ZIP Code 07039

Livingston is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 29,366, reflecting an increase of 1,975 (+7.2%) from the 27,391 counted in the 2000 Census. Portions of the original township were later taken to form Fairmount (March 11, 1862, now part of West Orange) and Roseland (March 10, 1908). The township was named for William Livingston, the first Governor of New Jersey. The community has been one of the state's highest-income communities. Based on data from the American Community Survey for 2013-2017, township residents had a median household income of $153,381, ranked 14th in the state among municipalities with more than 10,000 residents, more than double the statewide median of $76,475. The last surviving Harrison Apple tree, the most famous of the 18th century Newark cider apples, was rescued from extinction in 1976. Today, around 30,000 people live around Livingston, with many relocations taking place during this period of growing population shift. The population grew quickly after the 1920s when automobiles became more accessible through stagecoaches. As a result, the town experienced many housing developments especially after World War II with its peak in 1970. The first regular police chief in 1922, an ambulance chief in 1923, and an ambulance unit in 1937 became first aid squad in 1937 which became first regular fire department in 1937. Some major relocations took place in the 1950s and 1960s when the population grew slowly because it was not easily accessible.

History

Livingston's history dates back to 1699 when 101 settlers from Newark wanted to move westward. Between 1698 and 1702, the rules for property ownership were unclear. The settlements began until around the 1740s as the dispute between the proprietors and the settlers continued. In 1811, a petition was filed to incorporate the township from about 100 people who lived in seven distinct areas. On February 5, 1813, the township was officially incorporated. The population grew quickly after the 1920s when automobiles became more accessible. As a suburb of Newark, the town experienced many housing developments especially after World War II with its peak in 1970 of more than thirty thousand residents. Its school system -- which has been nationally recognized since 1998 -- and other programs have been drawing new residents to the town. Its population has maintained a level of diversity while the residents continue the tradition of community volunteerism. The last surviving Harrison Cider Apple tree, the most famous of the 18th century Newark cider apples was rescued from extinction in 1976 in Livingston. The first school was built in 1783 and the first town meeting was held on the same day and they decided to run the township by a Township Committee system. Mt. Pleasant Avenuewhich was one of the first turnpikes in New Jerseywas the only primary access to the city through stagecoaches. The town is located around an hour from New York City and has a population of around 30,000 people who live in eight northern municipalities.

Geography

Livingston is in southwestern Essex County. It is bordered by Roseland to the north, West Orange to the east, and Millburn/Short Hills to the south. The western border is the Passaic River. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 14.12 square miles (36.57 km²), including 13.79square miles (35.7 km²) of land and 0.33square miles of water (2.37%). It is in the New York metropolitan area. Localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Cedar Ridge, Cheapside, Moorehoustown, Northfield, Washington Place and West Livingston. The township is part of the Essex County, New Jersey, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the towns of Roseland, Millburn, and West Orange. It also includes parts of Morris County, including Florham Park and East Hanover, and parts of Bergen County, such as Millburn-Lackawang, and Bergen Township. It has a population of 1,816, according to the United States Census Bureau. The town of Livingston was founded in 1838. It was named after the Livingston River, which is a tributary of the Hudson River. The name Livingston means "the stream that runs through the center of the town" or "the river that flows through the middle of the township". The town's name is derived from "Livingston", which means "river of the same name".

Demographics

There are 12,600 Jews in Livingston, one of the highest percentages of Jews in any American municipality. The neighboring towns of South Orange and Millburn also have high Jewish populations. The 2010 United States census counted 29,366 people, 9,990 households, and 8,272 families in the township. The median household income was $129,208 (with a margin of error of +/ $6,377) in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars. The per capita income for the township was $60,577 (+/ $3,918). About 1.1% of families and 2.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.6% of those under age 18 and 1.7% ofThose age 65 or over. The racial makeup of the township is 82.64% White, 14.54% Asian, 1.20% African American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, and 0.69% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.06% (1,192) of the town's population. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.24. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 90.1 males. In the township, the median age was 43.3 years, and for every 100 Females, the population had 94.6 males. There were 10,284 housing units at an average density of 746.9 per square mile (288.4/km²).

Economy

Livingston is a bedroom community in New Jersey. There are three main shopping areas in the town. The Livingston Mall is located at the south-western corner of the town, and is home to Macy's. Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, a 597-bed hospital established in 1865, is located near West Orange and Millburn. There is a local Public-access television station (Livingston TV on Comcast TV-34 and Verizon FiOS 26), which is maintained by Livingston High School Students. Many office parks are located along Eisenhower Parkway on the western side of theTownship. there are a few headquarters of major companies including former CIT Group corporate headquarters, Inteplast Group headquarters, The Briad Group headquarters and customer service and support center of Verizon New Jersey, as well as a few other smaller companies. Fitness facilities include West Essex YMCA and New York Sports Club. A Jewish Community Center with fitness center also exists just over the border in West Orange. The Westminster Hotel is located in the western part of the township, on the eastern side of Eisenhower Parkway, on Route 10. The Route 10 shopping corridor that extends to East Hanover. It includes the Route 10 Farmer's Market, which is located on Livingston Avenue. The town has a large number of restaurants, many of which are owned by local businesses. It also has a number of bowling alleys, which are popular with tourists and locals. The township has a small number of golf courses, including the New Jersey Golf Club.

Arts and culture

Livingston is home to several performing arts organizations. New Jersey Ballet is a major ballet company based in Livingston. There are many studios at Riker Hill Art Park with more than 40 working artists in various media including pottery, fine metalwork, glass, jewelry, paintings, fine arts, sculpture and photography. Local artists have support from Livingston Arts Association which is an organization formed in 1959 to promote art in the community. The organization is also a member of Art Council of Livingston which has a gallery at Livingston Town Center. Livingston is also the headquarters of New Jersey School of Ballet which offers many classes in Ballet, Jazz and Tap. The company is recognized nationally and internationally with tours in many countries in Europe, Asia and North America. It has annual performance since the first season in 2007. It is also home to the New Jersey State Opera GuildWest Essex Chapter and Livingston Camera Club. It also has the Livingston Art Gallery which is open to the public and has many art classes for adults and children. The gallery is located at the Town Center in Livingston, New Jersey, and is open daily from 9am to 5pm. There is a free admission to the Art Gallery for the first two weeks of each month of the year. The Gallery is open until 9pm on the first Friday of the month of September, and the gallery is open through the end of the third week of September.

Sports

From 1984 to 1989, Livingston was the site of the Grand Prix tennis circuit tournament, the Livingston Open. The Grand Prix was the only professional circuit since 1985 before it was succeeded by the ATP Tour in 1990. The tournament was won by Andre Agassi in 1988, earning him the seventh title in his career. The Livingston Open was held at Newark Academy. It was the last Grand Prix tournament to be held in Livingston before the introduction of the ATP tour. The event was held in the New Jersey suburb of Newark from 1984 until 1989, when it was moved to New Jersey City. The final Grand Prix to be played in Livingston was in 1989, with Agassi winning the title. It is the only Grand Prix event to have been held in New Jersey since the start of the tour in 1985. The ATP Tour began in 1990, with the ATP World Tour beginning in 1991. The first ATP Tour event was played in New York City in 1993, and the first ATP World tour event in New Zealand in 1994, before moving to New York in 1995 and then to Los Angeles in 1996. The last ATP Tour tournament in Livingston took place in 1998, and it was the first tournament in the U.S. to be staged in the United States in 1999 and 2000, with Roger Federer winning the men's singles title in both years. The men's doubles title was also won by Federer in 1998 and 1999, and by Agassi the following year in 2000. The women's singles event was won in 1988 by Maria Sharapova, who went on to win the Wimbledon title.

Parks and recreation

There are more than 470 acres (1.9 km²) of wooded parks with passive hiking trails in Livingston. Additional 1,817 acres are zoned to be preserved in its natural state without public access. As of 2003, there were 842 acres (9% of total land) that were protected from development. The township is planning to build inter-connected mixed-use paths, biking and hiking trails to connect those parks and open space throughout the township. There are many independent sports organizations such as Livingston Little League, Livingston Jr. Lancers (football and cheerleading), Livingston Lacrosse Club, and Livingston Soccer Club. The recreation department under the Senior, Youth and Leisure Services program offers programs for residents ranging from pre-school courses, children games, crafts, and dance to youth and adult sports programs to special programming for seniors. Programming also grew during Covid to include various virtual exercise, meditation, and other types of programs and virtual events. It comprises three parks, Riker Hill Art Parka former Nike Missile control area site, Walter Kidde Dinosaur Parka National Natural Landmark, and Becker Park which were acquired between 1969 and 1977. The art park located atop of the hill is home of many studios in multiple disciplines of art and craft. It is the only functional and publicly accessible park at the present time. The park is located along the border of Livingston and Roseland, but the county designated Livingston as the host community as the RikerHill Art Park.

Government

Livingston has operated since 1957 under the Council-Manager form of municipal government. The Township Council is comprised of five members, elected to four-year terms of office on a staggered basis. Since the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, meetings for local governance have been held through Zoom and Facebook livestream. Livingston is located in the 11th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 27th state legislative district. New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Democrats Cory Booker (Newark, term ends 2027) and Bob Menendez (Harrison, term end 2025) As of 2022, the County Executive is Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. (D, Roseland), whose term of office ends December 31, 2022. The county's Board of Commissioners is made up of nine members elected for three-year concurrent terms and may be re-elected to successive terms at the annual election in November. For the 117th U.S. Congress, Livingston's Eleventh Congressional District is represented by Mikie Sherrill (D, Montclair). For the 2022-2023 session, the 27th Legislative District of the New Jersey Legislature isrepresented in the State Senate by Richard Codey (D, Roseland) and in the General Assembly by Mila Jasey (d, South Orange) The Livingston Police Department (LPD) was established in 1813. It consists of the following divisions: Patrol, Traffic, Communications (911 dispatch), Police Records, Internal Affairs, and Community Policing.

Education

Livingston Public Schools serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 201920 school year, the district, comprised of nine schools, had an enrollment of 6,151 students and 500.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a studentteacher ratio of 12.3:1. Livingston High School received the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award from the United States Department of Education for the 1997-1998 school year. The Tzedek School is a non-sectarian co-educational school of Jewish Heritage and Hebrew Language serving the communities of Livingston and the surrounding area for students in grades K12. During 2007-2008 budget year, Livingston allocated 59.96% of local property tax toward the Livingston Public Schools. Livingston Public Library was ranked 22 out of 232 municipal libraries in New Jersey based on total circulation in 2006.Approximately 26.7% of the township's population 25 years and older have attained professional, Masters or Doctorate degrees.Livingston Chinese School and Livingston Huaxia Chinese School are two weekend Chinese-language schools in Livingston which use facilities of Heritage Middle School and Mount Pleasant school. Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy is a private coeducational Jewish day school that serves preschool through eighth grade. Rae Kushner Yeshiva High school is a four-year yeshiva high school for grades 912. Newark Academy is an private co-ed day school founded in 1774, that serves grades 68 in its middle schools and 912 in the upper school.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey = 18.9. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 1. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Livingston = 3.7 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 31,330 individuals with a median age of 41.9 age the population grows by 2.37% in Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,272.8 residents per square mile of area (877.5/km²). There are average 2.89 people per household in the 9,659 households with an average household income of $120,436 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 6.20% of the available work force and has dropped -3.41% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 22.38%. The number of physicians in Livingston per 100,000 population = 319.6.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Livingston = 48.8 inches and the annual snowfall = 28 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 118. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 205. 86 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 17.9 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 47, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey which are owned by the occupant = 90.54%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 49 years with median home cost = $495,590 and home appreciation of -5.10%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $28.54 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $8,947 per student. There are 13.7 students for each teacher in the school, 707 students for each Librarian and 468 students for each Counselor. 3.71% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 31.16% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 26.68% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).