BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Last year’s median household income in Hunterdon County was $97,874, which was the highest in New Jersey and fourth-highest total in the U.S. Yet Census Bureau data says that among counties with more than 65,000 people, the increase in households using food stamps was greatest in Hunterdon.

Businessweek reports that the number of people using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, grew to 1,424 in 2010 from 232 in 2007, an increase of 513 percent. The total of food stamp applicants in Somerset County more than tripled, going from 1,237 to 3,777. Somerset County, has the eighth-highest household income in the U.S. at $94,270. No. 10 Morris County saw its food-stamp usage jump from 1,680 to 4,076.

NPR reports that to qualify for food stamps, someone’s household income can't exceed $2,008 a month for a family of four, which is 130 percent of the poverty line, And applicants are required to list all of their income, including stock dividends, and bank accounts.

In Mercer County, use of food stamps more than doubled between 2007 and 2010. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said, “In some of those affluent counties it’s hidden even more because it’s unexpected and because the people there try to hide it.”

According to the Nation, 46.3 million, or one out of every seven people in the U.S. use the food stamp program in a day. And $45.2 billion added to the program from stimulus money has helped millions hurt by the recession. Census Bureau statistics say food stamps moved 3.9 million people’s incomes over the poverty line in 2010.