Metuchen vs South River

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

Metuchen 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.

South River has the higher population (16,007 vs 14,982 in Metuchen). Metuchen has the higher median household income ($157,779 vs $101,853 in South River). Metuchen has the higher median home value ($565,400 vs $382,500 in South River).

Population, income & housing

	Metuchen	South River
Population	14,982	16,007
Median age	39.4 yrs	36.5 yrs
Median household income	$157,779	$101,853
Median home value	$565,400	$382,500
Median gross rent	$2,019	$1,599
Housing units	5,621	5,789
Homeownership rate	74.6%	65.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	66.8%	31.1%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	8.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Metuchen	South River
Population	14,048 → 14,982 (+6.6%)	16,001 → 16,007 (+0.0%)
Median household income	$128,619 → $157,779 (+22.7%)	$78,162 → $101,853 (+30.3%)
Median home value	$437,400 → $565,400 (+29.3%)	$299,600 → $382,500 (+27.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,541 → $2,019 (+31.0%)	$1,288 → $1,599 (+24.1%)

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

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)

	Metuchen	South River
Under 5	6.5%	7.5%
5 to 17	20.5%	18.3%
18 to 24	4.2%	6.0%
25 to 34	11.2%	15.2%
35 to 44	17.2%	14.8%
45 to 54	14.6%	11.1%
55 to 64	11.1%	13.5%
65 to 74	9.9%	6.7%
75 and over	4.8%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Metuchen	South River
White (non-Hispanic)	61.8%	53.4%
Black or African American	5.0%	10.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	16.8%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.4%	2.3%
Two or more races	8.2%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	7.7%	26.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Metuchen	South River
No high school diploma	3.3%	13.6%
High school graduate	11.3%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	18.6%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	34.9%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	31.9%	11.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Metuchen	South River
Drove alone	51.6%	72.4%
Carpooled	5.2%	10.9%
Public transit	17.6%	1.9%
Walked	1.5%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	23.3%	6.6%
Other means	0.6%	6.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Metuchen	South River
1-unit, detached	65.2%	75.5%
1-unit, attached	12.2%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	10.1%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	8.8%
20 or more units	8.9%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Metuchen	South River
Poverty rate	4.4%	11.3%
Average household size	2.76	2.87
Mean commute (minutes)	38	33
Median year structure built	1962	1958