Lakewood is a larger medium-sized town located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 69,398 people and 20 associated neighborhoods, Lakewood is the 15th largest community in New Jersey. Lakewood has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Lakewood, where the median household income is $54,826.00. Lakewood home prices are not only among the most expensive in New Jersey, but Lakewood real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Lakewood is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 87.68% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Lakewood is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Lakewood who work in teaching (21.10%), office and administrative support (14.45%), and sales jobs (12.33%). A relatively large number of people in Lakewood telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 12.94% 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 terms of college education, Lakewood is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 32.69% of adults in Lakewood have a college degree. The per capita income in Lakewood in 2022 was $17,817, which is low income relative to New Jersey and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $71,268 for a family of four. However, Lakewood contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Lakewood also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 30.14% of its population below the federal poverty line.Lakewood is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Lakewood home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Lakewood residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Lakewood also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.68% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Lakewood include Polish, European, Hungarian, Russian, and German. The most common language spoken in Lakewood is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and German/Yiddish.
