New Jersey lagging behind

While most of the Northeast saw their median household incomes rise, the median household income in New Jersey is still stuck.

While Tuesday's Census data brought very good economic news nationwide, it was bad news for New Jersey, showing that the state continues to be economically left behind.

New Census numbers show that while the household median income in 2015 went up by 5.2 percent nationally, the household median income in New Jersey remained stagnant.

New Jersey household income went from $71,994 in 2014 to $72,222 in 2015. Both figures are in 2015 inflation-adjusted dollars.

The percent change in New Jersey between the median household in 2014 and the median household in 2015 was 0.3 percent - the lowest out of any state. If you take into account that the margin of error is 1.1 percent, it makes the percent chance statistically insignificant.

In fact, the New Jersey median income hasn't increased or decreased in statistically significant since 2011. Before then, it had been in freefall since 2008 thanks to the recession.

The Garden State was one of 11 states that showed no increase or decrease in their median household income. The other states were Delaware, West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada Idaho and Alaska.

No state showed a significant decrease in median household income, the data shows.

Despite gains, the nation still hasn't recovered from the recession. The nationwide median household income is still 1.6 percent lower than in 2007.

In comparison, New Jersey's median household income is 5.75 percent lower than in 2007.

The state's poverty rate dropped in 2015, but very modestly - going from 11.1 percent in 2014 to 10.8 percent.

In 2015, there were still 946,114 people living in poverty.

Meanwhile, the nation's poverty rate declined significantly for the second year in a row. In 2015, it was at 14.7 percent compared to 15.5 percent the previous year.

The good news is that New Jersey continues to be one of the states with the top household median incomes. In 2015, it ranked fifth highest in the nation. Maryland and the District of Columbia were number one and two respectively.

The 2015 poverty rate in New Jersey was also the eighth lowest in the nation.

Still, an economically stagnant state that continues to lag year after year is terrible news in the long run, according to Jon Whiten of the research non-profit New Jersey Policy Perspective.

Whiten said that because New Jersey hasn't invested enough in its resources like other economically growing states, the state will continue to get left behind.

"We get our lunch eaten by other states," Whiten said. "The longer that's it's stagnant, the longer the state will continue to not have the resources to get out of it. It feels like we're stuck."

Carla Astudillo may be reached at castudillo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @carla_astudi. Find her on Facebook.