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Lake Hiawatha.

All Lake Hiawatha data Compare Lake Hiawatha

11,018people live here $104,663median household income▲ 30% above US $1,550median rent per monthNear US average $428,600median home value▲ 29% above US

Lake Hiawatha is an unincorporated community in Morris County, NJ. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Lake Hiawatha

Lake Hiawatha is an unincorporated community in New Jersey with household incomes running above the national average, a highly educated workforce, and schools with smaller class sizes than the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Lake Hiawatha deals with home prices well above the national average and cold winters.

The good

Higher-than-average incomes
Highly educated workforce
Low student-teacher ratio

The not so good

High home prices
Cold winters

How Lake Hiawatha compares

Median household income

Lake Hiawatha$104,663

New Jersey avg$103,556

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Lake Hiawatha$1,550

New Jersey avg$1,720

US$1,413

Median home value

Lake Hiawatha$428,600

New Jersey avg$454,400

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Lake Hiawatha

Based on Lake Hiawatha's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$3,100

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $62,000 a year
28% of Lake Hiawatha renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$85,720

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $42,860
Homes cost 4.1× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of livingNear US average

$1,550/mo median rent

Rent is pretty middle of the road, at $1,550 a month median. Not a bargain, not a budget-buster. About typical for a city this size. Home prices run above average, with a median around $428,600. Buyers should expect to stretch their budget here.

Median home value $428,600 · 28% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.4% county unemployment

Unemployment in Morris County is 4.4%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Morris County (county-wide)

Safety

67 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Lake Hiawatha doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Police Department jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 748/100k · Policed by Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Police Department (township-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting aroundNear US average

25 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 25 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 18% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

69%

Work from home

18%

Carpool

7.8%

Public transit

3.1%

Walk

2.0%

Climate

Summers are warm, with highs around 83°F, and winters are cold, with lows around 23°F and snow a regular occurrence. Rainfall is regular throughout the year.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▲ 44% above US

52% bachelor's degree or higher

This is a highly educated city, with over half the adult population holding a college degree. That tends to shape the job market and the broader culture, and it's a solid indicator of a strong professional scene.

Schools

1 public school inside the boundary

There is 1 public school inside the boundary. The student-to-teacher ratio is 13:1, well below the national average of 16:1. Smaller class sizes are generally a positive sign for a district.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Thomas Edison National Historical Park (10 miles away). There are 8 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Lake Hiawatha's strongest points are household incomes running above the national average and a highly educated workforce; the main tradeoffs are home prices well above the national average and cold winters. A year of median rent ($1,550/mo) equals 18% of the median household income here, less than the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit remote workers (18% of workers here already work from home) and college-educated professionals.

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