The local economy of New Jersey and its counties, metro areas and cities, from official US government data, plus daily local gas prices for the state, its counties and metro areas.
Unemployment rate
4.3%
-1.2 ptsvs a year ago
Counties: lowest Hunterdon County 3.7%, highest Cumberland County 7.4%.
August 2026, seasonally adjusted, preliminary
Average weekly pay
$1,879
+3.3%vs a year ago
4,247,817 jobs at 343,397 business locations.
Q1 2026, all jobs
New homes permitted
31,546
-3.3%this year vs last year
Most in Essex County 4,667, Hudson County 4,219.
Homes in the last 12 months, to August 2026
People moving in
-32,182
-4.3 per 1,000residents
177,236 moved in and 209,418 moved out. Most newcomers came from New York.
Net people, 2022 to 2023, the newest year published
New Jersey gas price
$4.29
+$1.27vs a year ago
Counties: lowest Camden County $4.23, highest Cape May County $4.46. Counties and metro areas
Regular, per gallon, New Jersey, October 10, 2026
Newest data: -. Not seasonally adjusted: compare with the same month a year earlier. Click a row for the history of that area.
The state, its counties and metro areas, updated daily. A separate series from the weekly survey prices above.
Business locations, employees and payroll by industry, 2023. Click an industry for its US report.
Business locations
238K
+0.2%vs 2022
2023, places with paid employees
Employees
3.95M
+3.4%vs 2022
Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance (16.1%).
2023, mid-March
Annual payroll
$292.1B
Wages and salaries paid during the year.
2023, all industries
Average pay
$74,045
Highest sector: Management of Companies and Enterprises $148,498.
Per employee per year
Share of New Jersey's employees, 2023
| Industry | Employees | Average pay |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 249,796 | $26,709 |
| Employment Services | 232,145 | $51,880 |
| General Medical and Surgical Hospitals | 152,705 | $82,453 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 122,744 | $148,498 |
| Grocery Stores | 87,775 | $32,668 |
| Computer Systems Design and Related Services | 85,654 | $112,797 |
| Offices of Physicians | 82,376 | $108,303 |
| Warehousing and Storage | 66,084 | $59,820 |
| Services to Buildings and Dwellings | 63,757 | $42,188 |
| Depository Credit Intermediation | 61,678 | $128,070 |
| Building Equipment Contractors | 59,377 | $82,612 |
| Individual and Family Services | 53,690 | $38,013 |
Most values are changed slightly to protect the privacy of single businesses; a few are withheld and shown as a range. Counties and metro areas have the same numbers in the area card above (Industries).
Offered pay in certified work-visa filings, fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025). Click a company for its jobs and salaries.
In fiscal year 2025, employers offered a median of $121,514 a year in 26,558 certified H-1B filings for jobs in New Jersey, up 5.7% from 2024 (US: $120,000). The largest job group was Software Developers. Fiscal year 2026 so far covers filings decided through Jun 30, 2026.
Median offered pay
$121,514
+5.7%vs 2024
Middle half: $95,000 to $151,819.
H-1B, fiscal year 2025
H-1B filings
26,558
-1.2%vs 2024
32,212 positions asked for.
Certified, full-time, fiscal year 2025
Top job group
$131,997
Software Developers, 7,645 filings.
Median offered pay of the largest job group
Green card jobs
$109,283
0.0%vs 2024
6,525 PERM filings.
PERM median, fiscal year 2025
Median and middle half of the offers in New Jersey, next to the US median. Hover a year for the numbers.
| Job group | Filings | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | 7,645 | $131,997 |
| Geographic Information Systems Technologists and Technicians | 4,193 | $103,500 |
| Data Scientists | 1,808 | $119,550 |
| Computer Programmers | 1,237 | $106,662 |
| Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers | 1,047 | $104,000 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 1,031 | $105,100 |
| Database Administrators | 533 | $115,000 |
| Accountants and Auditors | 509 | $114,845 |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers | 502 | $200,000 |
| Management Analysts | 485 | $119,600 |
| Employer | Filings | Cities |
|---|---|---|
| Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp. CTSH | 1,131 | 121 |
| Ernst & Young U.S. LLP | 987 | 112 |
| Tata Consultancy Services Limited TCS.NS | 581 | 39 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 569 | 2 |
| Barclays Services Corp. BCS | 472 | 1 |
| Infosys Limited INFY | 338 | 22 |
| IBM Corporation IBM | 279 | 28 |
| LTIMINDTREE Limited LTIM.NS | 255 | 27 |
| Capgemini America, Inc. CAP.PA | 249 | 49 |
| hCL AMERICA, INC. HCLTECH.NS | 237 | 33 |
| City | Filings | Median pay | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey City | 4,791 | $131,997 | $104,000 to $165,824 |
| Princeton | 1,742 | $109,100 | $86,064 to $141,987 |
| Edison | 1,521 | $104,000 | $90,002 to $123,810 |
| Newark | 865 | $123,656 | $95,493 to $153,046 |
| Parsippany | 818 | $121,514 | $95,493 to $141,170 |
| Whippany | 755 | $135,000 | $115,056 to $165,000 |
| Piscataway | 704 | $101,800 | $85,588 to $124,800 |
| Hoboken | 697 | $153,750 | $123,656 to $186,368 |
| Iselin | 667 | $123,700 | $101,868 to $152,599 |
| Bridgewater | 541 | $123,656 | $100,000 to $152,000 |
Yearly pay that employers offered in certified work-visa filings (H-1B, E-3 and PERM green card), from official public data. Pay is the lower end of the offered pay range, for full-time positions only. These are offered pay figures for positions in work-visa filings, not the pay of all employees. A filing is an offer for a position, not a hire, and one person can appear in several filings. Fiscal years run from October to September. Groups with fewer than 3 filings show counts only. Employers are ranked by filings in the cities of New Jersey added up.
Declared disasters and flood insurance claims: what happened, from official public data.
New Jersey has had 59 declared disasters and emergencies since 1955, 37 of them since 2000, most often Severe Storm. Flood insurance has paid $6.5 billion on 202,340 claims since 1978; the biggest year was 2012 ($4.4 billion).
Declared disasters
37
25 major disasters. Most often Severe Storm (19 since 1955).
Since 2000, all types; 59 since 1955
Flood claims paid
$500.7M
14,317 claims. Biggest year 2012 ($4.4B).
2016 to 2025, flood insurance
Policies in force
197,866
Average premium $1,035 a year.
2025, flood insurance policies
Most-declared county
23
Burlington County, latest Sep 5, 2021.
Declarations since 2000
Declarations for New Jersey, 1955 to today
Claims paid in New Jersey by the year of the flood, US dollars
Declarations since 1955
Declarations naming the county since 2000; statewide ones not counted
All years since 1978; policies are a yearly average. Top 15 of 21.
| # | County | Claims | Paid | Policies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ocean County | 52,884 | $2.6B | 48,292 |
| 2 | Monmouth County | 20,039 | $937.5M | 21,079 |
| 3 | Atlantic County | 20,909 | $493.9M | 27,361 |
| 4 | Bergen County | 14,477 | $432.4M | 11,522 |
| 5 | Cape May County | 28,016 | $414.6M | 46,072 |
| 6 | Passaic County | 14,385 | $316.7M | 3,752 |
| 7 | Somerset County | 6,502 | $239.8M | 2,521 |
| 8 | Morris County | 9,463 | $201.0M | 3,799 |
| 9 | Hudson County | 5,198 | $177.3M | 21,282 |
| 10 | Middlesex County | 5,251 | $164.6M | 3,813 |
| 11 | Essex County | 5,845 | $164.2M | 4,324 |
| 12 | Union County | 7,525 | $163.8M | 5,070 |
| 13 | Mercer County | 2,432 | $48.4M | 2,023 |
| 14 | Hunterdon County | 1,572 | $39.6M | 957 |
| 15 | Warren County | 1,273 | $32.6M | 568 |
A declaration opens federal help after a disaster; it can name counties or the whole state. Flood insurance numbers count insured losses only (most homes have no flood insurance) and are not adjusted for inflation; the current year is data so far. For the flood-zone risk of a place, open the area on the real estate map.
Environmental compliance records, workplace safety inspections and greenhouse gas reports of facilities in New Jersey, from official public data.
Official public data lists 12,477 facilities in New Jersey with records since 2010, 12,406 of them with environmental compliance records. In 2022 to 2026, the largest penalties were at Nipro Glass Americas in Millville ($972,850). 152 large facilities reported 19.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023, down 6.2% from 2022.
Facilities with records
12,477
12,406 with environmental records.
Since 2010
Largest penalties
$973K
Nipro Glass Americas, Millville.
One facility, 2022 to 2026
Greenhouse gases
19.9M t
-6.2%vs 2022
152 reporting facilities.
Metric tons CO2e, 2023
Largest emitter
2.81M t
Linden Cogeneration Facility, Linden.
Metric tons CO2e, 2023
| Facility | Penalties | Violations |
|---|---|---|
| Nipro Glass Americas Millville | $972,850 | 4 |
| Imtt - Bayonne Bayonne | $825,175 | 10 |
| Johanna Foods INC Flemington | $648,120 | 16 |
| Paulsboro Refining CO LLC Paulsboro | $551,430 | 0 |
| Abf Freight Systems INC @ Dvr Terminal Pinebrook | $535,000 | 0 |
| Abf Freight Systems INC Carlstadt | $535,000 | 0 |
| Rutgers Health Sciences Campus - Newark Newark | $494,000 | 2 |
| Camden County Muni Utilities Auth (Ccmua) (Sm) Camden | $487,800 | 0 |
| Cmc Steel - New Jersey Facility Sayreville | $465,520 | 7 |
| Maher Terminals New Jersey | $461,000 | 0 |
| Facility | Metric tons CO2e |
|---|---|
| Linden Cogeneration Facility Linden | 2,812,087 |
| Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery Linden | 2,112,077 |
| Linden Generating Station Linden | 1,861,722 |
| Woodbridge Energy Center Woodbridge | 1,441,687 |
| Newark Energy Center, LLC Newark | 1,306,853 |
| Red Oak Power Generating Facility Sayreville | 1,228,376 |
| Parkway Generation Sewaren 7 Generating Station Sewaren | 1,207,079 |
| Bergen Ridgefield | 1,111,182 |
| West Deptford Energy LLC West Deptford | 883,640 |
| Paulsboro Refining CO LLC Paulsboro | 740,857 |
Large facilities in New Jersey, metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Hover a year for the number.
Their facilities in New Jersey, 2022 to 2026. Click a company for its Risk & Compliance tab.
| Company | Facilities | Penalties | CO2e (t) |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBF Energy Inc. PBF | 2 | $551K | 741K |
| Republic Services, Inc. RSG | 7 | $182K | - |
| The Home Depot, Inc. HD | 72 | $63K | - |
| Waste Management, Inc. WM | 21 | $56K | 19K |
| UniFirst Corporation UNF | 1 | $21K | - |
| Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW | 21 | $17K | - |
| Phillips 66 PSX | 3 | $15K | 2.11M |
| FedEx Corporation FDX | 39 | $11K | - |
Official public data on environmental compliance records, workplace safety inspections and greenhouse gas reports, summarized by facility and year since 2010. A record does not mean a site is unsafe today; penalties and violations vary a lot by industry and size. Penalties are the amounts assessed (after settlements), not amounts paid. Recent years can still change.
Cost, students and graduate earnings of the colleges in the state, from official public data.
The newest unemployment rate, pay, new home permits, moves and gas price for New Jersey, updated as new official numbers come out.
Unemployment for New Jersey is seasonally adjusted; for its counties, metro areas and cities it is not, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Pay covers all jobs that pay into unemployment insurance. Building permits count homes approved to be built, not homes sold. Moves count households by where they filed their tax returns in two years in a row. Daily gas prices are average pump prices for New Jersey, its counties and metro areas on the day shown. The weekly gas prices in the explorer come from a separate weekly survey that publishes a price for only some states, so a state without one shows the price of its region there; the two series are never combined.
The unemployment rate in New Jersey was 4.3% in August 2026 (seasonally adjusted, preliminary), compared with 5.5% a year earlier. 4,705,446 people were employed out of a labor force of 4,918,162. Among its counties, Hunterdon County had the lowest rate (3.7%) and Cumberland County the highest (7.4%, not seasonally adjusted).
Average weekly pay in New Jersey was $1,879 in Q1 2026, up 3.3% from a year earlier, across 4,247,817 jobs at 343,397 business locations.
Building permits were issued for 2,200 new homes in New Jersey in August 2026 (979 single-family and 1,056 in buildings with 5 or more units). From January to August the total was 20,527, down 3.3% from the same months last year, and 31,546 in the last 12 months. The most homes were permitted in Essex County (4,667), Hudson County (4,219), Bergen County (3,818) over the last 12 months.
No, more people moved out than in. From 2022 to 2023, 177,236 people moved to New Jersey and 209,418 moved away, a net loss of 32,182 (-4.3 per 1,000 residents). Most newcomers came from New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, and most people who left went to New York, Florida, Pennsylvania.
Regular gasoline in New Jersey averaged $4.29 per gallon on October 10, 2026, up $1.27 from a year earlier. Diesel averaged $6.33. Among its counties, Camden County had the lowest regular price ($4.23) and Cape May County the highest ($4.46).
Health Care and Social Assistance (635,422 employees), Retail Trade (465,759 employees), Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (395,891 employees) were the largest sectors in New Jersey in 2023. In all, 237,968 business locations employed 3,945,019 people at an average pay of $74,045 a year.
$121,514 a year was the median pay offered in 26,558 certified H-1B filings for jobs in New Jersey in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), up 5.7% from 2024. The middle half of the offers ranged from $95,000 to $151,819. The US median was $120,000. These are offered pay figures in work-visa filings, not the pay of all workers.
Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp. (1,131), Ernst & Young U.S. LLP (987), Tata Consultancy Services Limited (581), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (569), Barclays Services Corp. (472) had the most certified H-1B filings for jobs in New Jersey in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025).
Software Developers (7,645 filings, median $131,997), Geographic Information Systems Technologists and Technicians (4,193 filings, median $103,500), Data Scientists (1,808 filings, median $119,550) were the largest job groups in certified H-1B filings in New Jersey in fiscal year 2025.
$153,750 was the median offered pay in Hoboken, the highest among the New Jersey cities with the most H-1B filings in fiscal year 2025 (697 filings).
$109,283 a year was the median pay offered in 6,525 certified PERM green card filings for jobs in New Jersey in fiscal year 2025.
59 disasters and emergencies have been declared for New Jersey since 1955, 37 of them since 2000 (25 major disasters). The most common type is Severe Storm (19 declarations).
Burlington County, with 23 declarations since 2000, followed by Atlantic County (22) and Morris County (22). Statewide declarations are not counted for single counties.
$6.5 billion on 202,340 flood insurance claims since 1978. The biggest year was 2012, with $4.4 billion paid on 75,727 claims. Ocean County received the most ($2.6 billion).
$1,035 a year in 2025, across 197,866 flood insurance policies in New Jersey. Most homes have no flood insurance; the premium depends on the home's flood risk and coverage.