Bergen County has been a hub of age-friendly planning and leadership for more than a decade.
Five of its communities were among the first towns in New Jersey to launch age-friendly community initiatives. Four other municipalities and the County itself have since joined the AARP Network of States and Communities, making Bergen the most represented New Jersey county on that national list. In addition, three other Bergen towns that were selected for the New Jersey Age-Friendly Grants program are in the early stages of forming new initiatives.
From the start, leaders of those early community initiatives prioritized working in partnership with county government, a collaboration that helped launched Age-Friendly Bergen Roundtable, a network of county officials, community leaders, health providers, social service agencies and older-adult stakeholders who meet bimonthly to share information and ideas.
“Bergen County is fortunate to have many service providers and Age Friendly communities dedicated to providing support to older adults throughout the County,” said Rachel Rebich, the county’s age-friendly coordinator.
As the state’s most populous county, Bergen County has long been home to the largest number of senior citizens in New Jersey – with an estimated 193,000 residents over age 65 as of 2025. It also has one the state’s oldest and most robust Area Agencies on Aging – known locally as the Bergen County Division of Senior Services.
The county used funds from the grant program to build on the work begun when it joined the AARP network in 2022 and subsequently appointed a Bergen County Age-Friendly Task in 2024, a panel that includes representatives from multiple county agencies as well as from higher education, health, social service and civic institutions.
“The Age Friendly Community Grant process has not only allowed Bergen County to further assess the interests and needs of older adults in the community, it has allowed us to renew and strengthen our community partnerships and relationships throughout the County,” Rebich said.
Consultants hired for the project conducted 4 focus groups with 35 total participants including community leaders, service providers, and older adults; 12 one-on-one interviews with community stakeholders representing the 8 Domains of Livability; and developed and distributed a community survey for older adults that yielded over 1,200 responses. Project leaders also conducted an extensive review of existing data gathered through the county’s previous reports and surveys, including the 2024 community needs assessment survey conducted by the Division of Senior Services.
The County enlisted several senior centers, communities and service organizations as survey partners to help persuade their constituencies to participate. The partner process undoubtedly helped the County connect with a great number of older adults from 69 of the 70 municipalities in Bergen County. Survey partners with 50 or more responses will receive their own set of survey results and a report.
Such collaborations are essential in a county as sprawling and as densely developed as Bergen County, which has 70 municipalities, the most of any county in New Jersey. Its 977,000 residents live across 246 square miles, some in inner-ring New York City suburbs and others in farther-flung bedroom communities closer to Rockland County, NY.
Bergen is one of the wealthiest communities in the country and has some of the highest home prices and rents. For retirees, particularly those who live alone on limited fixed incomes, affordability is often the most-cited concern, followed by the need for more transportation for non-drivers in this car-dependent region.
A big focus of the many age-friendly partnerships formed in Bergen over the past decade has been bolstering communication and resource navigation to ensure more older adults know where and how to find the assistance they might need.
“Bergen County worked closely with many community partners during the grant period,” Rebich said. “Working together to strengthen partnerships and communication networks will improve our ability to provide quality services and programs to older adults and hopefully make it easier for those communities and organizations starting their Age Friendly journeys.”
A final report from the community needs assessment is now complete, and the Bergen County Age-Friendly Task Force will begin the next phase of the age friendly process to interpret the findings from the assessment into actionable items for inclusion in the County’s Age Friendly Action Plan.