As of the census of 2000, there were 884,118 people, 330,817 households, and 235,210 families residing in the county. The population density was 3,776 people per square mile (1,458/km²). There were 339,820 housing units at an average density of 1,451 per square mile (560/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 78.41% White, 5.27% Black or African American, 0.15% Native American, 10.67% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.22% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races. 10.34% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 330,817 households out of which 32.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.90% were married couples living together, 9.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.90% were non-families. 24.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the county the population was spread out with 23.00% under the age of 18, 6.60% from 18 to 24, 30.60% from 25 to 44, 24.50% from 45 to 64, and 15.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.40 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $65,241, and the median income for a family was $78,079 (these figures had risen to $78,314 and $96,589 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $51,346 versus $37,295 for females. The per capita income for the county was $33,638. About 3.40% of families and 5.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.90% of those under age 18 and 5.90% of those age 65 or over.
Bergen is the most populous county in New Jersey, with approximately 90,000 more residents than Essex County (the second-ranked county in 2000), accounting for 10.5% of the state's population. It is also fairly diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and religion. One of the largest immigrant groups in Bergen County is the Korean American community, which is concentrated along the Hudson River - especially in the area near the George Washington Bridge - and represents over half of the state's entire Korean population. Palisades Park boasts the highest percentage (36.38%) and total number (6,065) of Koreans among all municipalities in the state, while neighboring Fort Lee has the second largest cluster (5,978) and third highest proportion (17.18%, trailing Leonia's 17.24%). Eight of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population are located in Bergen County, including Palisades Park, Leonia, Fort Lee, Ridgefield, Closter, Norwood, Edgewater, and Englewood Cliffs. Overall, sixteen of the top twenty communities on that list are located in Bergen; virtually all are in the eastern third of the county near the Hudson River.
In addition, the commercial districts of several communities — including Palisades Park, Fort Lee, Cliffside Park, Ridgefield, Leonia, and to a lesser extent Englewood Cliffs, Edgewater, and Fairview — collectively function as a sprawling suburban Koreatown for northern New Jersey, drawing shoppers from throughout the region. There is also an entrenched Korean population in the Northern Valley, especially in Tenafly, Cresskill, Demarest, Closter, Norwood, and Old Tappan, as well as in several inland boroughs, including Paramus, Rutherford, and Little Ferry.
Indian Americans represent the second largest Asian ethnic group in Bergen County, with slightly larger numbers than the Filipino and Chinese communities. Although the Indian American population in the area is widely dispersed, its biggest clusters are located in Bergenfield, Lodi, Paramus, and Elmwood Park. Bergenfield and, to a lesser extent New Milford, Dumont, and Teaneck, have become a hub for Filipino American immigrants, with Bergenfield becoming the first municipality on the East Coast of the United States to elect a mayor of Filipino descent in November 1999. Taken as a whole, these four adjacent municipalities contain over 40% of Bergen's entire Filipino population, although there are small numbers of Filipinos in many of the county's communities.
The Chinese American population is also spread out, with fairly sizable populations in Fort Lee, Paramus, and Englewood Cliffs. Fort Lee and Paramus have the highest total number of Chinese among Bergen municipalities while Englewood Cliffs has the highest percentage (8.42%). And the small Japanese community, which mainly consists of foreign businessmen and their families, has long had a presence in Fort Lee, with over a quarter of the county's total Japanese population living in that borough alone. The remainder of Bergen's Japanese residents are concentrated in the towns surrounding Fort Lee as well as in a few northern communities such as Ridgewood.
Meanwhile, Italian Americans have long had a significant presence in Bergen County; in fact, Italian is the most commonly identified first ancestry among Bergen residents (21.0%). Overall, 194,614 Bergen residents were recorded as being of Italian heritage in the most recent census. To this day, many residents of the Meadowlands communities in the south are of Italian descent, most notably in South Hackensack (36.3%), Lyndhurst (33.8%), Carlstadt (31.2%), Wood-Ridge (30.9%) and Hasbrouck Heights (30.8%). Saddle Brook (29.8%), Lodi (29.4%), Moonachie (28.5%), Garfield, Hackensack, and the southeastern Bergen towns were Italian American strongholds for decades, but their numbers have diminished in recent years as immigrants have taken their place. At the same time, Italian American population has grown in many of the affluent communities in the northern half of the county, including Franklin Lakes, Ramsey, Montvale, and Woodcliff Lake.
Irish Americans and German Americans are the next largest ethnic groups in Bergen County, numbering 133,351 (12.8% of the county's total population) and 98,929 (11.2%), respectively. As is the case with Italian Americans, these two groups established sizable enclaves long ago and are now firmly entrenched in all areas of the county. Polish Americans are also well-represented throughout Bergen, with 65,232 residents of Polish descent as of the last census. The community's cultural and commercial heart has long been centered in Wallington, where 45.5% of the population is of Polish descent; this is the largest concentration among New Jersey municipalities and the seventh-highest in the United States. In recent years, the adjacent city of Garfield has also become a magnet for Polish immigrants, with 22.9% of the population identifying themeselves as being of Polish ancestry, the third highest concentration in the state. And while Polish Americans are the fourth-largest ethnic group in Bergen County, Poland is also the second most common place of birth (after South Korea) for foreign-born county residents.
Many towns in the county have a significant number of Jewish Americans, including Fair Lawn, Teaneck, Tenafly, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fort Lee, Woodcliff Lake, Paramus, and Franklin Lakes. Teaneck, Fair Lawn and Englewood in particular have become havens for the Conservative and Orthodox Jewish communities, while Fair Lawn, Tenafly, Alpine and Fort Lee are well-known as hubs for Russian Americans, including a substantial proportion of Russian Jews. Closter, and Tenafly also have the largest Israeli communities in Bergen County and two of the three largest in the state. Altogether, 83,700 Bergen residents identified themselves as being of Jewish heritage in the most recent study.
Greek Americans have had a fairly sizable presence in Bergen for several decades, and according to census data the Greek community currently numbers 13,247 county-wide. The largest concentrations by percentage are in Englewood Cliffs (7.2%), Alpine (5.2%), Fort Lee (3.7%), and Palisades Park (3.5%). Similarly, the Armenian American population in Bergen (8,305 according to the 2000 Census) is dispersed throughout the county, but its most significant concentration is in the southeastern towns near the George Washington Bridge. Cliffside Park (3.6%), Englewood Cliffs (3.4%), Oradell (3.1%), Ridgefield (2.4%), Fairview (2.4%), Demarest (2.3%), and Emerson (2.2%) have the highest percentage of Armenians among all municipalities in the state, and in fact are all in the top 20 nationwide. Furthermore, the top 25 New Jersey communities on that list are all Bergen County communities.
Bergen also has a moderately sized Muslim population, which numbered 6,473 as of the last census. Its most notable Muslim enclaves are centered in Teaneck and Hackensack, two of the most diverse communities in the entire county. Bergen's Muslim population primarily consists of Arab Americans, South Asians, and African Americans, although it should be noted that many members of these groups practice other faiths. While Arab Americans have not established a significant presence in any particular municipality, in total there are 11,755 county residents who indicated Arab ancestry in the most recent survey. The overwhelming majority of Bergen's Arab American population (64.3%) is constituted by persons of Lebanese (2,576), Syrian (2,568), and Egyptian (2,417) descent.
The county's African American community is almost entirely concentrated in three municipalities: Englewood (10,215 residents, accounting for 38.98% of the city's total population), Teaneck (11,298; 28.78%), and Hackensack (10,518; 24.65%). Collectively, these three areas account for nearly 70% of the county's total African American population of 46,568, and in fact blacks have had a presence in these towns since the earliest days of the county. In sharp contrast, African-Americans comprise less than 2% of the total in most of Bergen's other municipalities. In Englewood, the African American population is concentrated in the Third and Fourth wards of the western half of the city, while the northeastern section of Teaneck has been an African American enclave for several decades. Hackensack's long-established African American community is primarily located in the central part of the city, especially in the area near Central Avenue and First Street.
The diverse Latino population in Bergen is growing in many areas of the county, but is especially concentrated in a handful of municipalities, including Fairview (37.1%), Hackensack (25.9%), Ridgefield Park (22.2%), Englewood (21.8%), Bogota (21.3%), Garfield (20.1%), Cliffside Park (18.2%), Lodi (18.0%), and Bergenfield (17.0%). Traditionally, many of the Latino residents were of Colombian and Cuban ancestry, although that has been changing in recent years. Currently, Englewood's Colombian community is the largest in Bergen County and among the top ten in the United States (7.17%); Hackensack, Fairview, Bergenfield, and Lodi also have notable populations. The Cuban population is largest in Fairview, Ridgefield Park, Ridgefield, and Bogota, although the Cuban community is much bigger in Hudson County to the south. Since 1990 an increasing number of immigrants from other countries have entered the region, including people from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Ecuador. The diverse backgrounds of the local Latino community are best exemplified in Fairview, where 10% of the overall population hails from Central America, 7% from South America and 9% from other Latin American countries, mainly the Caribbean.
In the Forbes magazine 2006 ranking of the Most Expensive ZIP Codes in the United States, Alpine was ranked as the 8th most expensive in the country, with a median home sale price in 2005 of $1,790,000. In all, twelve Bergen County municipalities were represented on the list, including Englewood Cliffs (ranked #78; median sale price of $1,112,500), Saddle River (107; $997,000), Franklin Lakes (111; $985,000), Woodcliff Lake (266; $786,000), Haworth (342; $747,500), Demarest (350; $742,000), Ho-Ho-Kus (353; $740,000), Wyckoff (405; $700,000), Closter (452; $684,000) and Ridgewood (470; $675,000).
Bergen County has a well-developed road network, including the northern termini of the New Jersey Turnpike (a portion of Interstate 95) and the Garden State Parkway, the eastern terminus of Interstate 80 and a portion of Interstate 287. US Highways 46, 202, 9, 9W, and New Jersey state highways 4, 17, 3, 120, 208, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway also serve the region.
Access to New York City is primarily available for motorists through the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee and the Lincoln Tunnel in Hudson County. Train service is available on three lines from New Jersey Transit: the Bergen County Line, the Erie Main Line and the Pascack Valley Line. They run north-south to Hoboken Terminal with connections to the PATH train. New Jersey Transit also offers connecting one-stop service to New York Penn Station via the Secaucus Junction transfer station. Connections are also available at the Hoboken Terminal to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center and other destinations. Although the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail bears the "Bergen" name, it has not yet expanded to run into the county; this is planned for the future, possibly with connections via a proposed new passenger rail service, the Northern Branch.
There is also bus service, available from New Jersey Transit and private companies such as Academy Bus Lines, Coach USA, DeCamp Bus Lines and Red and Tan Lines, offering transport within Bergen County, elsewhere in New Jersey and to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal in New York City.
There is one airport in the county, Teterboro Airport in Teterboro, which is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Most commercial air traffic is handled by nearby Newark Liberty International Airport in Essex County, which also serves as a major airport for the City of New York.
For the main surface-street routes through the county, see List of county routes in Bergen County, New Jersey.