It can be difficult to live in New Jersey with the cost of living what it is right now. Research has shown that around 40 percent of the people in the state have a hard time just paying the bills and making ends meet.
The study was carried out by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, which looked at all 50 states. New Jersey is right in the middle of the pack, ranking 25th in the country.
However, despite that middle ranking overall, foreclosure rates in New Jersey ranked 50th, the worst in the country. On the whole, New Jersey ranked 49th when considering the overall area of housing and home ownership.
Outside of housing and home ownership, the study looked at five other main areas to determine the rankings, with 61 total subcategories. The five other main categories were income and financial assets, jobs and businesses, education, and health care.
As one may expect, New Jersey not only ranks 50th in foreclosure rates, but also in the total percentage of homeowners who have mortgage loans that have been declared delinquent. This doesn’t mean that they’ve just missed one or two payments, but that they haven’t paid in at least 90 days.
Experts say that income inequality plays a huge role, along with the high cost of homes. It means homes are just not affordable for many people, and even those who do manage to get mortgage loans often can’t pay on them for the full term.
Those who are struggling to make ends meet and facing foreclosure need to know what options they have, including bankruptcy.
Source: New Jersey 101.5, “40 percent of New Jerseyans are struggling to make ends meet, report shows,” David Matthau, Jan. 28, 2016
