Plainfield vs Rahway

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

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

Plainfield has the higher population (54,515 vs 29,748 in Rahway). Rahway has the higher median household income ($90,852 vs $80,334 in Plainfield). Plainfield has the higher median home value ($383,300 vs $362,300 in Rahway).

Population, income & housing

	Plainfield	Rahway
Population	54,515	29,748
Median age	33.0 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$80,334	$90,852
Median home value	$383,300	$362,300
Median gross rent	$1,673	$1,764
Housing units	17,149	12,811
Homeownership rate	42.4%	53.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.8%	35.6%
Unemployment rate	9.3%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Plainfield	Rahway
Population	50,362 → 54,515 (+8.2%)	29,543 → 29,748 (+0.7%)
Median household income	$56,339 → $80,334 (+42.6%)	$78,946 → $90,852 (+15.1%)
Median home value	$257,200 → $383,300 (+49.0%)	$272,700 → $362,300 (+32.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,212 → $1,673 (+38.0%)	$1,310 → $1,764 (+34.7%)

Plainfield

Population

50,36254,515

Median household income

$56,339$80,334

Median home value

$257,200$383,300

Median gross rent

$1,212$1,673

Rahway

Population

29,54329,748

Median household income

$78,946$90,852

Median home value

$272,700$362,300

Median gross rent

$1,310$1,764

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Plainfield	Rahway
Under 5	7.8%	7.4%
5 to 17	21.0%	13.1%
18 to 24	8.8%	8.4%
25 to 34	15.6%	15.9%
35 to 44	14.0%	13.0%
45 to 54	11.4%	14.1%
55 to 64	11.2%	12.2%
65 to 74	6.4%	8.3%
75 and over	3.9%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Plainfield	Rahway
White (non-Hispanic)	7.7%	28.0%
Black or African American	32.6%	30.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	6.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.7%	1.7%
Two or more races	1.6%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	55.6%	28.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Plainfield	Rahway
No high school diploma	27.8%	10.4%
High school graduate	29.4%	30.9%
Some college or associate's	20.0%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.7%	22.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	13.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Plainfield	Rahway
Drove alone	60.7%	60.5%
Carpooled	5.8%	11.3%
Public transit	4.5%	10.9%
Walked	1.7%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.5%	14.7%
Other means	20.6%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Plainfield	Rahway
1-unit, detached	41.8%	45.3%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	29.8%	14.8%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	7.8%
20 or more units	16.1%	24.1%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Plainfield	Rahway
Poverty rate	17.1%	6.8%
Average household size	3.29	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	30	32
Median year structure built	1950	1961