Kiryas Joel, New York

Kiryas Joel, New York
קרית יואל
Village
Official seal of Kiryas Joel, New York
Seal
Nickname: 
KJ
Location in Orange County and the state of New York.
Location in Orange County and the state of New York.
Kiryas Joel is located in New York
Kiryas Joel
Kiryas Joel
Kiryas Joel is located in the United States
Kiryas Joel
Kiryas Joel
Coordinates: 41°20′24″N 74°10′2″W / 41.34000°N 74.16722°W / 41.34000; -74.16722
Country United States
State New York
CountyOrange
TownPalm Tree
Government
 • MayorAbe Wieder
 • AdministratorGedalye Szegedin
Area
[1]
 • Total
1.49 sq mi (3.86 km2)
 • Land1.46 sq mi (3.79 km2)
 • Water0.03 sq mi (0.08 km2)
Elevation
842 ft (257 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
32,954
 • Estimate 
(2023)[2]
41,857
 • Density22,540.36/sq mi (8,704.41/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (US EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Area code845
FIPS code36-39853
GNIS feature ID0979938

Kiryas Joel (Yiddish: קרית יואל, romanized: Kiryas Yoyel, Yiddish pronunciation: [ˈkɪr.jəs ˈjɔɪ.əl]; often locally abbreviated as KJ) is a village coterminous with the Town of Palm Tree in Orange County, New York, United States. The village shares one government with the Town. The vast majority of its residents are Yiddish-speaking Hasidic Jews who belong to the worldwide Satmar sect of Hasidism.

Kiryas Joel is the largest municipality and largest principal city in the Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area, supplanting Middletown in 2023, which in turn forms part of the New York Combined Statistical Area.

According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Kiryas Joel has by far the youngest median age population of any municipality in the United States,[3] and the youngest, at 13.2 years old, of any population center of over 5,000 residents in the United States.[4]

Residents of Kiryas Joel, like those of other Haredi and Orthodox Jewish communities, typically have large families, and this has driven rapid population growth.[5]

According to 2020 census figures, the village has a high poverty rate with about 40% of the residents living below the federal poverty line.[6] It is also the place in the United States with the highest percentage of people who reported Hungarian ancestry, as 18.9% of the population reported Hungarian descent in 2000.[7]

Abe Wieder has served as mayor of Kiryas Joel since 1997; Gedalye Szegedin has served as its Administrator since 2004 or earlier.[8][9]

  1. ^ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  2. ^ "QuickFacts: Kiryas Joel, New York". Census.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  3. ^ Here's The Youngest Town In Every State Archived September 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Accessed September 11, 2014.
  4. ^ City Data Archived January 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Accessed December 14, 2006.
  5. ^ "Neighbors riled as insular Hasidic village seeks to expand". The Korea Times. February 27, 2017. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  6. ^ "Kiryas Joel, NY | Data USA". datausa.io. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference hungarian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "KJ mayor to become Palm Tree supervisor". Times Herald-Record. July 14, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  9. ^ Applebome, Peter (June 20, 2004). "Our Towns; Sometimes, a Pipeline Is a Lightning Rod".