Kearny is a medium-sized coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 39,862 people and 11 associated neighborhoods, Kearny is the 41st largest community in New Jersey. Much of the housing stock in Kearny was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.

Housing costs in Kearny are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in New Jersey.

Also of interest is that Kearny has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Kearny 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. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

In Kearny, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 32.28 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.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the town are by private automobile, Kearny is somewhat unusual for a town of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Kearny area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

In terms of college education, Kearny is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 28.63% of adults 25 and older in the town have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Kearny in 2022 was $35,585, which is low income relative to New Jersey, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $142,340 for a family of four. However, Kearny contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Kearny is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Kearny 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 Kearny, accounting for 54.66% of the town’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Kearny residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Kearny include Portuguese, Italian, Irish, Brazilian, and Polish.

Kearny also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 45.88%.

The most common language spoken in Kearny is Spanish. Other important languages spoken here include English and Portuguese.