West Essex is the far northwestern region of Essex County, New Jersey, United States, bordering Passaic County and Morris County.
It is considered to be one of the more affluent parts of the county, as opposed to poorer eastern Essex cities such as Newark, East Orange, and Irvington. As opposed to these city settings, the towns in West Essex are more suburban. Most of the towns have typically been white ethnically, where Newark and its bordering cities all have black majorities. West Essex also has substantial Hispanic and Asian populations. The towns that separate Newark and East Orange from the West Essex area, such as South Orange, Maplewood, West Orange, Bloomfield, and Montclair have a balance of black and white people, and of different classes.