Number of NJ Kids Living in Poverty on the Rise

Poverty and unemployment are on the rise in New Jersey and almost one-third of kids 5 years old and younger are living in low income homes. These are the key findings in the “Kids Count 2013” report released this morning by Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ).

The study compares New Jersey’s 21 counties on 13 measures of child well-being, including child poverty, health, safety and education.

“This year the top-ranked county is Hunterdon followed by Morris and then Somerset,” says ACNJ executive director Cecilia Zalkind. “The bottom ranked county is Salem which dropped in the rankings this year followed by Cumberland at 20 and Atlantic at 19.”

This year’s data once again reveal different conditions for children living in each county. Rising poverty persists in all but two counties — Atlantic and Cumberland. Increases in the percentage of children living in poor families ranged from a low of 4 percent in Gloucester County to a high of 129 percent in Somerset County from 2007 to 2011.

Just one county— Cumberland — experienced a decline in the percent of children in poverty, dropping to 26 in 2011. Despite this decline, Cumberland still had the highest percent of children living in poverty.

Unemployment rates rose in every county in the state from 2008 to 2012. Warren had the smallest increase at 23 percent, while Atlantic County had the highest jump at 59 percent.