The 'Other' Cities: Migration and Gentrification in Jersey City, Newark and Paterson, New Jersey

Mussab Ali
Katharine Nelson
David D. Troutt

1, April 2025

The Other Cities: Migration and Gentrification in Jersey City, Newark and Paterson, NJ describes housing trends and neighborhood transitions in three mid-sized North Jersey cities that elude conventional descriptions of gentrification. All three have experienced population growth, increased immigration, loss of Black residents and a persistent lack of housing affordability. We describe their particular dynamics three ways: "Bedroom City", "Jobless Gentrification" and "Migrant Metro."

Jersey City is the “Bedroom City” where population growth and higher prices are associated with its proximity to jobs across the Hudson River in New York City.

Newark is in the midst of “Jobless Gentrification” where investment in expensive market-rate new housing and investor-led renovations raise prices without the corresponding job growth seen in traditional gentrification.

Paterson is the “Migrant Metro”, a species of municipalities that have become mosaics of working-class immigration whose density alone—not jobs or new housing—has intensified a lack of affordability. These characteristics distinguish them from traditionally gentrifying cities, but their traits are important bellwethers of urban life across the U.S.

Continue reading the report in its entirety below:

The 'Other' Cities: Migration and Gentrification in Jersey City, Newark and Paterson, NJ