February 22, 2024
NEWARK -The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice today released Two New Jerseys: One State of Inequity, a county-by-county analysis of new data on economic racial inequities throughout the state.
“We’ve known for a while that New Jersey, while one of the most prosperous and diverse states in the country, has some of the largest economic racial disparities,” said Harbani Ahuja, Senior Counsel in the Economic Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. “Our new data shows us that these vast racial inequities show up consistently on the county level, as well.”
“No matter what one’s zip code is in the Garden State, economic racial inequities are pervasive in all our backyards,” added Ahuja. “New Jersey as a whole, and our counties individually, are manifestations of what Dr. King called ‘the Two Americas.’”
Building on our previous reports, Making the Two New Jerseys One and The Two New Jerseys by the Numbers, which analyzed the state’s inequities on the state level, the Institute’s new report provides new, county-level data to shed further light on the impact of the economic disparities on the everyday lives of Black and other families of color in New Jersey.
Two New Jerseys: One State of Inequity provides new data regarding racial disparities in homeownership, income, poverty, health insurance and internet access throughout New Jersey’s counties.
One of the most staggering disparities revealed in the report is in Essex County – a majority people of color county, where there are more white homeowning households than Black and Latina/o homeowning households combined.
“New Jersey’s racial inequality can be directly tied back to our often-overlooked history of slavery and the generations of structural racism that have followed,” said Laura Sullivan, Director of the Economic Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. “New Jersey owes it to future generations to be as intentional in connecting residents to wealth-building opportunities as it was about separating them from them at its founding.”
Below are some of the key data points from the report:
Homeownership, a key driver of building wealth and long-term security:
White homeownership in 19 of New Jersey’s 21 counties exceeds 70%. By stark contrast, Black and Latina/o homeownership rates in about two-thirds of counties are under 50%.
In Essex County – a majority people of color county – there are more white homeowning households than Black and Latina/o homeowning households combined.
In Passaic County, white families have a homeownership rate that is 46.8 percentage points higher than that of Black families, and 43.7 percentage points above that of Latina/o households.
Income, necessary for meeting everyday needs
In New Jersey overall, the median income for white households is $109,100 – compared to just $65,400 and $70,200 for Black and Latina/o households, respectively.
In Essex County, the median income for white households is $125,000 compared to $54,700 for Black families – a massive income gap of $70,400.
In Monmouth, Hudson, Passaic and Mercer counties, the Black-white household income gaps are all over $50,000.
Poverty
In Cumberland County, one in four Black residents live in poverty, and in Atlantic, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer and Passaic Counties, it is about one in five.
In Atlantic and Camden counties, almost one in four Latina/o residents live in poverty, with the same being true for about one in five Latina/o residents in Cumberland, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties.
Health Insurance, paramount to financial and physical health
In New Jersey, 3.5% of white residents are uninsured, compared to 8.3% of Black and 17.9% of Latina/o residents.
Passaic County has the greatest average uninsured population in the state at 12.5% for all residents.
In Union County, the uninsured Latina/o population is 5.8 times greater than that of white uninsured residents, with an alarming 24.8% Latina/o residents lacking health insurance.
Digital Access, a basic 21st Century need
In almost 40% of the state’s counties, at least one in 20 Black households do not have a computer.
In Essex County, over 10% of Latina/o households and 7.4% of Black households lack an internet subscription.
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