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Work & commute in Upper Montclair · A commuter town

96% of Upper Montclair’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Upper Montclair for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are New York (23%), Montclair (10%) and Newark (4%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Work in town
4%
190 of 4,804 working residents
Typical commute
14 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
42 min
More than NJ (31 min)
Work from home
43%
More than NJ (17%)
Jobs based here
2,219
A commuter town
Work out of state
19%
mostly New York

What kind of work town is Upper Montclair?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Time on the road

About 42 minutes each way, longer than most of New Jersey

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
324 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.5 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Upper Montclair42 min
New Jersey31 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
43%

of Upper Montclair workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.

About 4 in 10
The commute map

23% of working residents work in New York

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Passaic: 55 residents work here (1%)East OrangeSecaucus: 64 residents work here (1%)Paterson: 73 residents work here (2%)Clifton: 59 residents work here (1%)Paramus: 66 residents work here (1%)Jersey City: 142 residents work here (3%)Newark: 215 residents work here (4%)New York: 1,111 residents work here (23%)Cedar GroveWest OrangeNutleyMontclair: 498 residents work here (10%)Parsippany-Troy Hills: 88 residents work here (2%)BloomfieldMontclair State UniversityUpper MontclairNew YorkMontclairNewarkJersey CityParsippany-Troy HillsPatersonUpper Montclair
1
New York, NY18.5 mi away
23%1,111
2
Montclair1.3 mi away
10%498
3
Newark8.3 mi away
4%215
4
Jersey City11.5 mi away
3%142
52%88
6
Paterson5.4 mi away
2%73
7
Paramus10 mi away
1%66
8
Secaucus8.2 mi away
1%64
9
Clifton2.5 mi away
1%59
10
Passaic3.9 mi away
1%55
Everywhere elseother towns and states
51%2,433
The top trips

Where Upper Montclair clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Day and night

Upper Montclair quiets down on a workday

On a workday 4,614 residents head out to work, 190 work right here, and 2,029 people come in from elsewhere.

4,614live here, work elsewhere
190live and work here
2,029work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night12,000
Workday9,900
12,000live here− 4,600head out to work+ 2,000come in to work= 9,900on a workday

About 9,900 people are in Upper Montclair on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.46jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.46 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

How far

Half of Upper Montclair commutes less than 14 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi30 miNew York: 23% · 18.5 miMontclair: 10% · 1.3 miNewark: 4% · 8.3 miJersey City: 3% · 11.5 miParsippany-Troy Hills: 2% · 11.7 miPaterson: 2% · 5.4 miParamus: 1% · 10 miSecaucus: 1% · 8.2 miClifton: 1% · 2.5 miPassaic: 1% · 3.9 miNew York 23%Montclair 10%Newark 4%Jersey City 3%Parsippany-Troy Hills 2%Upper Montclair
Upper MontclairTop destinations (size = commuters)
36%Under 10 mi1,748 residents
48%10–24 mi2,303 residents
8%25–50 mi389 residents
7%Over 50 mi358 residents

Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.

The jobs

What the 2,219 jobs in Upper Montclair are

2,219 jobs are based in Upper Montclair. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Upper Montclair’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Upper MontclairJobs Upper Montclair residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms3%8%
Trade, transport & utilities20%13%
Services: health, schools, offices78%79%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less22%11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month26%12%
Over $3,333 a month52%77%

Who does it

29 or younger27%16%
30 to 5445%56%
55 and older29%28%
−12%

Jobs based in Upper Montclair, 2013 → 2023: 2,509 → 2,219. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.

Next door

11% of Upper Montclair works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Montclair (10%). Darker towns draw more of Upper Montclair’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
  • Where the employer says. A job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
  • Two surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Upper Montclair

Upper Montclair home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Upper Montclair, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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Ask neighbors

Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.

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