Skip to main content
Black Health logo Black Health
County profile New Jersey Metropolitan HRSA MUA/P

Black health in Essex County, New Jersey

312,000

Black residents (ACS)

39.10%

Of county population

$46,200

Median household income, Black

9.40%

Uninsured, Black residents

Essex County, Newark, has roughly 312,000 Black residents (~39%). Newark's Central Ward was the epicentre of the 1967 uprising and remains the core of the city's Black population. University Hospital (the former Martland Medical Center, now Rutgers New Jersey Medical School's principal teaching hospital) and Saint Michael's Medical Center anchor the county's clinical care for uninsured Black residents.

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (both part of RWJBarnabas Health) are the county's largest private tertiary-care hospitals. The New Jersey Department of Health's Healthy Women Healthy Families initiative targets Essex County ZIP codes for reducing Black maternal and infant mortality.

Headline outcomes

Race-stratified county-level figures pulled from CDC WONDER small-area estimates, the annual County Health Rankings, and the CDC NVSS state/county life tables. County values with cell counts below CDC suppression thresholds are marked as data pending.

Life expectancy (Black)

75.00 yrs

At birth, CDC NVSS Small-Area LE

Infant mortality (Black)

11.50

Per 1,000 live births, CDC WONDER

CVD mortality (Black)

334.80

Age-adjusted per 100k, CDC WONDER I00-I99

County Health Rankings

#15

Overall rank in New Jersey (lower = better)

HRSA Medically Underserved Area / Population HPSA: Primary Care HPSA: Mental Health

Policy context in Essex

New Jersey has adopted Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which gives low-income Black adults in this county a direct pathway to primary-care and prescription coverage. Medicaid in this state covers doula services. Postpartum Medicaid coverage extends for 12 months after delivery — the federal recommended standard, in place here.

Where to get help in Essex

Find Black health providers & resources in Essex

Black clinicians in Essex

Directory filtered to this county & state

Federally Qualified Health Centers

Sliding-scale FQHCs across New Jersey

Crisis & support resources

988, postpartum helplines, Black-serving crisis lines

New Jersey state profile

Statewide context, Medicaid policy, all 10 health facets

References & primary sources

  1. Demographics: US Census ACS 5-year 2019–2023, Tables B03002 (race), B01003 (total population), S1903 (median income), B27010B (uninsured by race).
  2. Mortality and life expectancy: CDC WONDER county-level Multiple Cause of Death and Underlying Cause of Death, pooled 2020–2022; CDC NVSS Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates, 2016–2020 release.
  3. County Health Rankings: University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute & Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2024 release.
  4. HRSA shortage-area designations: HRSA HPSA Find and MUA/P Find, current as of 2025.
  5. Rural-Urban Continuum Codes: USDA Economic Research Service, 2023 release.

Data refreshed:

More New Jersey counties on Black Health

Browse all New Jersey county profiles