New Census data indicates Whites may soon not be the majority in North Jersey.
Asian and Hispanic residents continue to surge in towns in the northern part of New Jersey, according to new Census data, which also indicates that Whites may soon not be a majority of the population in those towns.
A dozen municipalities in Bergen County saw their Hispanic populations more than double in the first half of this decade while Asian populations in several other towns grew similarly, according to U.S. Census Bureau survey information made public Thursday, reported NorthJersey.com. Meanwhile, white residents made up a smaller share of the population in all but 10 of the 86 municipalities in Bergen and Passaic counties.
Four North Jersey towns — Hackensack, Demarest, Secaucus and Parsippany — for the first time joined the ranks of municipalities where the largest ethnic group is non-European. In all, 18 municipalities in Bergen and Passaic counties now fit that profile.
The changes dropped the non-Hispanic white population in Bergen County by about 27,000 people, leaving it at 59 percent of the total. In Passaic County, where the white population dropped to less than half the total in the last decade, the number dropped by another 11,000 people, reported NorthJersey.com.
The new data show the continuation of a long-standing trend. As recently as 1990, whites composed 83 percent of the population in Bergen, and 63 percent in Passaic.
The annual release of data by the U.S. Census Bureau provides the most detailed look at local trends related to race, education, income, homeownership and a host of other categories. Drawing on surveys taken between 2011 and 2015, this installment provides a point of comparison between that time and the five years at the end of the last decade.
The Asian population increased by 14 percent in Bergen County between those two periods while the number of Hispanics grew by 24 percent, reinforcing already large populations of those two groups and turning them into the largest single groups in several towns.
Ecuadoreans now make up the largest ancestry group in Hackensack, with Koreans the largest in Demarest and Indians the largest in Secaucus and Parsippany. In each case, those groups already were a substantial portion of the population and have been growing for many years.
The changes did not reach every corner of the state or the region. For example, a handful of mostly white North Jersey towns, including Washington Township, Oakland and Wyckoff, saw little change in their racial or ethnic makeup. But the vast majority of North Jersey communities saw an ongoing transition to increased diversity.
Towns that saw some of the biggest changes included Carlstadt, Emerson and Westwood — where the Hispanic population doubled — and Ramsey, Rochelle Park and Saddle Brook — where the number of Asians doubled.