jersey City is also a city of artists. Jersey City has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Jersey City’s character. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 18.71% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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. One of the nice things about Jersey City is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities. In Jersey City, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 37.03 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. In addition, the city is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. For the size of the city, public transportation in Jersey City is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the subway. For Jersey City, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.If knowledge is power, Jersey City is a pretty powerful place. 51.89% of the adults in Jersey City have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Jersey City in 2022 was $54,582, which is middle income relative to New Jersey, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $218,328 for a family of four. However, Jersey City contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Jersey City is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Jersey City home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Jersey City, accounting for 27.18% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Jersey City residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Jersey City include Italian, Irish, German, Polish, and Egyptian. Jersey City also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 41.17%. The most common language spoken in Jersey City is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
