Essex County, New Jersey

Essex County is a located in the northeastern part of the  of. As of the, the population was 793,633, ranking it second in the state after ; Essex County's population had declined to 786,147 as of the bureau's 2006 population estimate. Its is. It is part of the.

Essex County was formed within on,.

Overview
Essex County is the second most densely populated county in the state after, and has the second largest total population after. 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). Meanwhile, Caldwell is the smallest in terms of land area (1.2 square miles) and Roseland has the smallest population (5,298); nevertheless, 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 in turn is the highest in the nation.

Like many of the counties of near  &mdash; which tend to have sharp divides between relatively rich suburban neighborhoods and less wealthy, more densely-populated cities nearby &mdash; the eastern region of Essex County tends to be poorer and more urbanized, while the western parts tend to be more affluent and suburban.

Eastern Essex This wide area has significant pockets of areas that qualify as inner-city: high building density, high poverty and crime rates, underperforming school systems and majority black-Latino populations, especially in the cities of, , and Irvington. Within this general area however are many stable, mixed and middle-income areas of diverse populations. For example, North and West sides of Newark have well-kept suburban areas and estate areas such as and. The East side of Newark is the, a thriving Brazilian and Portuguese community. East Orange has a Presidential Estate section and Upper Irvington is a suburban area. and are old Italian neighborhoods reinvented as destinations for recent immigrants and young couples.

Beginning at about the turn of the century, this region led the state in the rebuilding and rehab of its housing stock. In the 2000's, Newark led the state in the issuance of building permits. Many reasons were cited: city-wide incentives to encourage construction development, an improving local economy, the rising demand of low-cost housing so close to Manhattan. Newark has since then become one of the fastest growing cities in the entire Northeast. and reported a gain in median income and drop in poverty rate. This is a welcome turnaround to the deterioration and abandonment, experienced in the post-riot 70s, 80s and early part of the 90s.

Crime in this part of the county has traditionally been among the highest in the state, but recently has also seen significant declines, mirroring its large neighbor to the east,. By 2006, crime in Newark had fallen 60% over 10 years to its lowest levels in 40 years. Neighboring East Orange has seen crime fall more recently, dropping 50% in the three years (2005 to 2007). Despite the overall progress, the murder rate in some neighborhoods remain stubbornly high. In 2006, Newark had 107 homicides, up from 98 in 2005 and the highest since 1995, but a substantial decrease since the record of 161 murders set in 1981.

In contrast, Western Essex tends to be more suburban and affluent and white. However, within this region are some of the most diverse and racially integrated neighborhoods in the state and nation, including, , and. As well, many neighborhoods are well-known magnets for New Yorkers, with its liberal flavor, cute downtowns, and architecturally beautiful, pre-war housing stock, such as, Montclair and. As an example of the widespread affluence of the area, the communities of Livingston, Millburn, North Caldwell, and Essex Fells are four 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. is regionally well-known as a conservative old-money bastion and a popular upscale shopping mall.

As the poorest place in the county, Newark has a median household 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.

While many residents commute to New York City or Hudson County,, , , , , , and  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 first 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 can be seen in every episode of the  mob drama , which is set in North Caldwell.

The county is also home to, , and.

Government
Essex County's is  The executive, along with the  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.

As of 2007, Essex County's Freeholders are:
 * Blonnie R. Watson - Freeholder President
 * Ralph R. Caputo - Freeholder Vice President
 * Johnny Jones - Freeholder-At-Large
 * Donald M. Payne, Jr. - Freeholder-At-Large
 * Patricia Sebold - Freeholder-At-Large
 * Samuel Gonzalez - Freeholder District 1
 * D. Bilal Beasley - Freeholder District 2
 * Carol Y. Clark - Freeholder District 3
 * Linda Lordi Cavanaugh - Freeholder District 4

Secession?
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 has been an issue of contention for some time between the county's more upper-class west and its lower-income east.

In 2003, the towns of, , and had all voted to secede from Essex County if something was not changed about the towns' taxation. In 2004, the towns of and  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 (due to the fact that Newark and surrounding cities are mostly black, and West Essex's towns are mostly white).

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 to their west,  to their north, or  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 suburban 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.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 336 (130 ). 327 km² (126 sq mi) of it is land and 9 km² (3 sq mi) of it (2.54%) is water.

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

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - east
 * - east
 * - south
 * - west

Census 2000 data
As of the of 2000, there were 793,633 people, 283,736 households, and 193,507 families residing in the county. The was 2,427/km² (6,285/sq mi). There were 301,011 housing units at an average density of 920/km² (2,384/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 44.46%, 41.24% or , 0.23% , 3.71% , 0.05% , 6.88% from , and 3.42% from two or more races. 15.42% of the population were or  of any race. 12.3% were of, 5.7% and 5.6%  ancestry according to.

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

In the county the population was 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 were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 90.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,944, and the median income for a family was $54,818. Males had a median income of $41,374 versus $32,052 for females. The for the county was $24,943. About 12.80% of families and 15.60% of the population were below the, including 20.50% of those under age 18 and 12.20% of those age 65 or over.

The county has a high population, with significant percentages of residents (over 25%) in several communities, of the  area and elsewhere in the county, being of Italian descent. This includes the communities of (30.9%),  (26.4%),  (26.3%),  (34.8%),  (45.8%),  (44.5%),  (38.7%),  (34.3%) and  (35.2%).

The county has a notable ish population, with 76,200 Jewish residents according to the 2002 results of the.

As of 2005 36.4% of the population was non-Hispanic whites. African Americans made up 42.6% of the population. Latinos formed 17.5% of the population. 4.2% of the population was Asian.

Municipalities

 * (township)
 * (township)
 * (borough)
 * (township)
 * (city)
 * (borough)
 * (township)
 * (borough)
 * (city)
 * (township)
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 * (city)
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Parks
Essex county was the first county in the United States to have its own parks department.
 * , Newark (the country's oldest county park)
 * , Montclair/Bloomfield
 * , West Orange/Montclair
 * , East Orange/Newark
 * , Caldwell
 * , Caldwell/ Cedar Grove/ North Caldwell/ Verona
 * , Irvington
 * , Verona
 * , Cedar Grove/Upper Montclair
 * , Irvington
 * , East Orange
 * , West Orange/South Orange/Millburn/Maplewood
 * , Newark
 * , Verona
 * , Newark
 * , West Caldwell/Roseland
 * , Newark
 * , Nutley