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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Kearny, NJ
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Kearny profile


Living in Kearny



Kearny is a medium-sized coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 39,862 people and 11 associated neighborhoods, Kearny is the 41st largest community in New Jersey. Much of the housing stock in Kearny was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.

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

One of the nice things about Kearny is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Kearny is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Kearny, the average commute to work is 32.28 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the town, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the town are by private automobile, Kearny is somewhat unusual for a town 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 Kearny area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

In terms of college education, Kearny is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 28.63% of adults 25 and older in the town have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Kearny in 2018 was $35,585, 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 $142,340 for a family of four. However, Kearny contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Kearny is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Kearny 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 Kearny, accounting for 54.66% of the town’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Kearny residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Kearny include Portuguese, Italian, Irish, Brazilian, and Polish.

Kearny also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 45.88%.

The most common language spoken in Kearny is Spanish. Other important languages spoken here include English and Portuguese.