Barnegat Light is a tiny coastal borough (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 652 people and just one neighborhood, Barnegat Light is the 492nd largest community in New Jersey.
Barnegat Light home prices are not only among the most expensive in New Jersey, but Barnegat Light real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Barnegat Light is a decidedly white-collar borough, with fully 88.46% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Barnegat Light is a borough of sales and office workers, professionals, and construction workers and builders. There are especially a lot of people living in Barnegat Light who work in sales jobs (24.04%), office and administrative support (16.35%), and teaching (14.42%).
And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Barnegat Light has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 17.12% 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.
Another notable thing is that Barnegat Light is an extremely popular vacation destination. A significant portion of the population is seasonal. During the vacation season, the borough experiences a large influx of people who take up residence in second homes they own in the area. As the vacation season ends, the population drops again, leaving behind a substantially quieter and smaller borough.
In addition, Barnegat Light is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates", which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre.
Barnegat Light 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, Barnegat Light’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.
Barnegat Light is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.
One downside of living in Barnegat Light is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Barnegat Light, the average commute to work is 34.02 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the borough, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.
Despite being a small borough, Barnegat Light has a lot of people using the bus to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the bus are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.
Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Barnegat Light, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Barnegat Light is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 72.66% 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 Barnegat Light in 2022 was $73,070, which is upper middle income relative to New Jersey, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $292,280 for a family of four. However, Barnegat Light contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Barnegat Light is a very ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Barnegat Light home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Barnegat Light residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Barnegat Light include Irish, Italian, English, Polish, and German.
The most common language spoken in Barnegat Light is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.
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 97.0% of neighborhoods in America. Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 81.9% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
Furthermore, 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.
A majority of the adults in the neighborhood are wealthy and educated executives. They own stately homes that tend to maintain high real estate appreciation rates. Their upper-level careers keep them busy, but allow them to live comfortably. If you're an executive and want to keep similar company, consider settling in this neighborhood, rated as an executive lifestyle "best choice" neighborhood for New Jersey by NeighborhoodScout's analysis, which rated it as better for executive lifestyles than 99.0% of the neighborhoods in New Jersey. In addition to being an excellent choice for highly educated executives, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for active retirees and urban sophisticates.
In addition, astoundingly, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 98.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 11.5% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.9% of all neighborhoods in America.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Hungarian and Austrian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Hungarian ancestry and 1.2% have Austrian ancestry.
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 neighborhood in Barnegat Light 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 89.6% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 2.0% 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 74.7% 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, 66.7% 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 18.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (7.6%), and 6.8% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 96.3% of households.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Barnegat Light, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (15.6%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (15.6%), and residents who report Irish roots (15.2%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (13.4%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (7.7%), among others.
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 (40.5% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America. However, there is also a significant group of residents (11.5%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (58.0%) 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 (7.0%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.