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.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.95% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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.

One downside of living in North Plainfield is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In North Plainfield, the average commute to work is 31.26 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.

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 percentage of people in North Plainfield who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 21.84%: 25.26% of adults in North Plainfield 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.

Foreign born people are also an important part of North Plainfield's cultural character, accounting for 43.19% of the borough’s population.

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