Jersey City, NJ (Bergen)

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 Bergen neighborhood in Jersey City are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 41.2% of the neighborhoods in America. With 11.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 54.2% of U.S. neighborhoods.

The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.

In the Bergen neighborhood, 65.9% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 14.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (12.2%), and 7.3% 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 Bergen neighborhood is English, spoken by 26.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Langs. of India, Arabic, Tagalog (the first language of the Philippine region) 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 Bergen neighborhood in Jersey City, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (50.2%). There are also a number of people of Arab ancestry (8.7%), and residents who report Sub-Saharan African roots (3.9%), and some of the residents are also of South American ancestry (3.8%), along with some Dominican ancestry residents (3.4%), among others. In addition, 70.9% 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 Bergen neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (47.5% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.

Here most residents (54.8%) take the train to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (7.0%) and 5.4% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. This neighborhood is distinguished by the high number of residents who take the train to work each day, which can be a very good way to get to work at a lower cost and with less pollution.