Carteret is a medium-sized coastal borough (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 26,003 people and six associated neighborhoods, Carteret is the 73rd largest community in New Jersey.

Also of interest is that Carteret has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 11.06% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Carteret is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

One downside of living in Carteret is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Carteret, the average commute to work is 31.46 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the borough, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the borough are by private automobile, Carteret is somewhat unusual for a borough of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Carteret area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

In terms of college education, Carteret is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 30.09% of adults in Carteret have a college degree.

The per capita income in Carteret in 2022 was $38,591, which is low income relative to New Jersey, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $154,364 for a family of four. However, Carteret contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Carteret is an extremely ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Carteret home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Carteret, accounting for 34.18% of the borough’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Carteret residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Carteret include Italian, Polish, Irish, Haitian, and German.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Carteret's cultural character, accounting for 33.70% of the borough’s population.

The most common language spoken in Carteret is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.