By Claire B.

One million dollars, $3.4 million, $5.75 million. When turning onto streets in Princeton’s neighborhoods, admiring the houses and the cozy community, it’s hard to imagine that this is what it can cost to live there. According to United States Census data, 53.7 percent of houses in Princeton cost over $1 million.

“The average price of a residential home in Princeton last year was $1.4 million, unbelievable,” Princeton Mayor Mark Freda said in a press conference with the Princeton Summer Journal.  

The median household income in Princeton is $184,113, nearly double the median household income of New Jersey. But 6.8 percent of Princeton’s population lives in poverty, making the need for affordable housing a priority for Freda.

“The list of people for affordable housing units is thousands and thousands of people,” he said.

Once they’ve entered an affordable housing unit, residents continue to work in the hopes that they can save enough money to afford the next level of housing, like renting an apartment or a small townhouse. 

“But that level of housing is almost gone from Princeton, so if people have no place to go, they’re trapped in the affordable housing unit that they’re in,” Freda said. 

People looking to move out of affordable housing tend to move out of Princeton. The historically Black Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood has lost a significant portion of its community as people leave in search of more affordable housing and a lower cost of living. 

Not only is Princeton struggling to provide more affordable housing, but it’s starting to lose its socioeconomic diversity as the lower middle class moves out of town. 

“We are trying to find a way to address that, but it’s really hard,” said Freda of the challenge of funding affordable housing. “The market works against us, there’s definitely no federal money, not for a few years at least, and there’s not a lot of state money right now either,” Freda said.

It’s not only people below the poverty line who can’t afford houses in Princeton. Even the town’s mayor would have trouble finding a house.

“If I were to buy a house here now, I couldn’t afford to buy a house,” Freda said. “So I’m the mayor, … [and] if I were to buy a house today, I’m guess[ing] I have to rent a place or go somewhere else.”