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Mountain Lakes, NJ

This is a small community in a single neighborhood. As throughout the site, some neighborhood-level data are reserved for subscribers.





Overview


Mountain Lakes is a very small borough located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 4,608 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.

Occupations and Workforce

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.

Setting & Lifestyle

In addition, Mountain Lakes is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness'. But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

Because of many things, Mountain Lakes is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Mountain Lakes really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Mountain Lakes perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

In Mountain Lakes, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.55 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit.

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.

Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Mountain Lakes, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Mountain Lakes is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 80.50% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 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.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.

People

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, think about the people you know personally. How many of them would purchase box seats to opening night at the symphony? How many of them regularly attend gallery openings, or are the first to reserve tickets to opening night at the ballet? If they're like most of us, they don't do any of these things. But if you're among an exclusive crowd of wealthy and refined patrons of the arts, then you'll feel right at home in the neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 99.4% of neighborhoods across the U.S. Here, your neighbors are defined as having urbane tastes in literature, music, live theatre and the arts. They are wealthy, educated, travel in style, and live a big city lifestyle whether or not they live in or near a big city. 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.

Real Estate

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.

Occupations

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.

Modes of Transportation

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.

Diversity

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.

The Neighbors

There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a 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.

Languages

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.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.

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.

Getting to Work

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.


Real Estate includes:
Average Home Values
Rental Market
Housing Market Details
Neighborhood Setting
Economics & Demographics include:
Lifestyle & Special Character
Household Types
Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
Neighborhood Crime Index
Crimes Per Square Mile
Property Crime Comparison
Violent Crime Comparison
Schools include:
School Ratings
Schools In District
Public School Test Scores
School District Enrollment
Educational Expenditures

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