Congressional District
Congressional District 9 (119th Congress), New JerseyBeta·Data under review
118,138 people in the cliff zone (15.5%) · Pop. 762,097· #3 of 12 in New Jersey by cliff exposure
Key metrics
Cliff zone by income band
How the 118,138 people in Congressional District 9 (119th Congress), New Jersey’s cliff zone are distributed across FPL income bands. Higher concentration in the 100–124% band means more people are near the sharpest benefit cliffs.
Income band · 762,097 in poverty universe
Education
Education level shapes which wage paths stay in or near the cliff zone. Below a bachelor’s degree, most wage paths don’t clear the phase-out range.
Of 532,032 adults age 25+ in this community, those without a bachelor’s degree typically earn in the range where benefit cliffs concentrate. An associate degree adds about $17K in annual earnings — but for a family of three, that still lands near the cliff zone ceiling.
66% of adults lack a bachelor’s degree — credential levels associated with occupations where wages typically overlap with benefit phase-out ranges. This education profile suggests the local workforce is disproportionately exposed to cliff-zone earnings, making benefits navigation a workforce retention strategy, not just a social service.
Housing burden
51.5% of renters in this district spend more than 30% of income on housing, and 28.5% spend more than 50%. High housing costs leave less buffer when a benefit cliff triggers a loss.
Families that spend more on housing have less capacity to absorb benefit losses at cliff thresholds. Research shows severely burdened renters (50%+ of income on rent) spend 39% less on food and 42% less on healthcare than unburdened families at similar income levels.
29% of renter households spend over half their income on housing. A family of four at 150% FPL takes home ~$4,125/month. At 50% housing burden, that leaves $2,062/month for everything else. Losing a $200 SNAP benefit or $400 childcare subsidy at that margin doesn’t just hurt — it can make continued employment impossible.
Data accuracy notice
The CLIFF Index is in beta. District-level estimates are derived from Census ACS data and may differ from county-level figures due to geographic apportionment. Send feedback to luke@thepovertysolution.com