North Plainfield is a medium-sized borough located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 23,072 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.

In North Plainfield, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.26 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.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in North Plainfield use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of North Plainfield‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the train. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

The overall education level of North Plainfield is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 25.26% of adults 25 and older in the borough 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.