Atlantic City, NJ

The affordability dashboard for Atlantic City, NJ aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 39,554 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (23/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $41,126, median home value of $207,400, median rent of $1,138 per month, and 22.4% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,867 per month (studio $1,346, 1BR $1,537, 3BR $2,586, 4BR $2,851). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $14,907 per year, consuming 36% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are income, education, housing, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 14.6% and poverty 32.0% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.