Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of 2014, Union County's Census-estimated population was 552,939, an increase of 3.1% from the 2010 United States Census, when its population was enumerated at 536,499, in turn an increase of 13,958 (2.7%) from the 522,541 enumerated in the 2000 Census and making it the seventh-most populous county in the state, having been surpassed by Ocean County. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. Its county seat is Elizabeth. The Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked the county as having the 119th-highest per capita income of all 3,113 counties in the United States (and the eighth-highest in New Jersey) in 2009. A study by Forbes.com determined that Union County pays the second-highest property taxes of all U.S. counties, based on 2007 data.