Essex County, New Jersey: New American county. In 2024, voted D+45%. Democratic peak: D+57 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+45MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 863,0022024 5-year
- Median household income
- $80,7892024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 30.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 36.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 25.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+57 in 2012MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+46 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Cook County, IL · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Essex CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Essex County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | +1.9% |
| 1896 | −33.7% |
| 1900 | −26.7% |
| 1904 | −31.4% |
| 1908 | −27.0% |
| 1912 | +11.5% |
| 1916 | −21.4% |
| 1920 | −45.9% |
| 1924 | −43.9% |
| 1928 | −17.5% |
| 1932 | −5.8% |
| 1936 | +10.6% |
| 1940 | −8.1% |
| 1944 | −1.3% |
| 1948 | −3.3% |
| 1952 | −9.7% |
| 1956 | −22.8% |
| 1960 | +12.7% |
| 1964 | +40.6% |
| 1968 | +12.7% |
| 1972 | −2.6% |
| 1976 | +12.8% |
| 1980 | +9.8% |
| 1984 | +11.6% |
| 1988 | +16.1% |
| 1992 | +24.9% |
| 1996 | +43.4% |
| 2000 | +45.7% |
| 2004 | +41.6% |
| 2008 | +52.6% |
| 2012 | +56.7% |
| 2016 | +56.8% |
| 2020 | +55.7% |
| 2024 | +44.9% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 224,596 | 83,908 | 313,283 | ||
| D | 266,820 | 75,475 | 343,591 | ||
| D | 240,837 | 63,176 | 312,884 | ||
| D | 237,035 | 64,767 | 304,071 | ||
| D | 240,306 | 74,063 | 316,183 | ||
| D | 203,681 | 83,374 | 289,348 | ||
| D | 185,505 | 66,842 | 259,573 | ||
| D | 175,368 | 65,162 | 254,196 | ||
| D | 158,130 | 89,146 | 276,858 | ||
| D | 156,098 | 111,491 | 276,967 | ||
| D | 173,295 | 136,798 | 314,543 | ||
| D | 145,281 | 117,222 | 287,166 | ||
| D | 174,434 | 133,911 | 315,812 | ||
| R | 161,270 | 170,036 | 338,888 | ||
| D | 185,440 | 140,084 | 357,095 | ||
| D | 277,042 | 116,172 | 396,477 | ||
| D | 217,878 | 167,848 | 393,623 | ||
| R | 146,313 | 234,682 | 388,253 | ||
| R | 180,501 | 219,863 | 407,635 | ||
| R | 155,468 | 166,963 | 343,567 | ||
| R | 174,320 | 178,989 | 360,742 | ||
| R | 154,363 | 182,124 | 344,034 | ||
| D | 174,857 | 140,991 | 319,441 | ||
| R | 132,666 | 149,630 | 290,772 | ||
| R | 118,268 | 168,856 | 288,514 | ||
| R | 41,708 | 123,614 | 186,673 | ||
| R | 40,970 | 116,168 | 163,848 | ||
| R | 34,596 | 54,167 | 91,439 | ||
| O | 26,250 | 16,994 | 80,601 | ||
| R | 30,191 | 53,687 | 87,004 | ||
| R | 25,452 | 50,508 | 79,863 | ||
| R | 25,735 | 45,318 | 73,294 | ||
| R | 20,509 | 42,587 | 65,525 | ||
| D | 30,176 | 29,044 | 60,324 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Italian
7.6%
Irish
5.4%
German
3.5%
American
3.1%
English
2.3%
Polish
2.1%
Scottish
0.6%
African American
29.0%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 37.7 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$80,789
Essex County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Essex County$80,789
New Jersey$103,556
United States$80,734
Essex County ranks in the top 25% of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
14.6%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1819.0%
Working age (18–64)13.0%
Seniors (65+)17.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
62.2%
speak English only
Spanish20.4%
Other Indo-European11.0%
Other languages3.6%
Asian & Pacific Islander2.9%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 46.2% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Essex County anchors New Jersey's urban core around Newark, delivering presidential margins above 40 points and a population density that makes it a reliable high-turnout anchor for statewide Democratic coalitions.
Essex County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of fifty-seven points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved eleven points toward the Republican candidate — part of the sharpest rightward shift recorded among any group of places in the country.
Its demographics describe the shift: a 30% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $80,789, and a population of 863,002. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Cook County and Allendale County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Essex County, New Jersey. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/34013/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Essex County, New Jersey vote in 2024?
In 2024, Essex County, New Jersey voted Democratic by 44.9 points (D+45), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 313,283 votes cast, 224,596 went Democratic and 83,908 went Republican.
What is Essex County, New Jersey's political typology?
Akashic places Essex County, New Jersey in the "New American" typology — Communities where a large share of households speak a language other than English — multilingual, Democratic-leaning overall, yet the hardest-swinging bloc toward the Republican Party in 2024. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 18 times, Republican 15 times, and other 1 times.
When did Essex County, New Jersey last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Essex County, New Jersey voted Republican was 1972.
How many people live in Essex County, New Jersey?
Essex County, New Jersey has a population of 863,002 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Essex County, New Jersey?
Median household income in Essex County, New Jersey is $80,789 — above the national median of $80,734. The New Jersey state median is $103,556.
What is the political history of Essex County, New Jersey?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Essex County, New Jersey from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 18 went Democratic and 15 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.