Demographics & GIS

Forecasts

How many people will live in northern New Jersey 10 years from now? How about 25 years in the future? Which counties and towns will experience the most growth? How many jobs will there be in the region? How will all these factors affect our transportation system? And how will the transportation investment decisions we make affect these trends?

To help answer these questions, the NJTPA updates its regional forecasts for population, households and employment every four years as part of updating its Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), the region’s long-range blueprint for transportation investment. These forecasts are developed in coordination with other regional agencies to help create a consistent set of forecasts for the NY/NJ metropolitan area. NJTPA partner agencies are consulted throughout the process of forecast development.

In 2021, NJTPA completed the latest set of forecasts. Final forecasts were approved by the NJTPA Board on September 13, 2021. These forecasts of future population and employment are critical pieces of information to guide transportation planning and investment decisions in our region.

Creating up-to-date forecasts that are as accurate as possible is a critical task for the NJTPA region. In addition to underpinning the RTP, the forecasts are used as a basis for transportation studies throughout our region and in other NJTPA planning activities including:

These forecasts were developed using NJTPA's Demographic and Employment forecast Model (DEFM), the forecast allocation model used to help distribute expected population and employment growth in the NJTPA region.

For further information, contact Eugene McGuinness at (973) 639-8430 or [email protected]

 

Forecast Data

Forecast Documentation