By Donald Gilpin

The population of Princeton is 30,681, in an area of about 18 square miles, with a population density of 1,729 per square mile, according to the United States Census Bureau 2020 results reported last month.

The consolidated Princeton population (the municipality was established in its current form with the merging of the Borough and the Township in 2013) grew by about 7.4 percent over the past 10 years, making Princeton the 26th largest town in the state.

The racial composition of Princeton is 72.5 percent white, 16.9 percent Asian, 7.5 percent Hispanic or Latino, 5.7 percent Black or African American, and 3.7 percent two or more races.

The median house value in Princeton is $866,200, and the median age in Princeton is 33.8 years, 30.7 for males and 39.4 for females. Females make up 49.2 percent of the Princeton population, males 50.8 percent.

The population in Mercer County grew by 5.7 percent from 2010 to 2020, with Robbinsville seeing the biggest increase of 13.4 percent to 15,476, followed by East Windsor 10.5 percent to 30,045, West Windsor 8.7 percent to 29,518, Pennington 8.4 percent to 2,802, Hightstown 7.4 percent to 5,900, Trenton 7 percent to 90,871, Hamilton 4.3 percent to 92,297, Ewing 4.1 percent to 37,264, and Hopewell Township up 1.1 percent to 17,491. Hopewell Borough saw a .2 percent decline to 1,918, and Lawrence Township a 1.2 percent decline to 33,077.

In Mercer County the white population was 63.3 percent, Black or African American 21.5 percent, Hispanic or Latino 18.5 percent, Asian 11.9 percent, and two or more races 2.5 percent.

Over the past 10 years the population of New Jersey, defying predictions of a mass exodus from the state, increased by about 5.7 percent to almost 9.3 million. Many New Jersey cities, including Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Trenton, and Elizabeth increased in population, with Newark at 311,549 remaining the largest city in the state.

Nationwide, the population of urban areas grew by 9 percent over the past decade, with 86 percent of the population now living in metropolitan regions. Although 312 of the 384 metropolitan areas in the country gained population over the past decade, the Census Bureau reported that the U.S. is growing more slowly than it used to with about 52 percent of U.S. counties seeing population declines between 2010 and 2020.

The number of people identifying themselves as white fell to 57.8 percent of the U.S. population, down from 64 percent in 2010. The population of Asians was up about 36 percent, Hispanics and Latinos up about 23 percent, Blacks up about 6 percent, and those identifying as more than one race increased more than 100 percent, to about 13.5 million from about 6 million.