county

Union County, NJ

Demographic and economic profile of Union County, NJ, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

Union County's 594,160-person workforce sits within the broader New York metro labor shed, with 38.6% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and median worker earnings of $51,355 against a GDP per capita of $67,562, suggesting meaningful output relative to wage cost. The county's 33.6% foreign-born share supports a multilingual labor pool, while a 6.3% unemployment rate indicates some available slack. Home values averaging $488,800 and median gross rent of $1,664/month reflect proximity-to-metro pricing, though a 3.5% population gain over five years points to continued demand for the area.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

594,160

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Household Income

$103,202

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

39.1 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

+3.5% since 2018

Union County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone228,008 (39.4%)
  • Some Other Race Alone118,213 (20.4%)
  • Black or African American Alone115,397 (19.9%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race64,682 (11.2%)
  • Asian Alone32,637 (5.6%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races17,024 (2.9%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.Spanish159,093
  2. 2.Other Indo-European34,848
  3. 3.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)18,188
  4. 4.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic10,313
  5. 5.Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)5,695

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

23.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

61.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

14.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

33.6%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

11,260

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$67,562

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$51,850

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

6.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

8.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance65,905
  2. 2.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services38,408
  3. 3.Transportation & Warehousing, & Utilities29,069
  4. 4.Retail Trade (Group)28,624
  5. 5.Manufacturing (Group)25,990

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations121,924
  2. 2.Sales & Office Occupations57,626
  3. 3.Service Occupations47,528
  4. 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations45,285
  5. 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations24,557

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 1.78×)30,574
  2. 2.Wholesale Trade (LQ 1.38×)9,339
  3. 3.Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate (LQ 1.29×)25,161
  4. 4.Information (LQ 1.17×)6,403
  5. 5.Professional, Scientific, & Management (LQ 1.05×)37,928

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$488,800

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$1,664/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

57.4%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $500,000 to $749,99934,546 (29.6%)
  • $400,000 to $499,99924,018 (20.6%)
  • $300,000 to $399,99917,457 (15.0%)
  • $750,000 to $999,99916,135 (13.8%)
  • $1,000,000 to $1,499,9997,437 (6.4%)
  • $200,000 to $249,9993,841 (3.3%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

38.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

86.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

69.1%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$51,355

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

30.2 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

10.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone176,721 (60.9%)
  • Worked At Home41,324 (14.2%)
  • Public Transit26,503 (9.1%)
  • Carpooled25,934 (8.9%)
  • Other9,324 (3.2%)
  • Walked6,834 (2.4%)

Data USA · as of 2024

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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.