Somerset County, New Jersey: commercial real estate data.

Somerset County

How many people live in Somerset County

• Population349,846
• Households130,802
• Average household size2.67
• Median household income$140,374
• Median age41.8
• Median gross rent$2,033 per month
• Median owner-occupied home value$552,100
• Home value to household income3.9 times
• Annual rent as a share of median income17.4 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher57.8 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree26.6 percent
• Adults 25 and over247,882
• Population under 1874,044
• Share under 1821.2 percent
• Population 65 and over59,537
• Share 65 and over17.0 percent
• Working age population, 18 to 64216,265
• Civilian labor force200,035
• Unemployment rate4.7 percent
• Labor force participation, adults 18 and over72.5 percent
• Rank by population among New Jersey counties13th of 21
• Rank by population among US county-equivalents213th

Somerset County is the 13th largest of 21 New Jersey counties by population. A median home costs 3.9 times median household income, which is an affordable ownership market by national standards. Residents under 18 outnumber those 65 and over, at 21.2 percent against 17.0 percent, a household formation profile rather than a retirement one.

US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year.

Somerset County

Where are people moving to Somerset County from?

• Tax returns filed by households arriving11,171
• People arriving, from those returns19,492
• Adjusted gross income arriving$1.37 bn
• Net adjusted gross income movement$0
• Average income of an arriving household$123,037
• Largest single originSomerset County Non-migrants (134,906 households)
• Largest single destination (134,906 households)

The largest single source of arrivals is Somerset County Non-migrants, which is the catchment a retail or multifamily study should look at first.

US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.

Somerset County

Largest employers in Somerset County

• Covered employment, annual average190,468
• Establishments reporting10,950
• Average annual pay$106,418
• Average weekly wage$2,046
• Sector 54, employment25,627
• Sector 54, average annual pay$162,074
• Sector 62, employment24,063
• Sector 62, average annual pay$61,905
• Sector 44-45, employment17,015
• Sector 44-45, average annual pay$44,794
• Sector 31-33, employment15,552
• Sector 31-33, average annual pay$127,994
• Sector 56, employment12,950
• Sector 72, employment11,880

The largest sector is the biggest private employer group at 25,627 jobs, 13.5 percent of covered employment. Average pay per job sits below median household income, so households here typically need more than one earner.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages.

Somerset County

Building permits in Somerset County

• Housing units authorised by permit, 2024635
• Declared construction value permitted$121.1 m
• Single family units authorised320
• Multifamily units authorised315
• Multifamily share of units49.6 percent
• Average declared value per unit$190,728
• Units authorised per 1,000 households4.9

Multifamily is 49.6 percent of units authorised, so the pipeline is being built for renters rather than buyers.

US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual.

Somerset County

SBA loan default and charge-off rates in Somerset County

Do SBA loans in Somerset County get paid back?

• Loans with a final outcome recorded76
• Paid in full68
• Charged off8
• Charge off rate on resolved loans10.5 percent
• Status: Paid in full68
• Status: Exempt from disclosure311
• Status: Cancelled67
• Status: Charged off8
• Status: Committed, not yet disbursed30

Of the 76 loans that have reached a final outcome, 10.5 percent were charged off. This is computed only over resolved loans, because a loan still running has not yet succeeded or failed and counting it either way would be wrong.

Compare against the national and state SBA charge-off rates, computed the same way over resolved loans only.

US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.

Somerset County

How large is Somerset County?

• Land area302 sq mi
• Rank by land area among New Jersey counties13th of 21
• Width, east to west19.7 mi
• Height, north to south26.5 mi
• Geographies sharing a boundary5
• Residents per square mile of land1,158
• Establishments per square mile32.55

US Census Bureau county boundary geometry, TIGER, adjacency computed from shared boundary vertices, TIGER county boundaries. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year. US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023.

Feasibility studies

When a Somerset County site needs a document a lender will accept.

The same data layer behind this page is the one the studies are written from. A study for a Somerset County site starts with the figures you are reading, carrying the same source and period into the credit file.

• Population349,846
• Households130,802
• Average household size2.67
• Median household income$140,374
• Median age41.8

How a feasibility study works →

Somerset County

Cities and places in Somerset.

50 Census places lie wholly or partly in Somerset County. 50 carry enough published place level data for a page of their own and are linked. The rest are named here and not linked, because the American Community Survey and the SBA record between them do not carry enough about them to write an honest page. A place existing is itself worth knowing, so nothing in the county is left out.

A further 259 SBA approvals in Somerset County are recorded against borrower cities that match no Census place, the largest being Livingston, East Hanover, Bridgewater. Those are postal cities and unincorporated areas rather than incorporated places, so no page claims them, and their lending is counted in this county's totals above rather than under any city.