Both blacks and whites are leaving N.J.'s largest county, data shows

Bergen County has grown more diverse in the period since the recession, fostering growing Hispanic and Asian populations

Bergen County has grown more diverse in the period since the recession, fostering growing Hispanic and Asian populations, but has also shed white and especially black residents.

The black population fell by more than 7 percent in Bergen County when comparing Census data from 2005-2009 and 2010-2015. The white population fell by more than 5 percent.

Anthony Cureton, president of the Bergen County chapter of the NAACP, said many black people he knows have moved to the South, where it's cheaper.

"You want to get the bang for your buck," he said.

The black population dropped in almost all 70 of Bergen County's towns. The only exceptions were Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood, the only towns with significant black populations and the only towns to gain more black people after the recession.

The southern migration is ironic, said Phil Dolce, director of the Suburban Studies Group at Bergen Community College. Many blacks moved north in the last century to escape racism in the South.

5 things to know about Bill Brenann

Now, the South is the more hospitable place, mostly because of cost, Dolce said. He said a houses in North or South Carolina cost a fraction of what they do in Bergen County.

The same factors are driving white people out of Bergen County, Dolce said. No matter the race, the recession saw wealthy people, in particular, leave the county.

Though whites and blacks left Bergen County, the county's population still grew at a faster rate than the state as a whole after the recession, thanks to an influx of Asian and Hispanic people. These groups saw gains across New Jersey, while whites left in droves.

Bergen County had among the largest increases in nonwhite residents in New Jersey thanks to its proximity to New York and good school systems, said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers.

Suburban towns have always been home to immigrant communities and are more diverse than people think, Dolce said.

"It was never just a Hollywood version of suburbia," he said.

Whites flee the state as Asian and Hispanic population booms. (Carla Astudillo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) 

Leonia was majority Asian before the recession and became more so in the years since. The same is true in Fairview, only with Hispanics.

While these groups are newer to the area, in time, as they make more connections to cheaper areas of the country like the south, they might make the move also, to be replaced someday by other immigrant groups, Dolce said.