Avenel vs South River

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

Avenel and South River 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 16,007 in South River). South River has the higher median household income ($101,853 vs $95,935 in Avenel). South River has the higher median home value ($382,500 vs $351,200 in Avenel).

Population, income & housing

	Avenel	South River
Population	17,143	16,007
Median age	39.3 yrs	36.5 yrs
Median household income	$95,935	$101,853
Median home value	$351,200	$382,500
Median gross rent	$1,839	$1,599
Housing units	5,693	5,789
Homeownership rate	49.7%	65.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.4%	31.1%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	8.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Avenel	South River
Population	18,592 → 17,143 (-7.8%)	16,001 → 16,007 (+0.0%)
Median household income	$70,035 → $95,935 (+37.0%)	$78,162 → $101,853 (+30.3%)
Median home value	$262,800 → $351,200 (+33.6%)	$299,600 → $382,500 (+27.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,483 → $1,839 (+24.0%)	$1,288 → $1,599 (+24.1%)

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

South River

Population

16,00116,007

Median household income

$78,162$101,853

Median home value

$299,600$382,500

Median gross rent

$1,288$1,599

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Avenel	South River
Under 5	6.0%	7.5%
5 to 17	12.0%	18.3%
18 to 24	6.2%	6.0%
25 to 34	16.4%	15.2%
35 to 44	15.4%	14.8%
45 to 54	14.8%	11.1%
55 to 64	16.7%	13.5%
65 to 74	8.2%	6.7%
75 and over	4.3%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Avenel	South River
White (non-Hispanic)	30.9%	53.4%
Black or African American	25.5%	10.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	19.9%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.1%	2.3%
Two or more races	2.4%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	21.2%	26.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Avenel	South River
No high school diploma	12.3%	13.6%
High school graduate	35.1%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	23.2%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	18.3%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	11.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Avenel	South River
Drove alone	71.4%	72.4%
Carpooled	6.9%	10.9%
Public transit	10.3%	1.9%
Walked	1.2%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.9%	6.6%
Other means	1.3%	6.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Avenel	South River
1-unit, detached	41.1%	75.5%
1-unit, attached	5.0%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	10.8%	10.1%
5 to 19 units	22.7%	8.8%
20 or more units	15.1%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	5.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Avenel	South River
Poverty rate	8.5%	11.3%
Average household size	2.49	2.87
Mean commute (minutes)	34	33
Median year structure built	1978	1958