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Jersey City is 3rd Least Financially Distressed City — Maybe

October 26, 2020/in header, Latest News, News /by Jersey City Times Staff

This will probably come as a surprise to many, but Jersey City residents are, on average, in relatively good financial shape. This according to financial website Wallethub which ranked the 100 largest cities in the U.S. for financial distress.  Jersey City lost out only to Anchorage Alaska and Madison Wisconsin.

“While the public-health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is a huge concern, it’s important to pay attention to how the disease has affected the financial status of people in cities across the U.S. While the unemployment rate has been slowly improving as the country reopens, 12.6 million Americans are still out of a job. In addition, one survey estimates that nearly 69% of Americans would find it “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult” to meet their current financial obligations if their next paycheck were delayed for one week. However, Americans in some cities are faring better than others.”

“In order to determine the cities where people are in the most financial distress during COVID-19, WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities without data limitations (Lexington-Fayette, KY, St. Paul, MN and St. Petersburg, FL we excluded) across nine key metrics in six overall categories: 1) Credit Score, 2) People with Accounts in Distress, 3) Average Number of Accounts in Distress, 4) Change in Number of Bankruptcy Filings – June 2020 vs. June 2019, 5) “Debt” Search Interest Index and 6) “Loans” Search Interest Index. WalletHub defines an account in distress as one which either is in forbearance or has its payments deferred.”

WalletHub then “determined the weighted average across all metrics to calculate an overall score for each city and used the resulting scores to rank-order [its] sample.”

WalletHub relied on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Google Ads and WalletHub itself.

On five key metrics, WalletHub ranked Jersey City as follows (with 1 being most distressed and 25 being average).

  • 85th – Change in Credit Score – September vs. January
  • 79th – Change in the Share of People with Accounts in Distress – September vs. January
  • 73rd – Change in the Average No. of Accounts in Distress – September vs. January
  • 97th – Change in Number of Bankruptcy Filings – June 2020 vs. June 2019
  • 59th – “Debt” Search Interest Index

WalletHub’s ranking  may not, however, paint a full picture of Jersey City’s distress level as it draws primarily on bank data, credit data and bankruptcies. Arguably, unbanked and undocumented residents might not be represented in the ranking in proportion to their numbers.  Jersey City Times put this issue to WalletHub. Spokesperson Diana Polk responded, “Since the study consists mostly in an analysis of credit scores, accounts and bankruptcies, those who are unbanked are clearly not included. However, we also took into account Google search indexes for debt and loans, and this is where people are included regardless of whether they are unbanked or undocumented.”

The entire report can be viewed here.
https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-financial-distress/79863/

News Briefs

Hudson County Community College has been named the recipient of a one-year, $850,000 investment from the JPMorgan Chase. The investment will be utilized for a program the College developed to address the challenges of the economic crisis in Hudson County that were brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is designed to provide lasting improvement in the County’s workforce ecosystem.

Mayor Steven Fulop and the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation (JCEDC) have launched the latest round of emergency funding to provide over $2.5 million in direct aid and support to Jersey City’s neediest residents, regardless of immigration status. The city will partner with  York Street, Women Rising, United Way, and Puertorriqueños Asociados for Community Organization (PACO). 

Darius Evans, age 45, of Jersey City was arrested  on Monday by The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the stabbing death of 39-year-old Tyrone Haskins early New Year’s morning. The charges include Murder and two counts of Possession of a Weapon for Unlawful Purposes.

Mayor Steven Fulop is joining forces with Uber to announce a new agreement that will expand residents’ access to COVID-19 vaccinations with free Uber rides to and from Jersey City vaccination sites. Phase 1B includes essential frontline workers and seniors 75 years old and over.

According to a report in the Jersey Journal, Jersey City received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines Monday and plans to begin vaccinating eligible residents later this week at the Mary McLeod Bethune Center.

The federal Paycheck Protection Program, which offers businesses loans that can be forgivable, reopened on January 11th. The revised program focuses first on underserved borrowers – minority- and women-owned businesses.

Jersey Art Exchange (JAX) has merged with Art House Productions effective January 2021 to help improve and expand arts education and opportunities for the Jersey City community. JAX Founder Jacqueline Arias will remain Director of the program at Art House.

Christmas trees will be collected citywide every Wednesday night throughout the month of January. Pickup resumes this Wednesday January 13th.

Keep abreast of Jersey City Covid-19 statistics here.

Governor Murphy has launched a “Covid Transparency Website” where New Jerseyans can track state expenditures related to Covid.  Go here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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