Mountain Lakes, NJ

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. Mountain Lakes has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, 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 92.81% 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 (28.42%), business and financial occupations (15.56%), and healthcare (10.47%).

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: 30.65% 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 educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

Mountain Lakes is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The borough’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Mountain Lakes’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

In Mountain Lakes, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.75 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.

In Mountain Lakes, a lot of people use the bus to get to work every day though Mountain Lakes is a relatively small borough. Those that ride the bus are primarily traveling out of town to good jobs in other cities.

Demographics

If knowledge is power, Mountain Lakes is a pretty powerful place. 84.38% of the adults in Mountain Lakes have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Mountain Lakes in 2022 was $102,826, which is wealthy relative to New Jersey and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $411,304 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, English, German, and Hungarian.

The most common language spoken in Mountain Lakes is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Mountain Lakes, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

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 0.6% 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 99.5% 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, do you like to read, write, and learn? Are you curious about the world? If so, this neighborhood may be a good fit for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that a full 84.4% of the adults living in the neighborhood have earned at least a bachelor's degree. This is a higher rate than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. In this way, this neighborhood truly stands out.

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 98.8% 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, real estate in the neighborhood is almost exclusively owner-occupied. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher rate of owner-occupied housing than is found in 98.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. If you are seeking to rent, this neighborhood may not have many options, but high rates of ownership often indicate stability in a neighborhood.

Occupations

The neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 98.6% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 78.5% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.

Modes of Transportation

In the neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 30.7% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 95.1% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Hungarian and Italian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Hungarian ancestry and 26.5% have Italian ancestry.

is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 6.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 96.4% 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 99.4% 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.

The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.

In the neighborhood, 78.5% 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 11.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (7.2%), and 3.3% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.

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 82.6% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese 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 (26.5%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (22.4%), and residents who report Asian roots (13.3%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (12.4%), along with some German ancestry residents (11.3%), among others. In addition, 12.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

Getting to Work

How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.0% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (58.9%) 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.

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

Overview

Occupations and Workforce

Setting & Lifestyle

Demographics

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

People

Real Estate

Occupations

Modes of Transportation

Diversity

The Neighbors

Languages

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Getting to Work

Popular real estate nearby

comparable neighborhoods nearby

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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

Occupations and Workforce

Setting & Lifestyle

Demographics

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

People

Real Estate

Occupations

Modes of Transportation

Diversity

The Neighbors

Languages

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Getting to Work

Popular real estate nearby

comparable neighborhoods nearby