Five Million and Overlooked: Climate Injustice in New Jersey's Overburdened Communities

New Jersey has designated 3,575 census block groups as “overburdened communities” under its landmark Environmental Justice Law — home to more than 5 million residents.¹ These are neighborhoods defined by poverty, minority status, or limited English proficiency. And they are the same neighborhoods bearing the brunt of a changing climate.

The connection is not coincidental. Decades of redlining, industrial zoning, and disinvestment have concentrated pollution sources in the same communities least equipped to adapt to rising temperatures, worsening floods, and climbing energy costs. New Jersey’s 2020 Environmental Justice Law was designed to interrupt that cycle — but the damage already done runs deep, and the climate is not waiting.

Where Climate Risk and Poverty Collide

Under the Environmental Justice Law, an overburdened community is a census block group where at least 35% of households are low-income, at least 40% of residents identify as minority, or at least 40% of households have limited English proficiency.² Across New Jersey, 85% of communities meeting these criteria also face disproportionate exposure to pollution, according to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s Action Plan.³

These same communities face compounding climate threats. A February 2026 analysis by New Jersey Future found that communities of color disproportionately face the consequences of aging water systems, lead exposure, flooding, and climate-related risks — a pattern rooted in historic redlining and discriminatory land-use policies that continue to shape where families can afford to live.⁴

The numbers are stark. Climate Central and its partners estimate that New Jersey already has the most affordable-housing units exposed to sea-level rise of any state in the country: 1,640 units subject to annual coastal flooding today, with that number projected to more than quadruple to 6,825 by 2050 under high-emissions scenarios.⁵ Nearly 1.7 million residents — about one-fifth of the state’s population — live in areas that are flood-prone now or will be within the century.⁶

The Heat Is Rising — and It Is Not Equal

Extreme heat is the deadliest weather hazard in the United States, and its burden falls heaviest on communities that were historically denied investment in green infrastructure. In June 2025, Newark shattered temperature records, reaching 103 degrees Fahrenheit and breaking its previous June high by six degrees. Cities across the state — including Atlantic City, Hammonton, and Vineland — exceeded 100 degrees, with humidity pushing “feels like” temperatures to 105 degrees.⁷

The urban heat island effect makes this crisis profoundly unequal. New Jersey’s cities can run 5 to 20 degrees hotter than surrounding suburban and rural areas, according to the NJ Board of Public Utilities. In Newark, historical averages of 15 to 20 days above 90 degrees have already doubled to 30 or 40 days — and are projected to reach 40 to 60 days by 2035.⁸

This heat drives energy costs through the roof. For every 1-degree-Celsius increase in temperature, peak electricity load can rise up to 5%, and up to 19% of annual cooling costs are directly attributable to the heat island effect.⁷ For families already spending more than 10% of their income on energy, a sweltering summer is not just uncomfortable — it is a financial emergency.

What This Means for Our Community

Monmouth County is not immune. The county has 103 census block groups across 26 municipalities designated as overburdened communities — including Freehold Borough, Asbury Park, Long Branch, Keansburg, Red Bank, and Neptune Township.² Freehold Township and Upper Freehold are also on the list.

These designations reflect real vulnerability. In Freehold, 252 properties face flood risk over the next 30 years.⁹ Across Monmouth County, the communities with the greatest number of overlapping vulnerabilities — workforce challenges, climate exposure, housing instability, and legacy pollution — are concentrated in Asbury Park and Long Branch.¹⁰ But families in every overburdened neighborhood, including those in Freehold, face the same impossible equation: the least resources to adapt, the highest exposure to harm.

For a family in Freehold earning $35,000 a year, a summer heatwave is not an abstraction. It means choosing between running the air conditioner and paying rent. It means children with asthma struggling to breathe on high-ozone days. It means an elderly neighbor without transportation unable to reach a cooling center. Climate change does not create these problems from scratch — it amplifies every inequality that already exists.

How You Can Help

Love of Humanity’s Climate Energy Relief program was built for precisely this moment. We provide direct utility assistance, connect families to efficiency programs, and are developing a Mobile Energy Assistance Unit to bring resources directly into the communities that need them most.

But we cannot do it alone. Every dollar in monthly support helps a family in Monmouth County weather the compounding costs of pollution, heat, and energy burden. $35 a month can cover the gap between a family’s energy bill and what they can afford — the difference between keeping the lights on and a disconnection notice.

What You Can Do Today

If you live in an overburdened community, know your resources. Call NJ 211 (dial 2-1-1) for energy assistance, weatherization programs, and cooling center locations. LIHEAP applications remain open through June 30, 2026. You can also explore the NJ DEP’s EJMAP tool at dep.nj.gov/ej to see what environmental stressors affect your neighborhood.

If you are a donor or community leader, understand that climate justice is not separate from economic justice. Every investment in clean energy, green infrastructure, and direct relief in overburdened communities addresses both at once. Share this report with your network — awareness is the first step toward action.

If you are a policymaker or partner, help us bring the Mobile Energy Assistance Unit to Monmouth County’s overburdened communities. Our proposed mobile resource station can deliver digital kiosks, energy assistance enrollment, Wi-Fi, and bilingual materials directly to the neighborhoods that need them — no fixed location required.