�Census 2000 Profile of General Demographic Characteristics for New Jersey

State Highlights

• The median age of New Jersey�s population increased from 34.4 years in 1990 to 36.7 years in 2000.�� The national median age increased by 2.4 years, from 32.9 in 1990 to 35.3 in 2000, a reflection of the aging of the baby boomers.

• The growth of the population aged 65 and over during the past decade (7.8%) was slower than the total population (8.9%) in both the state and the nation (12.0% for the over 65 and 13.2% for the total) due to the relatively low number of births in the Great Depression era.

• As the nation�s life expectancy for males edged closer to that for females, the state�s sex ratio (males per 100 females) rose from 93.5 in 1990 to 94.3 in 2000, parallel to the national trend.� However, the ratio was lower in New Jersey than in the nation in both 1990 and 2000.� The national ratios were 95.1 and 96.3, respectively.

• Total housing units increased by 234,965 (or 7.6 %) to 3.1 million in New Jersey between 1990 and 2000 while there was a 13.3 percent growth in the nation as a whole.� The slower growth of housing units in the state, relative to its population growth (8.9%) was due, at least partly, to the state�s limited availability of land.

• The number of nonfamily households grew substantially faster than family households (17.7% vs. 6.6%) between 1990 and 2000 in New Jersey.� The rate of growth in the nation was 22.8% and 11.3% for nonfamily and family households, respectively.�

• The state�s families headed by women with no husband present (+14.3%) increased more than three times as fast as married-couple families (+3.8%) in the past decade.� The increases were 20.9% and 7.5% for the number of female-headed and married-couple families in the nation, respectively.

• New Jersey�s average household size was 2.68 in 2000, down slightly from the 1990�s 2.70, but still larger than the national figure. Nationally, the average household size was 2.63 and 2.59 in 1990 and 2000, respectively.

• Of the more than three million occupied housing units in 2000, approximately two million were occupied by owners and another one million by renters.� The state�s homeownership rate increased from 64.9 percent in 1990 to 65.6 percent in 2000.� The national homeownership rates were 64.2 percent and 66.2 percent in 1990 and 2000, respectively.

• Among New Jersey�s Asians, Asian Indian was the fastest growing group (+113%) during the 1990s, and continued to be the largest group.� Japanese was the only Asian group to experience a decline (-15%) between 1990 and 2000.� Consequently, Japanese became the smallest Asian group in the state in 2000, surpassed by the fast growing Vietnamese (+107%).�� Nationally, the number of Asian Indians (+106%) also grew faster than any other Asian groups while the number of Japanese (-6%) also declined.� However, Chinese was the largest Asian group in the nation as a whole, followed by Filipinos and Asian Indians.

(Caution: Multiracial persons (about 2.5% of New Jersey�s total residents) were excluded from this comparison.)

• Like the nation, the state�s Hispanic (or Latino) population soared, led by a hefty 258 percent increase of Mexicans in the past decade.� The number of Cubans living in New Jersey decreased by 9.4 percent during the same time period. �Puerto Ricans remained the largest Hispanic group in the state and accounted for 32.8% of the state�s total Hispanic population in 2000.�� Mexican was the largest Latino group in the nation as a whole, accounting for 58.5% of the nation�s total Hispanics in 2000.

• The proportion of non-Hispanic whites in the state decreased to 66.0% in 2000 from 74.0% in 1990.� The non-Hispanic white population accounted for 69.1% and 75.6% of the nation�s total population in 2000 and 1990, respectively.

• The proportion of children under 18 years old increased in New Jersey from 23.3% in 1990 to 24.8% in 2000. The 1.5 percentage point increase was the second highest among the nation�s 50 states, next only to Connecticut�s 1.9 percentage point increase. The change was due largely to the influx of foreign immigrants and the slow growth of the state�s adult population.� The number of persons 18 years old and over increased 6.7 percent in New Jersey (ranked 40^th in the nation) during the 1990s while the increase in Connecticut was a mere 1.0% (ranked 50^th in the nation).

Prepared by: New Jersey Department of Labor, Division of Labor Market and Demographic Research, May 23, 2001.