Essex County Ranks 14th in Safety and Well‐Being, 20th in Child Health 

Essex County showed room for improvement in several areas, ranking 20th in child health and 14th in
safety and well‐being, according to the annual New Jersey Kids Count county profiles and pocket guide
released today.

View County Profiles and Ranking

View pocket guide, New Jersey Kids Count 2017: The State of Our Counties

(county-by-county trend data on 40 indicators of child health and well-being)

As New Jersey elects a new governor and legislature this fall, ACNJ encourages voters to use the data proactively and engage with candidates to make kids' issues a part of the conversation. To learn more about the #NJVotes4Kids campaign, please visit njvotes4kids.org.

The rankings, which compare counties on 12 measures of child well‐being, and across four domains –
economics, health, safety and well‐being, and education – provide a closer look at how children are
faring in various parts of the state, often revealing a range of outcomes depending on where they live.
The pocket guide, NJ Kids Count 2017: The State of Our Counties provides county‐by‐county child trend
data across 40 measures of child well‐being.

“Essex County shows mixed progress, especially in the area of child health having the highest rate of
lead testing for young children along with the highest rate of uninsured kids,” said Cecilia Zalkind,
president and CEO of Advocates for Children New Jersey, who produces the state Kids Count reports.
“From curbing chronic absenteeism to increasing access to health insurance, community leaders can use
the data to recognize areas of concern and target resources to improve the lives of children in their
county.”

Essex County Ranks:
18th in Child and Family Economics: For the 191,000 children that call Essex County home, 24 percent
live in poverty, compared to the state average of 16 percent. The unemployment rate, at 6.0 percent, is
above the state’s 5.0 percent. Additionally, rental costs prove to be a burden to many Essex households,
with 56 percent spending 30 percent or more of their income on rent.

20th in Child Health: The percentage of babies born with low birth weights– 9.2 percent, is the second
highest in the state. Roughly 6.1 percent of Essex children live without health insurance, one of the
state’s highest percentages of uninsured children. However, more than 40 percent of children under
age 6 received a blood lead test in 2015 in Essex County, placing the county in the top spot in the state
on this measure.

14th in Safety and Well‐Being: Eight percent of Essex teens were not working or not in school,
sometimes referred to as idle or disconnected youth. Just above the state’s average of 10.5 percent,
10.8 percent of Essex children with reported cases of child abuse or neglect were substantiated or
established in 2015. Essex County saw a decrease in juvenile arrest rates from 13.9 in 2011 to 10.2 in
2015, following a statewide trend of declining juvenile arrest rates.

19th in Education: Essex has a high school graduation rate of 84 percent, lower than New Jersey’s rate of
90 percent. Also, 15 percent of students are chronically absent, one of the state’s highest percentages of
chronic absenteeism. This means students miss 10 percent or more of enrolled school days, or roughly
two days a month. On a positive note, 54 percent of low‐income Essex County students start the day
with school breakfast, placing the county in the top five on this indicator.

In addition to the county profiles and pocket guide, Advocates for Children of New Jersey also released
New Jersey Kids Count 2017: The State of Our Children, in May, which provides state‐level data in all
areas of child well‐being.

To read the reports, visitwww.acnj.org.
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KIDS COUNT is a national and state‐by‐state statistical effort to track the state of children in the United
States, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Advocates for Children of New Jersey is a statewide
child research and action organization and the New Jersey Kids Count grantee.