Kiryas Joel
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 part of the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown New York Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the larger 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, and the youngest, at 13.2 years old, of any population center of over 5,000 residents in the United States.Residents of Kiryas Joel, like those of other Haredi and Orthodox Jewish communities, typically have large families, and this has driven rapid population growth.According to 2008 census figures, the village has the highest poverty rate in the nation. More than two-thirds of the residents live below the federal poverty line, and 40% receive food stamps.
