Harrison, NJ (Town Center)

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the Town Center neighborhood in Harrison are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 67.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 35.1% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 86.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the Harrison Town Center neighborhood, 39.1% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 24.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (20.0%), and 16.7% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Harrison Town Center neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 47.3% of households. Other important languages spoken here include English, Portuguese, Langs. of India and Chinese.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.

In the Town Center neighborhood in Harrison, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as South American (42.1%). There are also a number of people of Asian ancestry (11.2%), and residents who report Puerto Rican roots (10.2%), and some of the residents are also of Brazilian ancestry (6.4%), along with some Dominican ancestry residents (5.0%), among others. In addition, 65.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Harrison Town Center neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (30.6% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.

Here most residents (28.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (20.1%) and 11.5% of residents also take the train for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.