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People enjoy the shops and restaurants in downtown Morristown, NJ. Young adults have gravitated toward more urbanized living environments and are putting off getting married and having children

(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)

New Jersey's young adults are better educated than they were 30 years ago, but are earning less and are far more likely to live with their parents than the previous generation, according to new data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The new figures, released as part of the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, take a look at the young adult population across the country from a period of 2009 to 2013. They paint a fascinating picture of the state's rapidly evolving 18 to 34 year-old demographic, one that will likely dictate the future of the Garden State but is still suffering the lingering effects of the Great Recession.

Nearly 30 percent of New Jersey's 18 to 34 year-olds now hold a Bachelor's degree, the new data show, compared to 19 percent in 1980 and 22 percent across the rest of the country.

This may seem promising, but more than 40 percent of the state's 18 to 34 year-olds now live with their parents, far outpacing the rest of the United States, where 30 percent of young adults are living with their mother or father.

The percentage of the state's youth living with their parents into their 20s has long been high (33 percent in 1980), which experts attribute primarily to the high cost of living in New Jersey.

The state's 18 to 34 year-olds still earn more than the rest of the country, with a median income of more than $41,000, but this too has declined in recent years. When adjusted for inflation, the state's young adults are earning about $4,000 less than they did in 1990.

It's a trend not exclusive to young adults, as a recent study by the United Way and Rutgers University showed that a width swath of the state is struggling to make ends meet.

The data doesn't exactly paint the rosiest picture of life for as 18 to 34 year-old in New Jersey, but also sheds light on the starkly changing demographics in the state's younger generations in recent years.

More than 71 percent of young adults in the state have never been married, up from 48 percent in 1980. Researchers say young adults are also waiting longer to have children and moving to more urbanized suburbs as careers and education take precedence over family life.

As the state's immigrant population continues to blossom, the minority population among young adults is now larger than the white population for the first time, a transition that likely occurred between 2000 and 2010.

About 50.7 percent of 18 to 34 year olds in New Jersey identify themselves as a race other than white, a higher percentage than the rest of the nation and a massive leap from 1980, when minority young adults made up just 22 percent of the population.

New Jersey's population has been driven by new immigrants in recent decades, which largely explains the dramatic shift. As a result, the number of young adults who speak a language other than English at home has also spiked, and now sits at more than 36 percent of those between 18 and 34.

Stephen Stirling may be reached at sstirling@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @sstirling. Find him on Facebook.