Mountain Lakes is a very small borough located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 4,598 people and just one neighborhood, Mountain Lakes is the 333rd largest community in New Jersey. Much of the housing stock in Mountain Lakes was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs in the country.
Mountain Lakes home prices are not only among the most expensive in New Jersey, but Mountain Lakes real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Mountain Lakes is a decidedly white-collar borough, with fully 92.59% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Mountain Lakes is a borough of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Mountain Lakes who work in management occupations (26.42%), business and financial occupations (15.38%), and sales jobs (9.94%).
Also of interest is that Mountain Lakes has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 29.87% 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.
In addition, Mountain Lakes is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.
Mountain Lakes is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The borough’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Mountain Lakes’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.
One downside of living in Mountain Lakes, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 30.55 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.
Even though Mountain Lakes is a smaller borough, it has many people who hop on public transportation – mostly the bus for their daily commute to work. Typically, these people are commuting to good jobs in the surrounding cities.
Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Mountain Lakes. 80.50% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.
The per capita income in Mountain Lakes in 2022 was $104,161, which is wealthy relative to New Jersey and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $416,644 for a family of four.
Mountain Lakes is a very ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Mountain Lakes home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mountain Lakes residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Mountain Lakes include Italian, Irish, German, English, and Polish.
The most common language spoken in Mountain Lakes is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and German/Yiddish.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Mountain Lakes, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
If you come to know the people here, you will recognize that you're in the company of one of the wealthiest communities in the nation. In fact, a mere 0.5% of America's neighborhoods are wealthier than the neighborhood. Real estate here is exceedingly well-maintained, and similarly, tends to maintain its value over time. The cars driven are mostly luxury brands like Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Lexus. If the public schools aren't up to snuff, the residents of this neighborhood preferentially send their children to private preparatory schools. Vacation to Disney? Yes, but equally popular are summers in Europe. As one would expect in a considerably wealthy neighborhood such as this, also has one of the lowest ratings of child poverty in the nation.
In addition, if you're a regular supporter of the arts and enjoy outings to the theatre, weekend boutique-ing, or even a finely aged wine with dinner, than you're in good company with the people of the neighborhood. This neighborhood is uniquely immersed with more "urban sophisticates" than 99.4% of neighborhoods across the country. The people here truly stand out as a class among their own. They are an exclusive community characterized by refined tastes, cultural inclinations, and the means to live well. Urban sophisticates live a big city lifestyle, whether or not they live in or near a big city. They are educated executives or managers by week, and serial patrons of the arts by weekend. If this lifestyle pertains to you, than you'll certainly feel right at home in the neighborhood. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for families with school-aged children and highly educated executives.
Also, the rate of college educated adults in the neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 80.5% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 34.3% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
One way that the neighborhood really stands out, is that it has more large 4, 5, or additional bedroom homes and real estate than 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America. When you walk or drive around this neighborhood, you'll instantly notice the size of the homes here which definitely makes a strong visual statement.
In addition, owner-occupied real estate dominates the neighborhood. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout research, the percentage of residential real estate occupied by its owner is higher here than in 97.5% of neighborhoods in America.
Executives, managers and professionals make up 74.3% of the workforce in the neighborhood which, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is a higher proportion of such high-level people than is found in 97.5% of the neighborhoods in America. For this reason, this neighborhood really stands out as unique.
A unique way of commuting is simply not to. And in the neighborhood, analysis shows that 29.9% of the residents work from home, avoiding a commute altogether. This may not seem like a large number, but it is a higher proportion of people working from home than is found in 96.8% of the neighborhoods in the United States. One thing NeighborhoodScout's research reveals is that the wealthier and/or more isolated the neighborhood, the greater the proportion of residents who choose to work from home.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Italian and Hungarian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 30.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Italian ancestry and 4.5% have Hungarian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.2% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak German/Yiddish at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 96.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Mountain Lakes are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 99.5% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the neighborhood, 74.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 14.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (7.4%), and 3.4% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
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 neighborhood is English, spoken by 82.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, German/Yiddish and Spanish.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Mountain Lakes, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Italian (30.5%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (25.4%), and residents who report German roots (13.6%), and some of the residents are also of Asian ancestry (13.2%), along with some English ancestry residents (9.5%), among others. In addition, 14.8% 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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (28.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (59.8%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.