Paterson is a relatively large city located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 160,463 people and 40 associated neighborhoods, Paterson is the third largest community in New Jersey.Unlike some cities, Paterson isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Paterson are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Paterson is a city of service providers, sales and office workers, and transportation and shipping workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Paterson who work in office and administrative support (11.89%), sales jobs (9.66%), and food service (7.29%). Paterson has a lot of people who ride the bus to and from work. In fact, for its size, Paterson has quite a high level of public transit users. Paterson’s need for inexpensive transportation options for its citizens is quite high.The percentage of people in Paterson with college degrees is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 21.84%: just 11.82% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Paterson in 2022 was $24,403, which is low income relative to New Jersey and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $97,612 for a family of four. However, Paterson contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Paterson is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Paterson 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 Paterson, accounting for 64.53% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Paterson residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Paterson include Jamaican, Italian, African, Palestinian, and Irish. In addition, Paterson has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (44.63%). The most common language spoken in Paterson is Spanish. Other important languages spoken here include English and Arabic.
