A total of 281 of 686 public assets in Jersey City, or roughly 41 percent, are located in current flood zones, according to a new analysis released today by Rebuild by Design.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
“New Jersey is confronting the reality that the impact of weather events — flooding, fires, and heatwaves — are becoming the new reality, as it becomes more and more expensive to live,” Rebuild by Design Director Amy Chester said in a statement.
“We have an opportunity to address this challenge by investing in our infrastructure, creating jobs and lowering costs for families in New Jersey.”
The public assets in the data include: schools, fire stations, police stations, libraries, power plants, wastewater treatment plants, hospitals and healthcare facilities, solid and hazardous waste sites, contaminated sites, and solid waste landfills, among others.
By 2050, the number of public assets in the floodplain will increase to 398, totaling 58 percent – a 17 percent increase from the 2025 figures.
Rebuild by Design has also launched a new interactive map webpage that allows New Jersey residents to enter their home or business address to see if the infrastructure they depend on is at risk of flooding.
Entitled “NJ Underwater: Public Infrastructure at Risk,” the webpage includes two interactive tools that map flood exposure across all New Jersey counties and eight cities, analyzing nearly 19,000 public infrastructure assets statewide.
The city-level tool examines Jersey City, Newark, Elizabeth, Paterson, Asbury Park, Atlantic City, and Camden. On average, 50 percent of public infrastructure across the eight aforementioned major cities including Jersey City will sit in flood zones in 24 years.
Jersey City has the highest number of public assets that are currently in flood zones at 281, which highlights 197 contaminated sites.
Those include 45 parks including Liberty State Park and Lincoln Park; 25 schools including McNair Academic High School, St. Peter’s Prep High School, County Prep High School, and Ferris High School; three healthcare facilities including the city’s only hospital, the Jersey City Medical Center; three libraries, three solid waste landfills; two fire stations – Engine 2 on Grand Street and Engine 5 Ladder 6 on Newark Avenue; one police station – the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Headquarters; one power plant; and one solid/hazardous waste site.
By 2050, the number of public assets in flood zones rises to 398 out of 686.
Hudson County joins Cape May County in facing the highest flood risk among counties in the Garden State, with more than half of their public assets in 2050 flood zones.
Looking at the data, of Hudson County’s 1,503 public assets, 44.1 percent are currently in flood zones increasing to 56.4 percent by 2050.
According to 2025 figures, county public assets at flood risk includes: 437 contaminated sites; 110 parks; 46 schools; 7 healthcare facilities; 7 libraries; 8 landfills; 13 fire stations; 3 police stations; 16 power plants; 9 solid and hazardous waste sites; 4 wastewater treatment facilities; and 3 Superfund sites.
By 2050, the number of public assets in flood zones includes 572 out of 902 possible contaminated sites.
The data shows that 663 pieces of public infrastructure, or 44.1 percent, are currently at flood risk. By 2050, that number increases to 848 or 56.4 percent of all public infrastructure in the county being in floodplains.
Of Hudson County’s 140,300 parcels, 22.8 percent are at risk of flooding as of 2025, increasing to 31.7 percent in 2050.
This translates to roughly 163,767 people currently living in flood-risk areas, with Hudson County having experienced five federal disasters declarations since 2011, totaling $121.6 million in obligations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The number of residents at flood risk will increase to 227,849 people or 32 percent by 2050, increasing by a figure of 64,082.
According to Rebuild by Design, nearly 184,155 people face displacement risk due to flooding currently. Of those, 35,675 or 19 percent of those facing displacement are lower income and may not have the resources to relocate.
Displacement is already underway in many counties, they added.
To mitigate this NJ’s Blue Acres program, a voluntary state-run buyout program, has already acquired 1,677 flood-prone properties and converted them to open space, something Rebuild by Design considers a proven tool to reduce repetitive losses.
Although Blue Acres has bought out 1,677 flood-damaged properties across 13 counties and 47 cities, there are currently no Blue Acres parcels in Jersey City or in Hudson County.
Worsening flood risk threatens both critical public infrastructure and the economy, according to Rebuild by Design, with the current market value economic risk county wide estimated at $62.6 billion, skyrocketing to $82.4 billion by 2050.
When it comes to tax revenue, currently $684.8 million is at risk compared to the increased $914 million in 2050.
Statewide, the economic risk totals $435.9 billion in property value and $5.9 billion in annual tax revenue, which regularly funds schools, water systems, and emergency services.
Across the state, nearly 1 in 4 of New Jersey’s public assets are in current flood zones, and that figure is set to increase by 55 percent from 2025 figures.
“New Jersey families, businesses, schools, and critical infrastructure including hospitals, police and fire stations are at risk for flooding, and more will face that risk as the impacts of climate change continue to increase,” noted Association of New Jersey Environmental Commission Executive Director Jennifer Coffey.
“The State of New Jersey has the opportunity to help protect what matters, the lives, homes, and businesses of New Jerseyans, by adopting better building codes that require planning for flooding by implementing the New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats Resilient Environments and Landscapes (NJPACT REAL) this July.”
Rebuild by Design also analyzed the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims data and found that the program paid out $6.5 billion on more than 230,000 claims across all 21 New Jersey counties between 2019 and 2025.
Three counties, including Hudson, rank among the top 100 nationally for insurance non-renewals, with Hudson County premiums spiking $1,249 or 128 percent in five years from 2018 to 2023.
The financial pressure extends well beyond flood claims, Rebuild by Design also wrote in the report, as New Jersey electricity prices rose more than one-third between June 2023 and June 2025, with some families seeing 20 percent increases in a single year.
Homeowners insurance costs have risen 26 percent since 2021 and nearly half of the state’s 127 insurance companies filed for further rate increases in 2025.
New Jersey has received $7.9 billion in federal disaster assistance from 2011 to 2024, but has no dedicated funding source for climate-ready infrastructure, according to Rebuild by Design.
Their analysis cites data showing that 93 percent of NJ voters say it is important for the state to invest in projects that reduce weather damage, including 97 percent of Democrats and 89 percent of Republicans.
