Warren County Census Statistical Analysis (1990, 2000, 2008) (Summit, Phillipsburg: homes, new construction, income)

[ScranBarre]

Good evening, fellow City-Data members!

As a demographics junkie who just so happens to have recently been investigating Warren County as one of my potential relocation sites (more specifically Phillipsburg), I have begun to do some analysis into demographics trends, using data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. Since I'm probably still going to be sick tomorrow I'll probably add to this with information on median household income, educational attainment, poverty rates, etc. For now those who live in or have an interest in Warren County might be interested to see how their favorite community ranked in terms of population trends in 1990, 2000, and 2008.

Municipal Population (1990)
Town of Phillipsburg: 15,757
Town of Hackettstown: 8,120
Mansfield Township: 7,154
Washington Borough: 6,474
Washington Township: 5,367
Blairstown Township: 5,331
Lopatcong Township: 5,052
Independence Township: 3,940
White Township: 3,603
Pohatcong Township: 3,591
Allamuchy Township: 3,484
Town of Belvidere: 2,669
Harmony Township: 2,653
Knowlton Township: 2,543
Alpha Borough: 2,530
Liberty Township: 2,493
Franklin Township: 2,404
Greenwich Township: 1,899
Oxford Township: 1,790
Frelinghuysen Township: 1,779
Hope Township: 1,719
Hardwick Township: 1,235



Municipal Population (2000)
Town of Phillipsburg: 15,166 (-591, -3.8%)
Town of Hackettstown: 10,403 (+2,283, +28.1%)
Washington Borough: 6,712 (+238, +3.7%)
Mansfield Township: 6,653 (-501, -7.0%)
Washington Township: 6,248 (+881, +16.4%)
Lopatcong Township: 5,765 (+713, +14.1%)
Blairstown Township: 5,747 (+416, +7.8%)
Independence Township: 5,603 (+1,663, +42.2%)
Greenwich Township: 4,365 (+2,466, +129.9%)
White Township: 4,245 (+642, +17.8%)
Allamuchy Township: 3,877 (+393, +11.3%)
Pohatcong Township: 3,416 (-175, -4.9%)
Knowlton Township: 2,977 (+434, +17.1%)
Town of Belvidere: 2,771 (+102, +3.8%)
Franklin Township: 2,768 (+364, +15.1%)
Liberty Township: 2,765 (+272, +10.9%)
Harmony Township: 2,729 (+76, +2.9%)
Alpha Borough: 2,482 (-48, -1.9%)
Oxford Township: 2,307 (+517, +28.9%)
Frelinghuysen Township: 2,083 (+304, +17.1%)
Hope Township: 1,891 (+172, +10.0%)
Hardwick Township: 1,464 (+229, +18.5%)


Municipal Population (2008)
Town of Phillipsburg: 14,528 (-638, -4.2%)
Town of Hackettstown: 9,511 (-892, -8.6%)
Lopatcong Township: 8,404 (+2,639, +45.8%)
Mansfield Township: 8,119 (+1,466, +22.0%)
Washington Township: 6,864 (+616, +9.9%)
Washington Borough: 6,693 (-19, -0.03%)
Blairstown Township: 5,941 (+194, +3.4%)
White Township: 5,905 (+1,660, +39.1%)
Independence Township: 5,696 (+93, +1.7%)
Greenwich Township: 5,114 (+749, +17.2%)
Allamuchy Township: 4,385 (+508, +13.1%)
Pohatcong Township: 3,330 (-86, -2.5%)
Knowlton Township: 3,128 (+151, +5.1%)
Franklin Township: 3,123 (+355, +12.8%)
Liberty Township: 2,918 (+153, +5.5%)
Harmony Township: 2,813 (+84, +3.1%)
Town of Belvidere: 2,635 (-136, -4.9%)
Oxford Township: 2,575 (+268, +11.6%)
Alpha Borough: 2,386 (-96, -3.9%)
Frelinghuysen Township: 2,233 (+150, +7.2%)
Hope Township: 1,955 (+64, +3.4%)
Hardwick Township: 1,620 (+156, +10.7%)

[Tantalust]

I guess you must already have the Warren County tax listing. Helped me a lot in my searching out here.

New Jersey Property Taxes

[fay111]

Interesting - I wonder why the drop in population in Hackettstown. Any ideas?

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by fay111

Interesting - I wonder why the drop in population in Hackettstown. Any ideas?

My guess would be that between 1990 and 2000 Hackettstown may have used up the majority of its remaining undeveloped land for new housing developments, leading to that surge, and then between 2000 and 2008 very little new construction occurred, which meant that very few new families moved in. I also can see numerous newer housing developments (post-2000) showing up in aerial imagery just outside of town, which might mean that after 2000 many people from Hackettstown moved to neighboring townships for newer homes and bigger lots in these developments. This is exactly the case in the Scranton, PA suburb of Clarks Summit, PA, a very affluent and desirable community which in and of itself has been continuing to bleed residents at an alarming rate to its own mini-suburb of South Abington Township, PA, which has the newer housing and larger lot sizes many families want. I can probably guarantee that this is the case in Hackettstown---people want to live in the town, can't find what they want, so they build in the neighboring townships, all of which showed growth during the same period that Hackettstown declined.

I did my http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...own+Photo+Tour and thought the town was very liveable, despite the traffic congestion and relatively non-lively downtown. I could very easily see myself living there. However, I also didn't understand why it was rated one of the "Best Places" a few years ago by Money when I've been to countless other small towns I liked better.