Clifton vs Paterson

A side-by-side comparison of Clifton and Paterson: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Paterson has the higher population (157,660 vs 89,247 in Clifton). Clifton has the higher median household income ($99,003 vs $53,766 in Paterson). Clifton has the higher median home value ($444,300 vs $335,400 in Paterson).

Population, income & housing

	Clifton	Paterson
Population	89,247	157,660
Median age	41.1 yrs	33.3 yrs
Median household income	$99,003	$53,766
Median home value	$444,300	$335,400
Median gross rent	$1,658	$1,457
Housing units	34,064	52,532
Homeownership rate	58.7%	26.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.5%	12.5%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	10.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clifton	Paterson
Population	85,204 → 89,247 (+4.7%)	145,710 → 157,660 (+8.2%)
Median household income	$76,646 → $99,003 (+29.2%)	$41,360 → $53,766 (+30.0%)
Median home value	$345,400 → $444,300 (+28.6%)	$244,200 → $335,400 (+37.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,409 → $1,658 (+17.7%)	$1,193 → $1,457 (+22.1%)

Clifton

Population

85,20489,247

Median household income

$76,646$99,003

Median home value

$345,400$444,300

Median gross rent

$1,409$1,658

Paterson

Population

145,710157,660

Median household income

$41,360$53,766

Median home value

$244,200$335,400

Median gross rent

$1,193$1,457

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clifton	Paterson
Under 5	5.6%	8.1%
5 to 17	13.9%	19.5%
18 to 24	7.6%	9.9%
25 to 34	14.7%	15.0%
35 to 44	13.3%	12.8%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.1%
55 to 64	15.0%	10.6%
65 to 74	10.8%	7.4%
75 and over	7.5%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clifton	Paterson
White (non-Hispanic)	46.2%	7.8%
Black or African American	3.7%	23.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	7.7%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.6%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	39.4%	62.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clifton	Paterson
No high school diploma	10.7%	23.9%
High school graduate	31.4%	43.0%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	20.7%
Bachelor's degree	23.5%	9.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.0%	2.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clifton	Paterson
Drove alone	68.6%	62.4%
Carpooled	7.6%	17.1%
Public transit	9.6%	8.0%
Walked	1.9%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.4%	4.8%
Other means	1.6%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clifton	Paterson
1-unit, detached	45.3%	17.0%
1-unit, attached	6.9%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	30.1%	53.9%
5 to 19 units	9.5%	11.6%
20 or more units	8.0%	13.4%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Clifton	Paterson
Poverty rate	7.4%	23.6%
Average household size	2.69	3.14
Mean commute (minutes)	29	23
Median year structure built	1952	1953