Cape May vs Rio Grande

A side-by-side comparison of Cape May and Rio Grande: population, income, housing, and more.

Cape May and Rio Grande are places in New Jersey. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Rio Grande has the higher population (3,285 vs 2,789 in Cape May). Rio Grande has the higher median household income ($97,590 vs $57,230 in Cape May). Cape May has the higher median home value ($823,800 vs $311,900 in Rio Grande).

Population, income & housing

	Cape May	Rio Grande
Population	2,789	3,285
Median age	54.4 yrs	51.6 yrs
Median household income	$57,230	$97,590
Median home value	$823,800	$311,900
Median gross rent	$1,013	$1,486
Housing units	3,898	1,854
Homeownership rate	63.0%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	50.0%	28.0%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	13.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cape May	Rio Grande
Population	3,463 → 2,789 (-19.5%)	2,834 → 3,285 (+15.9%)
Median household income	$55,700 → $57,230 (+2.7%)	$66,544 → $97,590 (+46.7%)
Median home value	$652,900 → $823,800 (+26.2%)	$266,400 → $311,900 (+17.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,009 → $1,013 (+0.4%)	$1,111 → $1,486 (+33.8%)

Cape May

Population

3,4632,789

Median household income

$55,700$57,230

Median home value

$652,900$823,800

Median gross rent

$1,009$1,013

Rio Grande

Population

2,8343,285

Median household income

$66,544$97,590

Median home value

$266,400$311,900

Median gross rent

$1,111$1,486

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cape May	Rio Grande
Under 5	1.2%	2.5%
5 to 17	11.1%	14.5%
18 to 24	12.3%	1.9%
25 to 34	10.6%	5.8%
35 to 44	10.3%	16.1%
45 to 54	4.8%	16.0%
55 to 64	17.8%	15.6%
65 to 74	21.3%	20.2%
75 and over	10.5%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cape May	Rio Grande
White (non-Hispanic)	79.1%	71.4%
Black or African American	1.8%	8.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.1%	7.8%
Hispanic or Latino	13.0%	12.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cape May	Rio Grande
No high school diploma	3.3%	8.7%
High school graduate	17.4%	33.1%
Some college or associate's	29.3%	30.2%
Bachelor's degree	29.7%	11.6%
Graduate or professional degree	20.3%	16.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cape May	Rio Grande
Drove alone	72.3%	71.8%
Carpooled	3.7%	5.0%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	9.0%	7.2%
Bicycle	5.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.4%	8.2%
Other means	1.6%	7.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cape May	Rio Grande
1-unit, detached	51.5%	52.2%
1-unit, attached	29.6%	20.7%
2 to 4 units	10.9%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	4.3%
20 or more units	5.5%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	21.7%

Poverty & households

	Cape May	Rio Grande
Poverty rate	7.5%	9.9%
Average household size	1.90	2.00
Mean commute (minutes)	18	17
Median year structure built	1971	1987