Italian-American Towns in New Jersey (Lodi, Millburn: tax, statistics, estimates)

[Kobe Bean]

Jersey city used to hav a lot of Italians back in the day. Especially where I'm from which is The Village, Jersey city. We used to call it the Italian village

[Kobe Bean]

It was a stone throw away from the city.

[NewJerseyMemories]

Originally Posted by Juelz2404

Hanover Park Regional High School is the most Italian school hands down. The teachers, students, coaches, u name it are Italian. The hottest women alive went or go to Hanover Park. The most Italian boy I have ever met who went to Hanover Park is Frankie Tassielli.

That means I'm hot. Thank you!

I graduated from Hanover Park. Except that I am not Italian. Although it was heavily Italian when I went there.

[NewJerseyMemories]

Originally Posted by jknic

I live close to Hammonton (the most Italian of them all) and the only real criticism I have is that it can get a little cliquish. It's a nice town, I think the schools are decent, I know there's good Catholic Schools, there's a train that goes to A.C. and Philly as well as good access to the Expressway. It's safe, has a nice mainstreet, and seems to be doing fairly well. Cacia's is a pretty good bakery and there's Bagliani's (an Italian grocery store). It's surrounded by farmland and is located in the Pine Barrens. There are also several wineries nearby.

Here's an article from last year, when Hammonton was chosen as the most Italian town in New Jersey:

Hammonton Has The Highest Percentage of Italians in the Garden State

[biscman]

How is this information gathered?? Don't ever remember filling out a questionnaire asking me what Nationality we are?
What am i missing??

[NewJerseyMemories]

Originally Posted by biscman

How is this information gathered?? Don't ever remember filling out a questionnaire asking me what Nationality we are?
What am i missing??

Perhaps during the Census?

[dminick14]

We're having a Colubus Day Festival at La Neives Restaurant featuring Rita Paccone and Al Russo in hopes to unify the Italian Federation Social Clubs in our area. It seems our community has been splintered and we hope this event will unify us once again. In this way we can be more effective politically, socially and economically.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by biscman

How is this information gathered?? Don't ever remember filling out a questionnaire asking me what Nationality we are?
What am i missing??

Originally Posted by NewJerseyMemories

Perhaps during the Census?

The long form census used to be the source of such information. Now, the government periodically sends out copies of the American Community Survey to select households via stratified random sample, making it a scientific assessment subject to a margin of error (just like the long form).

[townrater]

Originally Posted by zhelder

Good list, STrapani1105. In addition, Garfield and Lodi in Bergen County have very large Italian populations. Just going into either one of these towns you'll see/feel the Italian influence. There are some incredible Italian shops/stores in both towns. Vitamia pasta/deli in Lodi is amazing (but a bit expensive)! Waldwick also has a pretty sizable Italian population, but not quite as "out and about" as in Garfield or Lodi. Check out Italian Riviera in that town for great food!

BTW, you're more likely to see/notice a strong Italian presence in the more working-class towns (Garfield, Lodi, Belleville, Bloomfield) than in the more affluent ones. I guess the people living in those towns are more reluctant to openly embrace their non-American heritage.

I live in Garfield, there's hardly any Italians. Most white people here are Polish, and it's definitely a Polish/Hispanic influence here. There's still some Italian restaurants, though. Lodi has more, but is also becoming more diverse.

[snj90]

Cool & interesting stats. I'm questioning exactly how it's calculated, however. For example, to me there's a difference between "Italian-American" & "American of Italian heritage."

I would fall under the category of the latter, since a minority of my ancestry is Italian, but I wouldn't call myself the former. Rather, I'd just consider my ethnicity Ukrainian; it's my predominant ancestry and what I identify with ethnically, for a variety of reasons. Italian-Americans, on the other hand, would be predominately, mostly, or solely Italian by ancestry, and would identify that (first) as their ethnicity.

So I'm left wondering about the fact that these statistics likely don't account for people like me. But if it were possible to expand the category to include all NJ residents who have at least some traceable Italian ancestry, I wonder how much more "Italian" the state would be...

I have not really been able to fully clarify this matter. To my knowledge, most ethnicity figures that are commonly cited on C-D (e.g., quantifying how German, Irish, Italian, etc., a place is) are projections originating from the long-form census of 2000 that some people randomly received. The 2010 census, in contrast, did not ask about ethnicity (except the whole Latino/Hispanic question). I have taken a look at that form, and it seems to me that one would have had the ability to identify only one ethnicity on the form. Is my understanding correct? If so, it is likely that if one wants to know what percentage of the total population in a given jurisdiction has at least some Italian ancestry, then the figures cited below would be low estimates, since it is likely than an additional & non-negligible portion of the population can claim some Italian ancestry.

Originally Posted by pbergen

per the link in the previous post, here is a list of all places in new jersey where italian-americans constitute at least 25% of the total population according to the 2000 census:

State Rank, Community name, County, Place type, % Italian, and Nationwide rank
1) Hammonton, NJ (Atlantic County) town 45.9 (2nd highest percentage nationwide)
2) Totowa, NJ (Passaic County) borough 37.7 (9th)
3) Fairfield, NJ (Essex County) township 37.2 (11th)
4) South Hackensack, NJ (Bergen County) township 36.3 (14th)
5) Nutley, NJ (Essex County) township 36.0 (16th)
6) East Hanover, NJ (Morris County) township 35.6 (19th)
7) West Paterson, NJ (Passaic County) borough 34.3 (23rd)
8) Lyndhurst, NJ (Bergen County) township 33.8 (25th)
9) Buena, NJ (Atlantic County) borough 33.5 (28th)
10) Roseland, NJ (Essex County) borough 32.0 (35th)
11) Carlstadt, NJ (Bergen County) borough 31.2 (41st)
12) Wood-Ridge, NJ (Bergen County) borough 30.9 (44th)
13) Hasbrouck Heights, NJ (Bergen County) borough 30.8 (46th)
14) West Long Branch, NJ (Monmouth County) borough 30.5 (50th)
15) Netcong, NJ (Morris County) borough 30.1(61st)
16) Gibbstown, NJ (section of Greenwich Township in Gloucester County) populated place 30.1 (63rd)
17) Newfield, NJ (Gloucester County) borough 29.8 (67th)
18) Saddle Brook, NJ (Bergen County) township 29.8 (69th)
19) Cedar Grove, NJ (Essex County) township 29.7 (71st)
20) Lodi, NJ (Bergen County) borough 29.4 (81st)
21) Greenwich, NJ (Gloucester County) township 29.3 (83rd)
22) Raritan, NJ (Somerset County) borough 29.2 (88th)
23) West Caldwell, NJ (Essex County) township 29.1 (89th)
24) Glendora, NJ (section of Gloucester Township in Camden County) populated place 28.7 (95th)
25) Belleville, NJ (Essex County) township 28.7 (96th)
26) Little Falls, NJ (Passaic County) township 28.6 (101st)
27) Moonachie, NJ (Bergen County) borough 28.5 (102nd)
28) Kenilworth, NJ (Union County) borough 28.0 (107th)
29) Oceanport, NJ (Monmouth County) borough 27.7 (117th)
30) Lavallette, NJ (Ocean County) borough 27.7 (119th)
31) North Haledon, NJ (Passaic County) borough 27.6 (122nd)
32) Longport, NJ (Atlantic County) borough 27.3 (130th)
33) Folsom, NJ (Atlantic County) borough 27.3(131st)
34) Turnersville, NJ (section of Washington Township in Gloucester County) populated place 27.3 (133rd)
35) Port Reading, NJ (section of Woodbridge Township in Middlesex County) populated place 26.9 (140th)
36) Verona, NJ (Essex County) township 26.9 (141st)
37) Hawthorne, NJ (Passaic County) borough 26.5 (147th)
38) Rochelle Park, NJ (Bergen County) township 26.1 (163rd)
39) Washington, NJ (Gloucester County) township 25.9 (171st)
40) Forked River, NJ (section of Lacey Township in Ocean County) populated place 25.9 (172nd)
41) Berkeley, NJ (Ocean County) township 25.7 (176th)
42) Ocean Gate, NJ (Ocean County) borough 25.6 (178th)
43) Blackwood, NJ (section of Gloucester Township in Camden County) populated place 25.5 (182nd)
44) Hazlet, NJ (Monmouth County) township 25.4(185th)
45) Belford, NJ (section of Middletown Township in Monmouth County) populated place 25.3(192nd)
46) Mount Ephraim, NJ (Camden County) borough 25.3 (193rd)
47) Clark, NJ (Union County) township 25.2 (198th)
48) Riverdale, NJ (Morris County) borough 25.1 (204th)
49) East Rutherford, NJ (Bergen County) borough 25.1 (205th)

some comments on this data:

not surprisingly, new jersey has a ton of places in which a quarter or more of all residents are of italian heritage. bergen county leads the way with ten of the 49 places on this list (virtually all in the southern part of the county near the meadowlands). essex county has the second most representation with seven communities on the list, while passaic and gloucester counties follow with five each, monmouth, atlantic, and ocean counties have four each, morris and camden counties have three each, union county has two, and middlesex and somerset counties have one each. nine of new jersey's 21 counties do not have a community where at least 25% of the population is of italian descent.

when analyzed by region, 27 of the 49 places on this list are in north jersey (bergen, essex, passaic, morris, union), six are in central jersey (monmouth, middlesex, somerset), and 16 are in south jersey (gloucester, atlantic, ocean, camden).

when analyzed by metropolitan area, 37 of the places on this list are in the nyc metro (with ocean county included) while 12 are in the philly/delaware valley metro (with atlantic county included).

if you click on the link in the previous post and look at the map at the top of the page, you'll notice that the highest concentrations of italians are overwhelmingly located in the philly-nj-nyc-connecticut-rhode island-boston corridor. there are communities with plenty of italians in upstate ny and western pennsylvania as well, plus a few in suburban chicago and suburban cleveland, but for the most part italians are heavily concentrated in the urban/suburban northeast corridor, with nj right in the middle of everything.

in that same link, you'll also notice that the entire borough of staten island is 33.5% italian. that's insane, especially given the increasing amount of non-italian migration into the borough (russians, asians, latinos, african-americans) in recent years. back in the 1980s, the percentage of italians residing on the island was almost certainly over 40%, which would be an impressive number for a small town of 5,000, let alone an entire borough with hundreds of thousands of residents.