Lakewood is a larger medium-sized town located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 69,398 people and 20 associated neighborhoods, Lakewood is the 15th largest community in New Jersey. Much of the housing stock in Lakewood was built relatively recently. The construction of new real estate can often be taken as an indication that the local Lakewood economy is robust, and that jobs or other amenities are attracting an influx of new residents. This seems to be the case in Lakewood, where the median household income is $54,826.00.

Housing costs in Lakewood 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.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 12.94% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One thing that you will notice about Lakewood is that there is a good-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. Many singles consider Lakewood a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

In terms of college education, Lakewood 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: 32.69% of adults in Lakewood have a college degree.

The per capita income in Lakewood in 2018 was $17,817, which is low income relative to New Jersey and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $71,268 for a family of four. However, Lakewood contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Lakewood also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 30.14% of its population below the federal poverty line.

Lakewood is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Lakewood home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Lakewood residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Lakewood also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.68% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Lakewood include Polish, European, Hungarian, Russian, and German.

The most common language spoken in Lakewood is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and German/Yiddish.