North Bergen, NJ

The affordability dashboard for North Bergen, NJ aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 60,773 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (36/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $78,911, median home value of $473,500, median rent of $1,781 per month, and 33.0% 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 $2,763 per month (studio $2,407, 1BR $2,458, 3BR $3,367, 4BR $3,955). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $16,758 per year, consuming 21% 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 housing, commute, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 6.2% and poverty 12.3% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.