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Watchung, NJ

This is a small community in a single neighborhood. As throughout the site, some neighborhood-level data are reserved for subscribers.





Overview


Watchung is a somewhat small borough located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 6,428 people and just one neighborhood, Watchung is the 271st largest community in New Jersey.

Watchung home prices are not only among the most expensive in New Jersey, but Watchung real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Occupations and Workforce

Watchung is a decidedly white-collar borough, with fully 88.63% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Watchung is a borough of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Watchung who work in management occupations (19.06%), business and financial occupations (10.65%), and office and administrative support (10.34%).

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 24.54% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

Watchung is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The borough’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Watchung’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

One downside of living in Watchung is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Watchung, the average commute to work is 31.34 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the borough, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

Despite being a small borough, Watchung has a lot of people using the bus to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the bus are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.

Demographics

If knowledge is power, Watchung is a pretty powerful place. 60.30% of the adults in Watchung 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 Watchung in 2018 was $73,470, which is wealthy relative to New Jersey and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $293,880 for a family of four.

Watchung is a very ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Watchung home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Watchung residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Watchung include Italian, Irish, Polish, German, and English.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Watchung's cultural character, accounting for 20.32% of the borough’s population.

The most common language spoken in Watchung is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.

People

In a nation where 1 out of every 4 children lives in poverty, the neighborhood stands out as being ranked among the lowest 0.0% of neighborhoods affected by this global issue.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Portuguese and Czechoslovakian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.4% of this neighborhood's residents have Portuguese ancestry and 0.7% have Czechoslovakian ancestry.

is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 3.5% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Korean at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.1% of the neighborhoods in America.

The Neighbors

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the neighborhood in Watchung are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 94.9% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the neighborhood, 57.8% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 18.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (12.5%), and 11.4% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 80.6% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Langs. of India and Korean.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.

In the neighborhood in Watchung, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Italian (19.2%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (17.0%), and residents who report Asian roots (13.8%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (9.0%), along with some German ancestry residents (9.0%), among others. In addition, 20.3% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

Getting to Work

Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (31.5% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.

Here most residents (63.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


Real Estate includes:
Average Home Values
Rental Market
Housing Market Details
Neighborhood Setting
Economics & Demographics include:
Lifestyle & Special Character
Household Types
Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
Neighborhood Crime Index
Crimes Per Square Mile
Property Crime Comparison
Violent Crime Comparison
Schools include:
School Ratings
Schools In District
Public School Test Scores
School District Enrollment
Educational Expenditures

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