Passaic County, New Jersey

Passaic County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 489,049. Its is. It is part of the.

Passaic County was created on, , from portions of both and.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 510 (197 ). 480 km² (185 sq mi) of it is land and 30 km² (12 sq mi) of it (5.97%) is water.

The highest point is any one of six areas on Bearfort Ridge in at approximately 1,480 ft (451 m) above sea level. The lowest elevation is approximately 30 ft (9 m) along the in.

The southeastern, more populous half of the county is either flat near the river or mildly hilly. The northwestern section is rugged and mountainous.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - west

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 489,049 people, 163,856 households, and 119,614 families residing in the county. The was 1,019/km² (2,639/sq mi). There were 170,048 housing units at an average density of 354/km² (918/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 62.32%, 13.22% or , 0.44% , 3.69% , 0.04% , 16.24% from , and 4.05% from two or more races. 29.95% of the population were or  of any race. 16.3% were of, 6.8% , 5.3% and 5.2%  ancestry according to.

In 2005 Non-Hispanic whites were estimated to constitute 48.9% of Pasaic County's population. This included large numbers of Egyptians. 15.3% of the population was African-American. 4.4% of the population was Asian. 33.9% of the population was Latino. This last number represented an increase of over 15,000 in the Latino population of the county.

As of the 2000 census There were 163,856 households out of which 35.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.50% were living together, 16.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.00% were non-families. 22.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.42.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.10% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 31.30% from 25 to 44, 21.30% from 45 to 64, and 12.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $49,210, and the median income for a family was $56,054. Males had a median income of $38,740 versus $29,954 for females. The for the county was $21,370. About 9.40% of families and 12.30% of the population were below the, including 17.30% of those under age 18 and 9.20% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government
In Passaic County's commission form of government, the discharge both executive and legislative responsibilities. Seven s are elected at-large for three-year terms on a staggered basis. A Freeholder Director and Freeholder Deputy Director are elected from among the seven Freeholders at an annual reorganization meeting in January. The Freeholders select a County Administrator who, in the role of chief administrative officer, supervises the day-to-day operation of county government and its departments.

Passaic County operates through six standing committees of the Board of Chosen Freeholders. They are Administration & Finance; Health, Education and Community Affairs; Public Works and Buildings & Grounds; Law & Public Safety; Human Services and Planning and Economic Development. The Freeholders also appoint individuals to departments, agencies, boards and commissions for the effective administration of county government.

Passaic County's Freeholders are:
 * Freeholder Director of.
 * Freeholder Deputy Director of.
 * of
 * (2009) of
 * of
 * (2009) of
 * Tahesha L. Way (2009), sworn in on, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of  , won election in 2006 to a full three-year term in office term.

Currently, all seven of Passaic County's Freeholders are. The party has been the majority party on the Board of Chosen Freeholders since 1998, when current freeholder Jim Gallagher and former freeholder Lois Cuccinello won two of the three seats up for election that year. Two years prior, the Republicans held an 7-0 majority, but those wins combined with the wins of and  in the 1996 elections gave the Democrats a narrow majority of 4-3. That majority became 5-2 in 2000, when Sonia Rosado took the seat of incumbent, and became an absolute majority in 2004 when Terry Duffy and Pat Lepore were elected.

Four federal s cover the county, with most of the northern portion of the county in, represented by  and most of the southern portion of the county in , represented by. The borough of Hawthorne is in, represented by , and a portion of the borough of Bloomingdale is in , represented by.

Municipalities

 * (borough)
 * Macopin, New Jersey (community)
 * (city)
 * (borough)
 * (borough)
 * (township)
 * (borough)
 * (city)
 * (city)
 * (borough)
 * (borough)
 * (borough)
 * (borough)
 * (borough)
 * (community)
 * (township)
 * (community)
 * (community)
 * (community)
 * (township)
 * (community)
 * (community)
 * (community)
 * (borough)

Transportation
's serves the eastern part of Passaic County. Numerous New Jersey Transit bus routes serves Passaic County as well.

The major highways that travel through Passaic County are, , , , , , , , , , and the.

Education

 * , founded in 1971, serves students from Passaic County at campuses in, and.
 * is a public university located in . As of Fall 2005, there are 9,110 undergraduate students and 1,860 graduate students enrolled in the university.
 * is a public university located in, and . As of Fall 2004, there are about 9,600 full-time and 2,200 part-time undergraduate and 3,800 graduate students.

Points of interest

 * in
 * in
 * in
 * in Paterson
 * , the
 * in