ZIP code 08553

ZIP 08553 is a very small community in Somerset County, New Jersey, with 814 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #540 of 598 ranked by population — larger than 9% of them. The median age here is 42.8 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in ZIP 08553 earn a median of $127,344 a year, 62.1% above the national figure of $78,538. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 4.3% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 08553 is valued at $608,200, 100.5% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,660 a month, 18.1% above the national figure, or roughly $19,920 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 15.6% 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 4.8×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 75.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

With 814 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare ZIP 08553 against its county rather than against national figures.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. 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.

ZIP 08553 is tabulated inside Somerset County, New Jersey, one of 27 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 598 across New Jersey. Fewer than 2,500 people are counted here, so the ZIP behaves like a village delivery route rather than a neighbourhood. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 08553 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 08553 reports a median household income of $127,344, 17% below the $153,785 county median, and 17% above the $109,182 typical NJ ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $608,200, 8% above the county figure and 43% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,660 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

New Jersey charges 6.625% statewide, and no local sales tax is layered on top, so the state rate is the full amount collected in 08553.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 08553 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.