Paterson vs Preakness

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

Paterson and Preakness 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 18,538 in Preakness). Preakness has the higher median household income ($133,168 vs $53,766 in Paterson). Preakness has the higher median home value ($603,200 vs $335,400 in Paterson).

Population, income & housing

	Paterson	Preakness
Population	157,660	18,538
Median age	33.3 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$53,766	$133,168
Median home value	$335,400	$603,200
Median gross rent	$1,457	$1,946
Housing units	52,532	6,906
Homeownership rate	26.2%	70.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.5%	58.4%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Paterson	Preakness
Population	145,710 → 157,660 (+8.2%)	18,300 → 18,538 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$41,360 → $53,766 (+30.0%)	$120,380 → $133,168 (+10.6%)
Median home value	$244,200 → $335,400 (+37.3%)	$489,900 → $603,200 (+23.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,193 → $1,457 (+22.1%)	$1,637 → $1,946 (+18.9%)

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

Preakness

Population

18,30018,538

Median household income

$120,380$133,168

Median home value

$489,900$603,200

Median gross rent

$1,637$1,946

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Paterson	Preakness
Under 5	8.1%	6.1%
5 to 17	19.5%	17.3%
18 to 24	9.9%	7.9%
25 to 34	15.0%	11.4%
35 to 44	12.8%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.1%	11.8%
55 to 64	10.6%	14.7%
65 to 74	7.4%	8.3%
75 and over	4.8%	10.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Paterson	Preakness
White (non-Hispanic)	7.8%	71.3%
Black or African American	23.3%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	4.8%	11.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.7%	1.4%
Hispanic or Latino	62.8%	13.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Paterson	Preakness
No high school diploma	23.9%	3.4%
High school graduate	43.0%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	20.7%	17.7%
Bachelor's degree	9.5%	33.3%
Graduate or professional degree	2.9%	25.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Paterson	Preakness
Drove alone	62.4%	72.1%
Carpooled	17.1%	7.7%
Public transit	8.0%	6.8%
Walked	5.8%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.8%	12.4%
Other means	1.8%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Paterson	Preakness
1-unit, detached	17.0%	55.2%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	6.6%
2 to 4 units	53.9%	7.9%
5 to 19 units	11.6%	12.8%
20 or more units	13.4%	17.4%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Paterson	Preakness
Poverty rate	23.6%	3.7%
Average household size	3.14	2.71
Mean commute (minutes)	23	31
Median year structure built	1953	1967