We live in NJ but how many of us were born here? A crazy answer

Maybe I’m part of the culture Jon Bon Jovi wrote about in “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”

I was born and raised here in New Jersey. I grew up in Rahway in the shadow of their middle school. I’ve lived in other New Jersey towns like Clark, Ocean City, Yardville, Plainsboro, Hillsborough, Raritan Township, and Flemington. My Jersey passport is pretty well-stamped.

I’ve also moved away, though, and lived and worked in places like Massachusetts, Michigan, California, Virginia and Pennsylvania. I always end up coming home.

We hear all the time that New Jersey, being so expensive, is the No. 1  most moved-away-from state. For a while, it looked like our population might shrink, but enough foreign-born folks have moved here that it has increased.

So you would figure on a list of states ranked by how many born-and-bred natives are living there, New Jersey wouldn’t be anywhere close to No. 1. And you would be right. That honor goes to Louisiana.

77.6% of Louisiana’s population was born and raised there. Is it because it’s so nice they don’t want to leave? Or is it more likely their terrible poverty rate prevents them from affording to move out and move on?

So where does New Jersey rank for states with the most born-and-bred residents?

Stacker ranked the states based on the percentage of the total population that was born in their state of residence. They used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

New Jersey’s place on the list may surprise you. Scroll down and see where we landed for having the most residents that were born here.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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