West Essex

West Essex is the far northwestern region of Essex County, New Jersey, United States, bordering Passaic County and Morris County.

It is considered to be one of the more affluent parts of the county, as opposed to very poor eastern Essex cities such as Newark, East Orange, and Irvington. As opposed to these city settings, the towns in West Essex are more suburban. Most of the towns have typically been white ethnically, where Newark and its bordering cities all have black majorities. Many often use the "East Essex" vs "West Essex" argument to show the contrast between the two parts of the county, although this is generally considered to be a huge oversimplification of reality, as the county is no more than ten miles from the farthest point "west" to the farthest point "east" and there are several towns in the county that have much more of a cross-pollination of ethnic and racial groups than can be seen in many other places. For example, middle and upper class blacks often strive to (and do) move west out of Newark. Working class blacks often work in West Essex. On the other hand, given Newark's recent revitalization, many upper class whites who live in West Essex commute to corporations, such as Prudential, in Newark. West Essex also has substantial Hispanic and Asian populations. The towns that separate Newark and East Orange from the West Essex area, such as South Orange, Maplewood, West Orange, Bloomfield, and Montclair have a balance of black and white people, and of different classes, generally unseen in smalltown America.