is fort lee rich or middle class (apartments, homes)

[NEWJERSEY1]

well many people generalize bergen county as a whole as rich but u know there's towns that aren't rich at all and are just simply middle class like hackensack, englewood, teaneck, etc (maybe some parts are, i dunno). what would fort lee be considered as?? cuz there are high rise apts there, and i know a lot of the residents there are rich but at the same time, middle class.

[kalim2008]

Originally Posted by NEWJERSEY1

well many people generalize bergen county as a whole as rich but u know there's towns that aren't rich at all and are just simply middle class like hackensack, englewood, teaneck, etc (maybe some parts are, i dunno). what would fort lee be considered as?? cuz there are high rise apts there, and i know a lot of the residents there are rich but at the same time, middle class.

Well, it seems that the median income for a household in the borough was $58,161, and the median income for a family was $72,140 (these figures had risen to $67,500 and $83,503 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $54,730 versus $41,783 for females.

So, based on that, this place would be about middle class I think.

However, as you pointed out, there are both rich and poor people in there.

[pbergen]

it wouldn't really be accurate to characterize fort lee as "only" middle class or "only" wealthy. the truth is that it's a mixed income town, meaning that there are significant segments of the population at various rungs of the income ladder. there are working class and middle class immigrants living in modest garden apartments and two family homes, and then there are upper middle and upper income professionals and empty nesters who live only a few blocks away in luxury high rises and mansions on the cliffs with spectacular skyline views.

fort lee isn't a prototypical suburb like, say, paramus, where almost everyone is solidly middle to upper middle class and lives in a nicely manicured split level or mcmansion. because fort lee has a much wider range of incomes and density levels, it cannot be neatly categorized as one thing or another. in fact, it's probably more accurate to describe its density and layout as an "urban suburban" hybrid rather than truly suburban.

and for what it's worth, hackensack, teaneck, and englewood are all mixed income towns as well. each of them has a wealthier section with large, older mansions - especially englewood in its east hill neighborhood, which borders englewood cliffs and is where the dwight englewood school is located. englewood's overall median household and per capita income levels in 2000 were almost identical to those of fort lee, although englewood has far more mansions/estates while fort lee's wealthy tend to live in the luxury high rises along the cliffs. englewood also has more of a working class population (not to mention a small segment of poor residents who actually live in housing projects), yet somehow, the income levels for the two towns neatly match up. you wouldn't necessarily guess that by driving through the two towns, though, due to their very different appearances.

teaneck's wealthy enclave is near route 4 and fairleigh dickinson university, and hackensack's mansions and luxury high rises are centered along summit and prospect avenues, respectively.