Prospect Park is a somewhat small borough located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 6,382 people and just one neighborhood, Prospect Park is the 272nd largest community in New Jersey. Much of the housing stock in Prospect Park was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs in the country.
Housing costs in Prospect Park are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in New Jersey.
Unlike some boroughs, Prospect Park isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Prospect Park are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Prospect Park is a borough of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Prospect Park who work in office and administrative support (12.80%), food service (11.52%), and teaching (7.98%).
Also of interest is that Prospect Park has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
In terms of college education, Prospect Park 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: 31.14% of adults in Prospect Park have a college degree.
The per capita income in Prospect Park in 2022 was $28,785, which is low income relative to New Jersey, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $115,140 for a family of four. However, Prospect Park contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Prospect Park is an extremely ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Prospect Park 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 Prospect Park, accounting for 64.93% of the borough’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Prospect Park residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Prospect Park include Italian, Dutch, Haitian, Jamaican, and Czech.
Prospect Park also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 42.65%.
The most common language spoken in Prospect Park is Spanish. Other important languages spoken here include English and Other Indo-European.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Corner bodegas, stores on the first floor and apartments above, former grand Victorian residences converted into apartments, three-deckers built shoulder-to-shoulder, duplexes. Such building types define the real estate of neighborhoods dominated by small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. Many are in older core neighborhoods of Eastern and Midwestern cities, or historic town centers in their hinterlands. If you wax romantic about the look and feel of such neighborhoods, with fresh pizza, falafel and an independent florist at the corner, then you might find the neighborhood worth a close look. This neighborhood is an absolutely outstanding example of the dominance of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings compared to neighborhoods across the nation, as they make up a substantial portion of this neighborhood's real estate stock. In fact, no less than 72.8% of the real estate here is made up of such dwellings, which is higher than 99.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, even if you drive or take transit to your place of employment, many people enjoy being able to walk in their neighborhood. What many people don't realize is that most of America's premier vacation locations are also very walkable. The neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Dominican and South American ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 23.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Dominican ancestry and 20.7% have South American ancestry.
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 neighborhood in Prospect Park are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 80.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 33.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 85.4% 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 neighborhood, 32.0% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 31.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (20.6%), and 15.8% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 52.6% of households. Some people also speak English (38.7%).
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in Prospect Park, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Dominican (23.3%). There are also a number of people of South American ancestry (20.7%), and residents who report Puerto Rican roots (11.1%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (6.8%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (6.0%), among others. In addition, 42.6% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (61.1% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (67.6%) 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 (22.2%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.