North Plainfield is a medium-sized borough located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 22,566 people and five associated neighborhoods, North Plainfield is the 83rd largest community in New Jersey.

A relatively large number of people in North Plainfield telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 7.95% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.

In North Plainfield, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.26 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.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the borough are by private automobile, North Plainfield is somewhat unusual for a borough of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the train helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the North Plainfield area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

The overall education level of North Plainfield is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 25.26% of adults 25 and older in the borough have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in North Plainfield in 2022 was $35,096, which is low income relative to New Jersey, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $140,384 for a family of four. However, North Plainfield contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

North Plainfield is an extremely ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call North Plainfield home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in North Plainfield, accounting for 53.71% of the borough’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of North Plainfield residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in North Plainfield include Italian, Irish, German, African, and Jamaican.

North Plainfield also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 43.19%.

The most common language spoken in North Plainfield is Spanish. Other important languages spoken here include English and French.