Plainfield vs Summit

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

Plainfield and Summit 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 22,512 in Summit). Summit has the higher median household income ($199,107 vs $80,334 in Plainfield). Summit has the higher median home value ($969,900 vs $383,300 in Plainfield).

Population, income & housing

	Plainfield	Summit
Population	54,515	22,512
Median age	33.0 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$80,334	$199,107
Median home value	$383,300	$969,900
Median gross rent	$1,673	$2,308
Housing units	17,149	8,603
Homeownership rate	42.4%	71.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.8%	72.7%
Unemployment rate	9.3%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Plainfield	Summit
Population	50,362 → 54,515 (+8.2%)	21,913 → 22,512 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$56,339 → $80,334 (+42.6%)	$157,835 → $199,107 (+26.1%)
Median home value	$257,200 → $383,300 (+49.0%)	$890,100 → $969,900 (+9.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,212 → $1,673 (+38.0%)	$1,880 → $2,308 (+22.8%)

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

Summit

Population

21,91322,512

Median household income

$157,835$199,107

Median home value

$890,100$969,900

Median gross rent

$1,880$2,308

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Plainfield	Summit
Under 5	7.8%	5.8%
5 to 17	21.0%	19.5%
18 to 24	8.8%	7.7%
25 to 34	15.6%	7.6%
35 to 44	14.0%	14.8%
45 to 54	11.4%	16.0%
55 to 64	11.2%	15.3%
65 to 74	6.4%	7.6%
75 and over	3.9%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Plainfield	Summit
White (non-Hispanic)	7.7%	66.7%
Black or African American	32.6%	7.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	8.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.7%	1.2%
Two or more races	1.6%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	55.6%	12.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Plainfield	Summit
No high school diploma	27.8%	4.0%
High school graduate	29.4%	10.6%
Some college or associate's	20.0%	12.7%
Bachelor's degree	14.7%	34.9%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	37.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Plainfield	Summit
Drove alone	60.7%	47.1%
Carpooled	5.8%	3.8%
Public transit	4.5%	18.5%
Walked	1.7%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.5%	20.0%
Other means	20.6%	4.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Plainfield	Summit
1-unit, detached	41.8%	66.7%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	7.3%
2 to 4 units	29.8%	10.7%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	6.0%
20 or more units	16.1%	9.2%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Plainfield	Summit
Poverty rate	17.1%	3.9%
Average household size	3.29	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	30	35
Median year structure built	1950	1953