Avenel vs Metuchen

A side-by-side comparison of Avenel and Metuchen: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Avenel has the higher population (17,143 vs 14,982 in Metuchen). Metuchen has the higher median household income ($157,779 vs $95,935 in Avenel). Metuchen has the higher median home value ($565,400 vs $351,200 in Avenel).

Population, income & housing

	Avenel	Metuchen
Population	17,143	14,982
Median age	39.3 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$95,935	$157,779
Median home value	$351,200	$565,400
Median gross rent	$1,839	$2,019
Housing units	5,693	5,621
Homeownership rate	49.7%	74.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.4%	66.8%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Avenel	Metuchen
Population	18,592 → 17,143 (-7.8%)	14,048 → 14,982 (+6.6%)
Median household income	$70,035 → $95,935 (+37.0%)	$128,619 → $157,779 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$262,800 → $351,200 (+33.6%)	$437,400 → $565,400 (+29.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,483 → $1,839 (+24.0%)	$1,541 → $2,019 (+31.0%)

Avenel

Population

18,59217,143

Median household income

$70,035$95,935

Median home value

$262,800$351,200

Median gross rent

$1,483$1,839

Metuchen

Population

14,04814,982

Median household income

$128,619$157,779

Median home value

$437,400$565,400

Median gross rent

$1,541$2,019

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Avenel	Metuchen
Under 5	6.0%	6.5%
5 to 17	12.0%	20.5%
18 to 24	6.2%	4.2%
25 to 34	16.4%	11.2%
35 to 44	15.4%	17.2%
45 to 54	14.8%	14.6%
55 to 64	16.7%	11.1%
65 to 74	8.2%	9.9%
75 and over	4.3%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Avenel	Metuchen
White (non-Hispanic)	30.9%	61.8%
Black or African American	25.5%	5.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	19.9%	16.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.4%	8.2%
Hispanic or Latino	21.2%	7.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Avenel	Metuchen
No high school diploma	12.3%	3.3%
High school graduate	35.1%	11.3%
Some college or associate's	23.2%	18.6%
Bachelor's degree	18.3%	34.9%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	31.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Avenel	Metuchen
Drove alone	71.4%	51.6%
Carpooled	6.9%	5.2%
Public transit	10.3%	17.6%
Walked	1.2%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.9%	23.3%
Other means	1.3%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Avenel	Metuchen
1-unit, detached	41.1%	65.2%
1-unit, attached	5.0%	12.2%
2 to 4 units	10.8%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	22.7%	7.1%
20 or more units	15.1%	8.9%
Mobile home & other	5.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Avenel	Metuchen
Poverty rate	8.5%	4.4%
Average household size	2.49	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	34	38
Median year structure built	1978	1962