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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Plainfield, NJ
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Plainfield profile


Living in Plainfield



Plainfield is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of New Jersey. With a population of 54,670 people and 12 associated neighborhoods, Plainfield is the 26th largest community in New Jersey. Plainfield has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

In Plainfield, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.51 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. In addition, the city is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot.

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

The citizens of Plainfield are slightly better educated than the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns, with 22.78% of adults in Plainfield having a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Plainfield in 2022 was $30,414, which is low income relative to New Jersey, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $121,656 for a family of four. However, Plainfield contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Plainfield is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call 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 Plainfield, accounting for 55.61% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Plainfield residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Plainfield include Jamaican, Trinidadian and Tobagonian, Haitian, English, and Italian.

In addition, Plainfield has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (41.53%).

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