What is the population of Watchung borough?

Watchung borough has 6,429 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #242 of 700 in New Jersey.

What is the median household income in Watchung borough?

Median household income in Watchung borough is $166,536 a year, 112% above the national figure of $78,538.

How much does it cost to rent or buy in Watchung borough?

Median gross rent is $2,571 a month and the median home value is $833,300, so rent absorbs about 18.5% of median household income.

Is Watchung borough affordable compared with the rest of the US?

Homes cost about 5× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Watchung borough is less affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 18.5% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.

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New Jersey · Census place 77600

Watchung, NJ population, income and ZIP codes

Quick answer

The population of the city of Watchung, New Jersey (Watchung, NJ — Census place “Watchung borough”) is 6,429 residents, ranking #242 of 700 places in New Jersey. Median household income is $166,536, the median home is worth $833,300 and median gross rent runs $2,571 a month. Looking for the Watchung New Jersey ZIP code list? 1 ZIP codes serve Watchung, NJ: 07069.

Population: 6,429Watchung borough residents
Median household income: $166,536Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
Median home value: $833,300Owner-occupied units
Median gross rent: $2,571Rent plus utilities, monthly
Median age: 46.4 yrsAll residents
Homeownership rate: 87.4%Owner-occupied households

Watchung ZIP codes (New Jersey)

Census ZCTAs whose delivery area overlaps Watchung.

The Watchung NJ ZIP code list below covers 1 ZIP code. Open any one for its population, income, housing and rent profile.

07069

What the numbers mean in Watchung borough

Housing cost measured against local earnings.

A household earning the Watchung borough median would spend about 18.5% of gross income on the median rent. The 30% mark is the federal threshold for cost burden, so anything above it signals a stretched rental market. The median home costs 5.0× the median household income; nationally that ratio sits near 4.5×. Poverty affects 2.1% of residents and 87.4% of households own their home.

Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates · rates as published for 2019-2023 ACS 5-year

Watchung borough, NJ in context

How this area compares with national benchmarks.

Watchung borough is a mid-size town in New Jersey, with 6,429 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #242 of 700 ranked by population — larger than 65% of them. The median age here is 46.4 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Watchung borough earn a median of $166,536 a year, 112% above the national figure of $78,538 and 56% above the $106,926 median for the 543 New Jersey cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 2.1% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Watchung borough is valued at $833,300, 174.7% above the national figure and 102% above the $412,500 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,571 a month, 82.9% above the national figure, or roughly $30,852 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 18.5% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 5×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 87.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

Compare with nearby places

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Frequently asked questions

Common questions about this area.

What is the population of Watchung borough?: Watchung borough has 6,429 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #242 of 700 in New Jersey.
What is the median household income in Watchung borough?: Median household income in Watchung borough is $166,536 a year, 112% above the national figure of $78,538.
How much does it cost to rent or buy in Watchung borough?: Median gross rent is $2,571 a month and the median home value is $833,300, so rent absorbs about 18.5% of median household income.
Is Watchung borough affordable compared with the rest of the US?: Homes cost about 5× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Watchung borough is less affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 18.5% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.
How current is this Watchung borough data?: All figures come from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.