Each year, the United Way of Northern New Jersey puts out its findings of New Jersey’s working poor, those whom it has coined as ALICE for “asset limited, income constrained and employed.” And the latest numbers are hardly encouraging.

In 2022, more than two in five — or 42% — of children in the state fell at or below the ALICE threshold as being without the basics, the 10th lowest percentage in the country, according to the new ALICE report. The gaps were wide, too, with percentage ranging from 8% in Haddonfield to more than 80% in Paterson.