Counties / New Jersey / Union County

Union County, NJ

FIPS 34039 · population 579,290 · part of New York, NY

$641k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$641k
▲ 1.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$2,515
▲ 2.1% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.7%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$2,205
market rent is 1.14x the standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+57.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.1%FHFA HPI2025+5.5%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$529k
Surveyed gross rent$1,730
Rent burden 30%+51.4%
Median year built1956
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
4.3%vacant
212,385estimated housing units
Occupied tenure42.6% renter
owner 57.4%renter 42.6%
Structure mix54.6% single-family
Single-family 54.6%20+ units 13.1%Mobile home 0.1%Other 32.1%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs231,305▲ 1.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments16,802annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,650▲ 1.7% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities27.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.0%WEEKLY WAGE+1.7%Trade, transportation, and utilities27.1%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Union County’s tension is measurable income against high carrying costs: Zillow’s median home value is $641,174 and median asking rent is $2,515 per month, for a reported 4.71% gross yield before operating costs. Asking rent grew faster year over year than value. Investigate only where unit rents and expenses can be verified; be cautious where the case depends on appreciation or unusually low operating costs.

02Housing economics

At a 1.89% effective property-tax rate, the reported median tax is $10,001, material against gross income but not a property-specific bill. HUD’s $2,205 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not market asking rent, so it cannot substitute in a yield calculation. Zillow and Realtor observations are 2026-06, whereas FHFA’s annual figure is 2025. Its 5.47% gain is a repeat-transaction index, not a home value; it corroborates Zillow’s upward direction but cannot be averaged with it.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS data show active listings grew 12.39% and median marketing time was 30 days. They show visible asking supply and marketing time—not sale prices or buyer demand by themselves. Outmovers exceeded movers-in by a calculated 1,878 tax-return households, even though arriving households had higher average income, creating an uneven demand signal. Investors represented 13.37% of 3,934 purchases, showing nonowner participation but not bid behavior. The supplied 2025 QCEW annual workplace data name Trade, transportation, and utilities as the largest disclosed private supersector; they are not resident employment or unemployment data.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled climate loss is 0.13% of building value per year and inland flood is the stated dominant hazard; this is modeled expected loss, not an insurance quote or parcel flood determination. Missing parcel flood maps and insurance terms, property-level assessments, operating expenses, vacancy and collections, financing, and closed-sale comparables prevent a net-yield, insurance-adjusted carrying-cost, or resale-liquidity conclusion. Next checks should pair actual unit rent with the tax bill, flood coverage and exclusions, utility and maintenance history, and recent closed comparables.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Union County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Elizabeth city137.3KPlainfield city55.2KLinden city44.2KWestfield town31.1KRahway city30.1KSummit city22.7KRoselle borough22.6KRoselle Park borough14.1K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

19 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Elizabeth cityIncorporated place
    137,302
  2. 02
    Plainfield cityIncorporated place
    55,236
  3. 03
    Linden cityIncorporated place
    44,192
  4. 04
    Westfield townIncorporated place
    31,111
  5. 05
    Rahway cityIncorporated place
    30,109
  6. 06
    Summit cityIncorporated place
    22,705
  7. 07
    Roselle boroughIncorporated place
    22,646
  8. 08
    Roselle Park boroughIncorporated place
    14,093
  9. 09
    New Providence boroughIncorporated place
    13,727
  10. 10
    Kenilworth boroughIncorporated place
    8,401
  11. 11
    Fanwood boroughIncorporated place
    7,799
  12. 12
    Mountainside boroughIncorporated place
    7,049
Show 7 more places
  1. 13
    Vauxhall CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    6,157
  2. 14
    Garwood boroughIncorporated place
    4,885
  3. 15
    Union CDPCensus-designated place
    2,774
  4. 16
    Cranford CDPCensus-designated place
    1,937
  5. 17
    Kean University CDPCensus-designated place
    1,362
  6. 18
    Springfield CDPCensus-designated place
    1,304
  7. 19
    Connecticut Farms CDPCensus-designated place
    516

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.135% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.89%

$10,001 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-1,878

14,901 in · 16,779 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$6,997

$96,523 arriving · $89,526 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors13.4%

526 of 3,934 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings658▲ 12.4% year over year
Median days on market30▲ 9.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced7.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 0.1% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Same metro

The other counties in New York, NY

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Union County579,290$641k$2,5154.7%inland flooding
Kings County2,631,580$957k$3,8084.8%inland flooding
Queens County2,323,052$744k$3,2565.3%inland flooding
New York County1,629,477$1217k$4,8334.8%inland flooding
Suffolk County1,530,146$727k$3,3495.5%inland flooding
Bronx County1,404,779$500k$2,8476.8%inland flooding
Nassau County1,389,591$860k$3,5645.0%inland flooding
Westchester County999,677$879k$3,1844.3%inland flooding
Bergen County962,316$791k$2,9164.4%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Property-specific taxes, insurance, vacancy, and operating costs could make the reported gross yield inadequate.
  2. County-level net migration loss could coincide with weaker demand in a target submarket despite higher-income arrivals.
  3. Inland-flood exposure and insurance availability may differ materially by parcel from the county-level modeled loss ratio.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What rent measure supports the stated gross yield?

The supplied market measure is a $2,515 monthly median asking rent, with a reported 4.71% gross yield before costs.

Does the HUD Fair Market Rent estimate asking rent?

No. The $2,205 two-bedroom FMR is a HUD payment standard, not an estimate of market asking rent.

What is the stated climate risk?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled expected climate loss is 0.13% of building value per year.