There is a conversation happening right now at kitchen tables all over New Jersey. It is not a new conversation. But it is getting harder to talk your way out of it.
The math keeps changing. And not in our favor.
Since 2020, 192,000 New Jersey residents have left. Last year, New Jersey ranked number one in the country for outbound moves. Sixty-two percent of everyone who relocated, left. Those are not just statistics. Those are neighbors. Those are the family down the street who finally stopped arguing with the tax bill and started packing.
The numbers behind the exodus
The towns taking the biggest hits are not hard to find. Newark and Jersey City are losing residents in raw numbers — thousands of people gone. But the percentage losses tell a different story. Smaller towns, tighter communities, places where everybody knows everybody — they are bleeding too. And once a town starts to feel the thinning, it doesn’t stop quickly…