North Plainfield vs Somerville

A side-by-side comparison of North Plainfield and Somerville: population, income, housing, and more.

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

North Plainfield has the higher population (22,667 vs 12,958 in Somerville). Somerville has the higher median household income ($103,869 vs $83,529 in North Plainfield). Somerville has the higher median home value ($403,600 vs $350,700 in North Plainfield).

Population, income & housing

	North Plainfield	Somerville
Population	22,667	12,958
Median age	36.9 yrs	35.5 yrs
Median household income	$83,529	$103,869
Median home value	$350,700	$403,600
Median gross rent	$1,651	$1,748
Housing units	8,109	5,726
Homeownership rate	55.5%	44.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.3%	53.5%
Unemployment rate	9.6%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	North Plainfield	Somerville
Population	21,501 → 22,667 (+5.4%)	12,085 → 12,958 (+7.2%)
Median household income	$69,566 → $83,529 (+20.1%)	$77,104 → $103,869 (+34.7%)
Median home value	$272,900 → $350,700 (+28.5%)	$322,000 → $403,600 (+25.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,382 → $1,651 (+19.5%)	$1,388 → $1,748 (+25.9%)

North Plainfield

Population

21,50122,667

Median household income

$69,566$83,529

Median home value

$272,900$350,700

Median gross rent

$1,382$1,651

Somerville

Population

12,08512,958

Median household income

$77,104$103,869

Median home value

$322,000$403,600

Median gross rent

$1,388$1,748

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	North Plainfield	Somerville
Under 5	7.5%	6.5%
5 to 17	15.4%	10.1%
18 to 24	10.9%	9.1%
25 to 34	13.0%	23.6%
35 to 44	13.6%	15.1%
45 to 54	13.4%	9.5%
55 to 64	16.0%	12.6%
65 to 74	7.2%	5.9%
75 and over	2.9%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	North Plainfield	Somerville
White (non-Hispanic)	18.8%	52.2%
Black or African American	20.0%	10.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	3.8%	11.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.8%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.0%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	53.7%	22.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	North Plainfield	Somerville
No high school diploma	16.2%	8.6%
High school graduate	27.4%	21.4%
Some college or associate's	31.2%	16.4%
Bachelor's degree	17.3%	34.3%
Graduate or professional degree	7.9%	19.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	North Plainfield	Somerville
Drove alone	68.1%	64.3%
Carpooled	11.1%	7.9%
Public transit	5.0%	2.9%
Walked	0.7%	5.9%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.6%
Worked from home	7.9%	15.9%
Other means	6.6%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	North Plainfield	Somerville
1-unit, detached	52.3%	42.3%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	21.3%	19.7%
5 to 19 units	13.8%	10.9%
20 or more units	10.7%	24.6%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	North Plainfield	Somerville
Poverty rate	14.0%	6.2%
Average household size	2.83	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	31	26
Median year structure built	1953	1958