New Brunswick, NJ

The affordability dashboard for New Brunswick, NJ aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 55,223 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (34/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $65,810, median home value of $353,800, median rent of $1,814 per month, and 23.5% 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 $2,486 per month (studio $1,804, 1BR $1,978, 3BR $2,981, 4BR $3,296). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $16,325 per year, consuming 25% 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 education, housing, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 8.0% and poverty 32.0% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.