The Middlesex-Monmouth area in New Jersey, located south and southwest of New York City, has a population of roughly 1.5 million, which has grown moderately over the last twenty years. Its major cities include New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, Long Branch, and Asbury Park. This area encompasses a number of higher educational institutions, notably Rutgers and Monmouth universities, as well as a plethora of medical facilities and pharmaceutical companies. It also includes popular points on the Jersey Shore, helping to make leisure and hospitality an important industry sector in the local economy. Employment in Middlesex-Monmouth, which had grown somewhat faster than the rest of the state during the last decade, fell sharply during the pandemic but had fully reversed those losses as of mid-2022—even in its key leisure and hospitality sector, which had seen outsized losses during the pandemic. Income and educational attainment are higher than for the nation, and slightly higher than for New Jersey as a whole.
| Middlesex-Monmouth | Newark* | Bergen-Hudson-Passaic* | New Jersey | USA | |
| Population1 | 1,507,000 | 2,625,000 | 2,205,000 | 9,289,000 | 331,449,000 |
| Pop growth, 10-year change1 | 4.6% | 6.2% | 8.0% | 5.7% | 7.4% |
| GDP, billions1 | $100 | $201 | $150 | $619 | $20,894 |
| Job growth, 5-year change2 | 0.9% | -2.3% | -3.5% | -1.2% | 1.2% |
| Median household income1 | $99,000 | $90,100 | $86,500 | $86,700 | $67,000 |
| Median home price1 | $390,000 | $400,000 | $450,000 | $350,000 | $250,000 |
| Pop share age 25+ with BA+1 | 48.1% | 45.3% | 46.1% | 43.1% | 35.1% |
