Berkeley Heights, NJ (Town Center / Free Acres)

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the Town Center / Free Acres neighborhood in Berkeley Heights 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 95.5% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 3.9% 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 68.3% 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 Town Center / Free Acres neighborhood, 59.9% 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 16.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (13.1%), and 10.9% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Town Center / Free Acres neighborhood is English, spoken by 81.6% of households. Some people also speak Chinese (5.9%).

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 Town Center / Free Acres neighborhood in Berkeley Heights, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Italian (32.9%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (15.4%), and residents who report Asian roots (13.4%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (12.4%), along with some English ancestry residents (8.6%), among others. In addition, 13.4% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

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 Town Center / Free Acres neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (43.3% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (9.7%) who commute over an hour in each direction.

Here most residents (64.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (6.9%) and 6.1% of residents also take the train for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.