county

Essex County, NJ

Demographic and economic profile of Essex County, NJ, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

Essex County anchors the northern New Jersey metro economy with a population of 881,527 that grew 7.6% over five years, reflecting sustained in-migration—30.1% of residents are foreign-born. The workforce of roughly 583,000 labor-force participants skews educated, with 37.9% holding a bachelor's degree or higher, though an 8.3% unemployment rate and 15.0% poverty rate indicate uneven labor market conditions. GDP per capita of $67,133 outpaces median worker earnings of $46,237, while a median home value of $494,400 and 44.9% homeownership rate point to a predominantly renter-heavy, high-cost housing market.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

881,527

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Household Income

$80,789

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

37.7 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

+7.6% since 2018

Essex County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • Black or African American Alone312,703 (36.2%)
  • White Alone259,184 (30.0%)
  • Some Other Race Alone119,163 (13.8%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race88,435 (10.2%)
  • Asian Alone52,093 (6.0%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races26,502 (3.1%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.Spanish159,259
  2. 2.Other Indo-European47,479
  3. 3.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)31,395
  4. 4.Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)8,962
  5. 5.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic6,365

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

23.7%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

62.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

14.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

30.1%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

17,292

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$67,133

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$48,021

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

8.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

15.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance102,468
  2. 2.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services60,465
  3. 3.Retail Trade (Group)39,051
  4. 4.Transportation & Warehousing, & Utilities35,615
  5. 5.Finance & Insurance, & Real Estate & Rental & Leasing31,737

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations180,088
  2. 2.Sales & Office Occupations76,231
  3. 3.Service Occupations72,811
  4. 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations53,069
  5. 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations31,929

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Information (LQ 1.56×)12,003
  2. 2.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 1.48×)35,378
  3. 3.Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate (LQ 1.19×)32,453
  4. 4.Professional, Scientific, & Management (LQ 1.17×)59,149
  5. 5.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.05×)100,911

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$494,400

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$1,459/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

44.9%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $500,000 to $749,99937,542 (26.1%)
  • $400,000 to $499,99924,732 (17.2%)
  • $300,000 to $399,99919,712 (13.7%)
  • $750,000 to $999,99919,419 (13.5%)
  • $1,000,000 to $1,499,99910,949 (7.6%)
  • $250,000 to $299,9996,996 (4.9%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

37.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

86.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

66.2%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$46,237

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

33.6 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

21.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone211,670 (52.7%)
  • Worked At Home64,603 (16.1%)
  • Public Transit63,610 (15.8%)
  • Carpooled31,636 (7.9%)
  • Other13,807 (3.4%)
  • Walked12,176 (3.0%)

Data USA · as of 2024

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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.