Bergen County, NJ

Settlement & growth (pre-1960)

Long before European arrival, the area now known as Bergen County was the homeland of the Lenape people, particularly the Hackensack and Tappan tribes, who lived in seasonal villages along the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers. Dutch colonists were the first Europeans to settle the region, establishing trading posts and farms in the 1620s and 1630s. The Dutch West India Company granted patroonships, and settlements like Bergen (now part of Jersey City) and Hackensack emerged as early population centers. The English took control in 1664, but the Dutch cultural and architectural influence remained strong, particularly in towns like Bergenfield and Teaneck, where Dutch Reformed churches became community anchors.

Through the 18th and 19th centuries, Bergen County remained largely rural and agricultural, with a population of English, Dutch, and a small number of German and Scots-Irish farmers. The arrival of the railroad in the 1840s and 1850s transformed the county. Towns like Ridgewood, Englewood, and Hackensack became commuter suburbs for New York City, attracting wealthy Protestant families and, later, upwardly mobile Irish and German immigrants who found work in construction, manufacturing, and the growing service economy. By the early 1900s, Italian and Polish immigrants arrived in large numbers, settling in industrial hubs like Lodi, Garfield, and Hackensack, where they worked in factories, silk mills, and brick yards. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe also established communities, particularly in Teaneck and Fair Lawn, which became centers of Orthodox and Conservative Jewish life by mid-century.

The post-World War II boom accelerated suburbanization dramatically. The construction of the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, along with federal highway funding, opened up vast tracts of farmland for development. Bergen County’s population surged from 409,000 in 1940 to 780,000 in 1960. This wave was overwhelmingly white and middle-class, composed of second- and third-generation Irish, Italian, Polish, and Jewish families leaving New York City for larger homes and better schools. Towns like Paramus, Wyckoff, and Franklin Lakes grew rapidly as bedroom communities, while Hackensack remained the commercial and governmental hub.

Modern era (post-1965)

The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act fundamentally reshaped Bergen County’s demographics, as it did across the United States. The first major post-1965 wave came from East and Southeast Asia. Chinese, Korean, and Filipino immigrants began arriving in the 1970s and 1980s, drawn by professional opportunities in New York City’s finance, technology, and healthcare sectors. Fort Lee became a major Korean enclave, with a dense concentration of Korean-owned businesses, churches, and restaurants along Main Street and Lemoine Avenue. Ridgefield Park and Palisades Park also developed significant Korean and Chinese communities, with Palisades Park now having one of the highest percentages of Korean-American residents of any U.S. municipality. Today, East and Southeast Asian residents make up 12.5% of the county’s population.

Indian-subcontinent immigration began in earnest in the 1990s and accelerated through the 2000s, driven by the tech boom and the H-1B visa program. Unlike the East Asian communities, Indian families concentrated more in the western and northern parts of the county. Mahwah, Montvale, and Woodcliff Lake saw significant Indian-subcontinent settlement, drawn by top-rated school districts and large homes. Indian-owned businesses, temples, and cultural centers now dot the Route 17 corridor. Indian residents now account for 4.1% of the county’s population, a share that continues to grow steadily.

Hispanic immigration, primarily from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Peru, surged from the 1980s onward. Hackensack and Englewood became major Hispanic hubs, with vibrant Dominican and Colombian neighborhoods. Fairview and Ridgefield also saw large Hispanic populations, often working in construction, hospitality, and service industries. Hispanic residents now make up 22.1% of the county, making them the largest minority group. The Black population, at 5.3%, is smaller and more concentrated in Teaneck, Englewood, and Hackensack, reflecting historic settlement patterns from the Great Migration and later suburbanization.

Domestic migration has also played a role. Since the 2000s, some white families have moved further out to Sussex and Warren counties for more land and lower taxes, while others have been replaced by upwardly mobile immigrant families. The county’s overall population has grown slowly but steadily, from 884,000 in 2000 to 955,000 today, as new arrivals offset out-migration.