Merchantville, NJ

The affordability dashboard for Merchantville, NJ aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 22,407 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B- (65/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $90,242, median home value of $252,000, median rent of $1,167 per month, and 28.8% 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 $1,810 per month (studio $1,397, 1BR $1,520, 3BR $2,170, 4BR $2,423). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $14,648 per year, consuming 16% 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. Strengths visible in the raw data for Merchantville, NJ include income, housing. Unemployment currently reads 8.8% and poverty 15.2% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.