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Essex County, New Jersey

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Essex County
County
Official seal of Essex County
Seal
Map of New Jersey highlighting Essex County
Location within the U.S. state of New Jersey
Map of the United States highlighting New Jersey
New Jersey's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 40°47′N 74°15′W / 40.79°N 74.25°W / 40.79; -74.25
Country United States
State New Jersey
Founded1682
SeatNewark
Population
 (2000)
 • Total
793,633
Websitewww.co.essex.nj.us

Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the state of New Jersey. As of 2000, the population is 793,633, ranking it second in the state after Bergen County. Its county seat is Newark6.


Overview

Like many of the counties of Northern New Jersey near New York City — which tend to have sharp divides between relatively rich suburban neighborhoods and less wealthy, more densely-populated cities nearby — the eastern region of Essex County tends to be poorer and more urbanized, while the western parts, such as Short Hills and North Caldwell are more upper-middle class and upper-class communities.

Essex County is also one of the most urban and densely populated counties in the nation, and is the second most urban and second most densely populated county in the state, both after Hudson County. The county is the seventh most densely populated in the nation, after the five boroughs of New York City (each of which is a unique county), Hudson County, and San Francisco County in California, which is made up entirely of the city of San Francisco. Alternately, Essex County could be described as the most densely populated "suburban" American county, since the six counties denser than it are all mostly, if not entirely, made up of a city or several cities. Although the county is home to four cities: Orange, East Orange, Newark, and Irvington, they together make up only a small fraction of the total county's land area. The county's eighteen "suburban" towns make up the majority of the county's land. Newark, with a population density of 11,400 people/square mile, is the largest municipality in the county both in terms of area (24.14 square miles) and population (280,000). At the opposite end, Caldwell is the smallest in area (1.2 square miles) and Roseland in population (5,298); however even these "small towns" have population densities (6,396 people/square mile and 1,464 people/square mile, respectively) that rival many big cities, and are well above the state's average, which is the highest in the nation.

Essex County also has extreme disparities in terms of income levels and quality of life. The cities of Newark, East Orange, and Irvington are three of the most densely populated, most dangerous, and poorest cities in the country. From the time of Newark's race riots in the late 1960s until at least 1996, it was often cited in publications as statistically being the most crime-ridden, dangerous, and/or backwards of the United States' largest cities. It currently has more gang violence per capita than any city in the country, and has been among the poorest and most deprived cities in the nation for years. Mainly because of Newark as well as high crime levels in Irvington and East Orange, Essex County is statistically the county with the highest crime rate in the nation, and 1/3 of New Jersey's murders last year took place in Essex County. In contrast to this distinction and the rampant poverty of its cities, the west and southwest Essex communities of Millburn, North Caldwell, and Essex Fells are three of the hundred wealthiest towns in America and have all been known to be home to famous actors, musicians, corporate heads, and members of the New Jersey Nets and New Jersey Devils. As the poorest place in the county, Newark has a median houshold income of $26,913 and a per capita income of $13,009; at the other extreme, Essex Fells, the wealthiest place in the county and the 4th wealthiest municipality in the state, has a median household income of $148,173 and a per capita income of $77,434. Newark and Essex Fells are only five miles apart.

As well, Glen Ridge and Montclair, two other wealthy if more "artsy" communities between the "Pasta Triangle" and West Essex, have some of the largest concentrations of Victorian and early 20th century architecture in the country, and are the darlings of filmakers. South Orange, Millburn, and Maplewood also have historic districts that attract New York transplants.

While many residents commute to New York City, Organon, Anheuser-Busch, Automatic Data Processing, Inc., CIT Group, Hoffmann-LaRoche, Grainger, Dun & Bradstreet and Prudential have large facilities in Essex County or are headquartered there, and there are numerous factories and large office parks scattered throughout.

Essex County was one of the quickest counties in America to become fully urbanized and was the first county in the country to create a county park system, to ensure that it did not lose all its land to development.

The various towns of the county, especially Newark, the Oranges, and the Caldwells can be seen in every episode of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos, which is set in North Caldwell.

The county is also home to Newark Liberty International Airport and Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal.

Government

Essex County's County Executive is Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. The executive, along with the Board of Chosen Freeholders administer all county business. Nine members are elected to serve concurrent terms. Five of the freeholders represent districts; four are elected from the county at-large. The Freeholder President and Vice-President serve one-year terms. The County Executive is elected by a direct vote of the electorate.

Essex County's Freeholders are:

  • Freeholder President Johnny Jones
  • Freeholder Vice President Patricia Sebold
  • Freeholder-At-Large Blonnie R. Watson
  • Freeholder-At-Large Albertus Jenkins
  • Freeholder District 1 Samuel Gonzalez
  • Freeholder District 2 D. Bilal Beasley
  • Freeholder District 3 Carol Y. Clark
  • Freeholder District 4 Muriel M. Shore
  • Freeholder District 5 Ralph R. Caputo

Current Problems

Essex County also has the highest property taxes in the state of New Jersey, which is the state with the overall highest level of property taxes in the nation. This is due to several reasons, including the county government's desiring to have the wealthier suburbanites' larger supply of money help to fund programs that will improve the quality of life for people who live in the more urban and poor areas, as well as to the high demand for property in Essex County due to its proximity to New York and its culture, and the very limited supply of new land that is not already developed in the county. This has been an issue of contention for some time between the county's more conservative, upper-class west and its Democratically controlled, lower-income east, especially as the western towns' tax rates continue to climb year after year despite a lack of any substantial progress in rejuvenating the county's cities, besides a small part of downtown Newark.

By 2003, the towns of Millburn, Roseland, and Montclair had all voted to secede from Essex County if something was not changed about the towns' taxation. In 2004, the towns of Verona and Cedar Grove followed suit, with the secession bill passing overwhelmingly. However, people in favor and opposed to the secession alike stated that the bills were mostly symbolic, as it would take a lot of work for the towns to actually secede from Essex County. Some critics even claimed that the desire to secede was inspired by racism (due to the fact that Newark and surrounding cities are mostly black, and West Essex's towns are mostly white for the most part).

If they were to form their own new county, "West Essex County," they would have to have support from several of the county's towns because what would remain Essex County and what would become West Essex County would each need contiguous borders. There was also talk that the towns who wished to secede might choose to become part of Morris County to their west, Passaic County to their north, or Union County to their south. But similarly there would be difficulties if the towns could not all agree on contiguous borders and coordinate the secession with their new county's government.

The issue of secession was mainly forgotten for a while until in 2005, representatives from the nineteen suburan Essex towns of Caldwell, West Caldwell, North Caldwell, Fairfield, Essex Fells, Roseland, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, Cedar Grove, Verona, West Orange, South Orange, Orange, Montclair, Glen Ridge, Nutley, Bloomfield, and Belleville decided to get together and form a committee. They began to discuss a way that they could potentially all agree to either fight the Essex County government to allow them lower tax rates, or to coordinate a breakaway from the cities of Newark, East Orange, and Irvington, which would alone remain as Essex County. They hope either to rally the majority of people among their towns behind them and eventually break off from Essex County or to force the county government to better suit their needs.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 336 km² (130 mi²). 327 km² (126 mi²) of it is land and 9 km² (3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.54% water.

The county rises from generally flat in the east to the twin ridges of the Watchung Mountains in the western half, beyond which the land lowers again into the Passaic River valley.

The highest elevation is found at four areas scattered between Verona, North Caldwell and Essex Fells, all of which reach at least 660 feet (201 m) above sea level. The lowest point is sea level, at Newark Bay.

Demographics

Essex County is among the most diverse counties in both New Jersey and the country. The county is home to immigrants from hundreds of different nations, and American natives of all ethnic backgrounds and cultures. The county is one of the most Italian counties in America, with nearly 50% of residents in several towns of the West Essex area and in the "Pasta Triangle" (Bloomfield, Belleville, and Nutley) area being of Italian descent. Though, recently, the "Pasta Triangle" is seeing increased Italian emigration towards the county's western towns such as West Caldwell, Fairfield, and Verona; meanwhile, the "Pasta Triangle" region is seeing diverse racial immigration from neighboring Newark and the Oranges. The county also has one of the highest percentages of both blacks and Hispanics in the nation, with a growing Asian population as well. Though a majority of the county that practices religion is Christian, the county is also among the most Jewish places in the nation, concentrated in the SW Essex towns of Short Hills, Millburn, South Orange, West Orange, Maplewood, and especially Livingston, where the population is reportedly nearly 60% Jewish. Along with the other five or six counties immediately surrounding New York City, Essex County is the main reason why New Jersey is the most ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse state in the country.

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 793,633 people, 283,736 households, and 193,507 families residing in the county. The population density is 2,427/km² (6,285/mi²). There are 301,011 housing units at an average density of 920/km² (2,384/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 44.46% White, 41.24% Black or African American, 0.23% Native American, 3.71% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 6.88% from other races, and 3.42% from two or more races. 15.42% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 283,736 households out of which 33.80% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.30% are married couples living together, 20.40% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% are non-families. 26.70% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.60% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.72 and the average family size is 3.30.

In the county the population is spread out with 26.10% under the age of 18, 9.40% from 18 to 24, 31.10% from 25 to 44, 21.50% from 45 to 64, and 11.90% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 90.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county is $44,944, and the median income for a family is $54,818. Males have a median income of $41,374 versus $32,052 for females. The per capita income for the county is $24,943. 15.60% of the population and 12.80% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 20.50% of those under the age of 18 and 12.20% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. 

Needs work

Cities and towns

In addition to independent towns, there are dozens of neighborhoods in Newark that have the distintinctiveness of towns, but lack the political autonomy. The following neighborhoods have had articles written about them.

Like Newark, many of the county's other municipalities have distinctive neighborhoods, much like towns. They include Brookdale (Bloomfield), Seven Oaks (Orange), Newstead (South Orange), Boyden (Maplewood), Washington Park (Maplewood), Upper Montclair (Montclair), Frog Hollow (Montclair), and Short Hills (Millburn). Short Hills and Upper Montclair have separate zip-codes and practically function as more upscale, near-separate towns within towns. Upper Montclair and Short Hills both have separate business districts. In other cases, these are more ethnically oriented areas. Newstead is considered a Jewish stronghold within the town of South Orange, Boyden is a mostly Haitian and less-wealthy area of eastern Maplewood bordering on Irvington, Seven Oaks is an affluent African-American enclave and semi-gated community within Orange, and Brookdale is still an exclusively white Italian mixed with some Asian community in northern Bloomfield near Upper Montclair, Nutley, and Clifton that is much more similar to Nutley than the rest of Bloomfield.

Parks

File:Southmountainpic.jpg
South Mountain Map
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