You’ll never guess what group is moving into NJ in bigger numbers

We hear all the time how everybody and their brother want to get out of New Jersey. We’ve been hearing it since 1975 when Bruce Springsteen wrote about it being a death trap, a suicide rap, we gotta get out while we’re young.

Indeed it’s hard to find young people who want to stay. And it’s hard to find higher-income people who want to stay. In general, among all age groups New Jersey lost thousands of households earning more than $200,000 in the past few years.

But guess what? If you combine youth with money they’re moving in more than they’re moving out.

The group is known as “young and rich” and is defined as aged 26 to 35 with an adjusted gross income of at least $200,000. More of them are moving into the Garden State than moving out.

Financial website SmartAsset did a study of IRS data from the tax years 2021 and 2022.  They learned while 3,135 “young and rich” households moved away from New Jersey, 3,435 moved in. An increase of 300 or nearly 10%.

The average adjusted gross income of these so-called young and rich households in New Jersey was $388,643. In fact these numbers put New Jersey as the number 8 most moved to state for young, rich people.

So maybe it was never that New Jersey just wasn’t exciting enough for younger people. Maybe, like for most of us, it’s always been the money. But once the money is there, are young people finding the best of both worlds? Being close enough to two major cities and world-class entertainment with terrific dining, sports, concerts, etc. But where they could still have a peaceful quiet suburban town to come home to? Maybe that’s it. We’ll see if the trend continues.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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