Feel crowded? NJ population hits 9.5 million. How’s your county?

I can just hear Gov. Phil Murphy saying it.

“If claustrophobia is your issue, we’re probably not your state.”

It just got worse. Northjersey.com reporting on released Census data that shows how much New Jersey’s population increased in only year, from July 1 of 2023 to July 1 of 2024. We are now up to 9.5 million people. Yet for the seventh year in a row we remain the most ‘moved out of’ state.

How? Because it’s largely foreign immigration that is replacing population lost and then some.

“If xenophobia is your character flaw, we’re probably not your state.”

So which county had the fastest percentage growth in Central and North Jersey? And which was the only county of all 21 to go down in population and not up?

Union County and Cape May County, respectively.

Union County, where I grew up in Rahway, now stands at 594,160. Union had an explosive 2.08% growth in just those 12 months from July 1 2023 to July 1 2024. I feel it when I visit there now, mostly in the change in traffic level compared to when I got my license years ago.

Cape May, the only county statewide to lose and not gain population, stands at 93,875 having lost 0.81%. But next door, Cumberland County gained, going from 152,326 to 155,678 in just one year.

Other big gainers were Hudson County growing by 2.06% and Essex by 2%.
Middlesex grew by 1.60%, Somerset 1.53%, Mercer 1.51%.

All other New Jersey counties were grouped by the Census report as in the category of gaining from zero to 1.49%.