on December 08, 2016 at 6:45 AM, updated December 08, 2016 at 9:50 AM
A middling farmer in Cumberland County. A poor resident of crime-torn Newark. A member of the state’s highest tax bracket in Somerset County.
All are likely worse off today than they were a decade ago.
New data from the Census, released today, shows wide swaths of the Garden State remain slow to get back on their feet following the Great Recession.
There are exceptions, of course. Urban-adjacent communities like Maplewood, Summit or Westfield have seen growth in most key economic areas, but overall the news is not good.
Census data show median income in the state fell nearly 5 percent from the years leading up to the recession when compared to the five years that followed, outpacing the national decline during that time period.
Housing values too have dropped 20 percent in New Jersey between those time periods, while they fell only 13 percent nationally. However, housing costs have the opposite trend — New Jersey housing costs fell less than the national average, and remain higher than the rest of the nation.
The state has been lagging behind the country in unemployment as well, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While unemployment has dropped from its high in 2009, the state has not quite reached pre-recession levels.
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/census_paints_an_ugly_picture_of_njs_recovery_see_how_your_town_did.html?ath=9c46bfc08d76232bb5a5e00eeaf0bfa2#cmpid=nsltr_stryheadline