Community Corner

25% of New Jersey in Poverty as Number of Millionaires Increase, Study Says

About 11.1 percent of Union County residents were living below the poverty line, according to study.

Written by Mike D'Onofrio and Ariana Cohn-Sheehan

About 1-in-4 people in New Jersey are struggling to meet their basic needs as the number of millionaires in the state is growing, a new report claims. 

A study by the Legal Services of New Jersey Poverty Research Institute concluded that the more than 2 million people in the Garden State, or 25 percent of the population, are living in poverty, the Huffington Post reported

The institute calculated its findings using households with incomes below 200-percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which it said was "a more adequate approximation of the income necessary to make ends meet." 

Using the official poverty level, which was $17,346 for a family of three in 2010, there were nearly 885,000 residents living in homes with incomes below the poverty line. 

The study also found that New Jersey followed a national trend of increasing income inequality during the last decade. Using U.S. Census data from 2000-09, the study shows the gap between the highest and lowest fifths of the state's population has widened.  

In addition, more than than three-quarters of the additional income generated in the Garden State from 2000-09 went to the top 20-percent of households, according to the report. 

The number of millionaires in New Jersey is also on the rise. 

Millionaires accounted for 7.2 percent of households in the state in 2011, according to a CNBC report. The number of millionaires in the state rose from 6.15 percent of households in 2009, according to the report. 

Only Hawaii and Maryland have higher rates of millionaires as a percentage of their population. 

Union County by the Numbers

The study found 58,979 people, or 11.1 percent of county residents, were below the poverty level in 2010. Statewide, 10.3 percent of the population was below the poverty level at that time.

The federal poverty level in 2011 was $11,702 for a single person; $18,123 for a family that included three people, two school-aged children and a parent; and $22,811 for a four-person family with two school-aged children. Four-person families with two preschool-aged children were also classified under the federal poverty level of $22,811.

That same year, the study said, $30,022 was needed annually for a single adult household in Union County to meet the costs of basic needs while a family of four (two adults and two school-aged children) needed $72,593.

The average cost of living in Union County in 2011 was $70,483, the study said, and the cost of living was lowest for single adults, needing $30,022. Five-person families with two adults and three preschoolers had the highest cost of living at $95,443.

Do you agree with the study? How much does it cost you to live in Union County? Let us know in the comment section below.


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