Passaic vs Paterson

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

Passaic 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 69,651 in Passaic). Passaic has the higher median household income ($56,780 vs $53,766 in Paterson). Passaic has the higher median home value ($406,500 vs $335,400 in Paterson).

Population, income & housing

	Passaic	Paterson
Population	69,651	157,660
Median age	30.9 yrs	33.3 yrs
Median household income	$56,780	$53,766
Median home value	$406,500	$335,400
Median gross rent	$1,392	$1,457
Housing units	21,019	52,532
Homeownership rate	23.5%	26.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.9%	12.5%
Unemployment rate	11.3%	10.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Passaic	Paterson
Population	70,019 → 69,651 (-0.5%)	145,710 → 157,660 (+8.2%)
Median household income	$40,865 → $56,780 (+38.9%)	$41,360 → $53,766 (+30.0%)
Median home value	$332,700 → $406,500 (+22.2%)	$244,200 → $335,400 (+37.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,183 → $1,392 (+17.7%)	$1,193 → $1,457 (+22.1%)

Passaic

Population

70,01969,651

Median household income

$40,865$56,780

Median home value

$332,700$406,500

Median gross rent

$1,183$1,392

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)

	Passaic	Paterson
Under 5	7.9%	8.1%
5 to 17	23.4%	19.5%
18 to 24	11.3%	9.9%
25 to 34	11.9%	15.0%
35 to 44	14.7%	12.8%
45 to 54	12.2%	12.1%
55 to 64	8.9%	10.6%
65 to 74	5.6%	7.4%
75 and over	3.9%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Passaic	Paterson
White (non-Hispanic)	14.6%	7.8%
Black or African American	6.3%	23.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	4.7%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.6%
Two or more races	0.6%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	73.0%	62.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Passaic	Paterson
No high school diploma	33.4%	23.9%
High school graduate	36.3%	43.0%
Some college or associate's	13.4%	20.7%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	9.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	2.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Passaic	Paterson
Drove alone	48.9%	62.4%
Carpooled	16.5%	17.1%
Public transit	13.0%	8.0%
Walked	11.3%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.2%	4.8%
Other means	1.5%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Passaic	Paterson
1-unit, detached	15.0%	17.0%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	36.0%	53.9%
5 to 19 units	27.6%	11.6%
20 or more units	16.8%	13.4%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Passaic	Paterson
Poverty rate	23.0%	23.6%
Average household size	3.39	3.14
Mean commute (minutes)	26	23
Median year structure built	1938	1953