Jersey City vs Kearny

A side-by-side comparison of Jersey City and Kearny: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jersey City has the higher population (289,691 vs 40,570 in Kearny). Jersey City has the higher median household income ($94,813 vs $83,212 in Kearny). Jersey City has the higher median home value ($534,500 vs $431,700 in Kearny).

Population, income & housing

	Jersey City	Kearny
Population	289,691	40,570
Median age	34.7 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$94,813	$83,212
Median home value	$534,500	$431,700
Median gross rent	$1,902	$1,649
Housing units	132,636	15,340
Homeownership rate	28.8%	45.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.1%	29.4%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jersey City	Kearny
Population	261,940 → 289,691 (+10.6%)	41,412 → 40,570 (-2.0%)
Median household income	$70,752 → $94,813 (+34.0%)	$70,702 → $83,212 (+17.7%)
Median home value	$373,700 → $534,500 (+43.0%)	$333,100 → $431,700 (+29.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,401 → $1,902 (+35.8%)	$1,304 → $1,649 (+26.5%)

Jersey City

Population

261,940289,691

Median household income

$70,752$94,813

Median home value

$373,700$534,500

Median gross rent

$1,401$1,902

Kearny

Population

41,41240,570

Median household income

$70,702$83,212

Median home value

$333,100$431,700

Median gross rent

$1,304$1,649

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jersey City	Kearny
Under 5	6.9%	6.1%
5 to 17	13.1%	14.1%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.5%
25 to 34	23.2%	15.3%
35 to 44	16.8%	16.1%
45 to 54	11.1%	13.4%
55 to 64	9.8%	13.6%
65 to 74	7.0%	8.9%
75 and over	4.7%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jersey City	Kearny
White (non-Hispanic)	24.0%	33.5%
Black or African American	19.8%	4.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	25.5%	3.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.2%	2.3%
Two or more races	3.7%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	25.7%	50.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jersey City	Kearny
No high school diploma	9.5%	15.8%
High school graduate	20.2%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	17.1%	21.4%
Bachelor's degree	29.4%	20.0%
Graduate or professional degree	23.7%	9.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jersey City	Kearny
Drove alone	28.1%	64.1%
Carpooled	4.7%	10.4%
Public transit	37.1%	13.3%
Walked	5.5%	6.0%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.4%
Worked from home	21.6%	5.3%
Other means	2.1%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jersey City	Kearny
1-unit, detached	7.4%	31.3%
1-unit, attached	7.4%	4.6%
2 to 4 units	31.7%	42.3%
5 to 19 units	15.5%	12.2%
20 or more units	37.9%	9.4%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Jersey City	Kearny
Poverty rate	15.6%	12.5%
Average household size	2.33	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	37	33
Median year structure built	1970	1952