Community Corner

Wealthiest Counties in NJ [Interactive Map]

Bergen County is the sixth wealthiest county in New Jersey when measured by median household income, but fourth when measured by the percentage of households that earn $200,000 or more.

By Colleen O'Dea, NJ Spotlight

While some New Jerseyans still have not fully recovered financially from the recession, the state remains home to some of the wealthiest counties in the nation.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau also shows that five New Jersey counties -- Hunterdon, Somerset, Morris, Bergen, and Monmouth -- have some of the largest concentrations of wealth in the United States, as defined by the percentage of households with an income of $200,000 or more. Four of five New Jersey counties also are among the ranks of those with the highest median household income.

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Surprisingly, those two measures of wealth do not always overlap, at least not in New Jersey.

For instance, Sussex County made it into the ranks of the 25 wealthiest, at number 24, when measured by median household income. But it ranks 54th in the percentage of wealthy households.

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Then again, Hunterdon and Somerset counties rank in the top 10 in both measures. With a median household income of just under $100,000, Hunterdon was the fourth-wealthiest county in the nation in 2011. The top three are all Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.: Loudon, Fairfax and Arlington counties. Those counties also were the three with the largest proportion of households having $200,000 or more in annual income. Hunterdon, where 16.5 percent of nearly 47,000 households were that wealthy, ranked fifth.

Continue reading this article and view the interactive map at NJ Spotlight.com

County Median Household Income (2011) % of Households with Incomes> $200,000 (2011) Hunterdon $99,099 16.5% Somerset $96,360 16.0% Morris $91,332 14.5% Sussex $83,839 8.3% Monmouth $79,334 11.8% Bergen $79,272 12.3% Middlesex $74,522 7.5% Mercer $73,890 10.4% Burlington $72,896 6.9% Gloucester $71,850 5.2%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau's 1-Year American Community Surveys


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