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