Numbers

By Melissa August, Amanda Bower, Christina Lewis, Victoria Rainert, Sylvia Wong Shih Chin, Sora Song, Heather Won Tesoriero, Josh Tyrangiel

GARDEN SPOT New Jersey doesn't get much respect, but the state is No. 1 in all sorts of ways:

$54,226 Median household income, surpassing perennially richest state Connecticut

570 Number of diners, most in nation

$1,034 Average cost of auto insurance, highest in the country

5,000 Number of silver souvenir spoons in a collection at Lambert Castle Museum in Paterson, most in the U.S.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Jersey Diners (Rutgers Univ. Press), Nat'l Assoc. of Insurance Commissioners, Passaic County Historical Society