Carteret vs South Plainfield

A side-by-side comparison of Carteret and South Plainfield: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carteret has the higher population (25,187 vs 24,231 in South Plainfield). South Plainfield has the higher median household income ($126,063 vs $87,553 in Carteret). South Plainfield has the higher median home value ($443,900 vs $370,200 in Carteret).

Population, income & housing

	Carteret	South Plainfield
Population	25,187	24,231
Median age	39.3 yrs	41.7 yrs
Median household income	$87,553	$126,063
Median home value	$370,200	$443,900
Median gross rent	$2,012	$1,928
Housing units	8,702	8,443
Homeownership rate	55.2%	85.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.7%	42.0%
Unemployment rate	8.8%	7.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carteret	South Plainfield
Population	23,589 → 25,187 (+6.8%)	23,956 → 24,231 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$73,347 → $87,553 (+19.4%)	$101,565 → $126,063 (+24.1%)
Median home value	$272,200 → $370,200 (+36.0%)	$340,200 → $443,900 (+30.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,492 → $2,012 (+34.9%)	$1,702 → $1,928 (+13.3%)

Carteret

Population

23,58925,187

Median household income

$73,347$87,553

Median home value

$272,200$370,200

Median gross rent

$1,492$2,012

South Plainfield

Population

23,95624,231

Median household income

$101,565$126,063

Median home value

$340,200$443,900

Median gross rent

$1,702$1,928

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carteret	South Plainfield
Under 5	6.6%	6.8%
5 to 17	15.6%	14.0%
18 to 24	11.0%	6.8%
25 to 34	12.0%	13.4%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.9%
45 to 54	11.4%	13.2%
55 to 64	15.4%	13.9%
65 to 74	8.7%	11.0%
75 and over	6.4%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carteret	South Plainfield
White (non-Hispanic)	22.4%	50.6%
Black or African American	16.6%	10.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	24.5%	16.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.9%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	34.0%	18.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carteret	South Plainfield
No high school diploma	15.4%	7.5%
High school graduate	33.6%	25.3%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	25.2%
Bachelor's degree	20.3%	24.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	17.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carteret	South Plainfield
Drove alone	68.3%	75.6%
Carpooled	9.9%	8.0%
Public transit	7.8%	2.1%
Walked	2.4%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.2%	12.3%
Other means	2.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carteret	South Plainfield
1-unit, detached	50.9%	78.7%
1-unit, attached	5.8%	4.6%
2 to 4 units	23.8%	6.1%
5 to 19 units	7.9%	5.2%
20 or more units	8.9%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Carteret	South Plainfield
Poverty rate	10.0%	3.6%
Average household size	3.03	2.89
Mean commute (minutes)	32	28
Median year structure built	1960	1962