
New Jersey State Flag |

New Jersey State Seal |

New Jersey Location |
New Jersey
New
Jersey is the fifth smallest but most densely populated state of
the United States of America;
the U.S. postal abbreviation is NJ. The state is named after the island
of Jersey in the English Channel.
Capital |
Trenton |
|
Largest
City |
Newark |
Governor
(2005) |
Richard
Codey (D)Acting |
Area
- Total
- Land
- Water
- % water |
22,608 km² (47th)
19,231 km²
3,378 km²
14.9% |
Population
- Total (2000)
- Density |
8,414,350
(9th)
438 /km² (1st) |
Admittance
into Union
- Order
- Date |
3rd
December 18, 1787 |
Time
zone |
Eastern:
UTC-5/-4 |
Latitude
Longitude |
38°55'N
to 41°21'23"N
73°53'39"W to 75°35'W |
Width
Length
Elevation
- Highest
- Mean
- Lowest |
110
km
240 km
550 m
75 m
0 m |
ISO
3166-2 |
US-NJ
|
Official languages |
None defined
|
|
|
|
|
Geography
New
Jersey is broadly divided into three geographic regions: they are
North Jersey, Central Jersey, and South Jersey. North Jersey is within
New York
City's general sphere of influence, with many of its residents commuting
into the city for work. Central Jersey is a largely suburban area, while
South Jersey is within Philadelphia's
general sphere of influence. Such geographic definitions are broad,
however, and there is often dispute over where one region begins and
another ends.
High Point Sussex
County is the highest elevation in the state.
New
Jersey is bordered on the north and northeast by New
York, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Delaware,
and on the west by Pennsylvania
(the latter two across the Delaware River.)
Prominent geographic
features include:
- Delaware Water
Gap
- Musconetcong_River
- New Jersey Meadowlands
- The Palisades
- Passaic River
- Pine Barrens
- Rancocas River
- Raritan River
- Sandy Hook
- South Mountain

New York Harbor,
with views of Jersey City, in North
Jersey, and its Gold Coast featuring Goldman Sachs Tower.
|
History
Once inhabited by
the tribes of the Lenape Indians, New
Jersey was settled by the Dutch in the early 1630s, who formed a
settlement at present-day Jersey
City. At the time, much of what is now New
Jersey was claimed as part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland,
which also included parts of present-day New
York State and had its capital at New Amsterdam, now known as New
York City. Some of southwestern New
Jersey also was settled by the Swedes in the mid-1600s as part of
the Swedish colony of New Sweden, which included parts of Delaware
and southeastern Pennsylvania.
These territories were taken by the Dutch in 1654 and incorporated into
New Netherland.
The entire region
became a territory of Britain in 1664 when a British fleet under the
command of Colonel Richard Nicolls sailed into what is today New York
Harbor and took over the colony. They met minimal resistance, perhaps
because of the unpopularity of the Dutch colonial governor, Peter Stuyvesant.
The newly taken lands were divided by King Charles II of England, who
gave his brother, the Duke of York (later King James II) the region
between New England and Maryland
as a proprietary colony (as opposed to a royal colony). James then granted
the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River (the land that
would become New Jersey)
to two friends who had been loyal through the English Civil War: Sir
George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton.
During the English
Civil War the Island of Jersey remained loyal to The English Crown and
gave sanctuary to the King. It was from the Royal Square in St. Helier
that Charles II of England was first proclaimed King of England in 1649,
following the execution of his father, Charles I of England. In 1663
in recognition of his loyalty to the English Crown Sir George Carteret,
Jersey's Royalist Governor, was gifted a large tract of land in North
America henceforth known as New
Jersey.
Settlement for the
first 10 years of English rule was in the Hudson River region and came
primarily from New England. The first permanent English settlement was
Elizabethtown, now Elizabeth.
On March 18, 1673 Berkeley sold his half of New
Jersey to Quakers in England (with William Penn acting as trustee
for a time) who settled the Delaware Valley region as a Quaker colony.
New Jersey was governed
as two distinct provinces, West Jersey and East Jersey, for the 28 years
between 1674 and 1702. In 1702 the two provinces were united under a
royal, rather than a proprietary, governor.
Revolutionary War Era
New
Jersey was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British
rule in the American Revolution.
During the War for
Independence, British and American armies crossed New
Jersey several times.
In December, 1776,
the Continental Army under George Washington crossed the Delaware River
and engaged Hessian troops in the Battle of Trenton. The river crossing
has become an iconic moment in the early history of the United
States of America, having been immortalized in Emanuel Gottlieb
Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.
This image was also
chosen to represent the State
of New Jersey on the reverse side of the 1999 New Jersey State Quarter
released by the United States Mint.
Slightly more than
a week after victory at Trenton, on January 3, 1777, the American forces
scored an important victory over the British under Charles Cornwallis
at the Battle of Princeton.
In the summer of
1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall at Princeton University,
making Princeton the nation's capital for
four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the
signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783) which ended the war.
On November 20,
1789 the state became the first in the newly-formed Union to ratify
the Bill of Rights.
Ironically, on February
15, 1804 New Jersey became
the last northern state to abolish slavery by enacting legislation that
slowly phased out slavery. However, by the close of the Civil War, about
a dozen African-Americans in New
Jersey were still apprenticed freedmen and New
Jersey initially refused to ratify the Constitutional Amendments
banning Slavery and granting rights to America's black population.
Women's suffrage
The New Jersey
Constitution of 1776 gives the vote to "all inhabitants of this
Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money."
This included blacks, spinsters, and widows. (Married women could not
own property under the common law.) It used to be held that this was
an accident of hasty drafting: the British were at Staten Island when
the constitution was proclaimed, and it declares itself temporary, void
if there was a reconcilation with Great Britain. Klinghoffer and Elkis
("The Petticoat Electors: Women’s Suffrage in New
Jersey, 1776–1807." Journal of the Early Republic 12,
no. 2 (1992): 159–193.) show that it was a considered decision,
and enforced by later law.
Both sides in elections
mocked the other for relying on "petticoat electors"; both
accused each other of letting unqualified women (including married women)
vote. A Federalist legislature passed a voting rights act which applied
only to those counties where the Federalists were strong; a Democratic
legislature extended it to the entire state. In 1807, as a side-effect
of a reconciliation within the Democratic Party, the legislature reinterpreted
the constitution (which had been an ordinary act of the Provincial Congress)
to mean universal white male suffrage, with no property requirement;
but they disenfranchised paupers, to keep down the Irish.
Law and Government
The state capital
of New Jersey is Trenton.
Richard Codey (Democrat)(2005) is the acting governor, because he is
(and concurrently serves as) President of the State Senate. Former Governor
James E. McGreevey resigned on November 15, 2004, and New
Jersey (like Arizona,
Maine, New
Hampshire, Oregon, West
Virginia, and Wyoming)
has no position of Lieutenant Governor. It is expected that Codey will
serve as acting governor until January 2006. The New Jersey governor
is considered one of the most powerful governships in the nation, as
it is the only state-wide elected office in the state and appoints many
government officials. Additionally, an acting governor is even more
powerful as he simultaneously serves as president of the senate, thus
directing the entire legislative and executive process. The state's
two U.S. Senators are Frank R. Lautenberg (Democrat) and Jon Corzine
(Democrat). New Jersey has
13 Congressional Districts.
New
Jersey is a politically competitive state; the Governorship has
alternated between the parties since the election of Richard J. Hughes
in 1961; the legislature has also switched hands, and one house was
evenly divided in 1999–2001. Three of the last four Gubernatorial
elections have been close. The Congressional seats have also been as
evenly divided as thirteen seats can be.
In national elections,
the state now tends to lean towards the national Democratic Party. It
was, however, a Republican stronghold for years in the past, having
given comfortable margins of victory to the Republican candidate in
the close elections of 1948, 1968, and 1976. New
Jersey was a crucial swing state in the elections of 1960, 1968,
and 1992. In national elections, the state gave large victories to Democrats
in the 1990's, while in the 2004 presidential election with Kerry defeated
Bush by about 6%. The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat
from New Jersey was Clifford
P. Case in 1979. (Nicholas Brady was appointed a U.S. Senator by Governor
Thomas Kean in 1982 after Harrison A. Williams resigned the Senate seat
following the Abscam investigations. Brady served eight months.)
The state's Democratic
strongholds include Mercer County around the cities of Trenton
and Princeton; Essex County and Hudson
County, the state's two most urban counties, around the state's two
largest cities, Newark and Jersey
City; as well as in Camden County and most of the other urban communities
just outside of Philadelphia and
New York City. More suburban
northern counties in the orbit of New York, such as Union and Middlesex,
also trend Democratic.
The more suburban
northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are reliably Republican:
Republicans have strong backing along the coast in Ocean County and
in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially Sussex
County, Morris County and Warren County. Somerset and Hunterdon counties,
more suburban counties in the region, are also Republican in local elections,
but can be competitive in national races. In the 2004 General Election,
Bush received about 51% in Somerset and 56% in Hunterdon, while up in
rural Republican Sussex County Bush won with 64% of the vote.
About half of the
counties in New Jersey,
however, are considered swing counties, but some go more one way than
others. For an example, Bergen County, which leans Republican in the
northern half of the county, is mostly Democratic in the more populated
southern parts, causing it to usually vote slightly Democratic (same
with Passaic County, with a highly populated hispanic Democratic south
and a rural, Republican north), other "swing" counties like
Cape May tend to go Republican, as they also have population in conservative
areas.
New Jersey State Constitution
The constitution
was adopted in 1947. It provides for a bicameral Legislature consisting
of a Senate of 40 members and an Assembly of 80 members. Each of the
40 legislative districts elects one Senator and two Assembly members.
Assembly members are elected by the people for a two year term in all
odd-numbered years; Senators are elected in the years ending in 1, 3,
and 7 and thus serve either four or two year terms.
The New Jersey Supreme
Court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are
appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of a majority
of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year
term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70.
Economics
The Bureau of Economic
Analysis estimates that New Jersey's total state product in 2003 was
$397 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was $39,577, 3rd in
the United States of America.
Its agricultural
outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood,
and dairy products. In particular, cranberries and eggplant are two
of the state's largest crops. Its industrial outputs are pharmaceutical
and chemical products, food processing, electric equipment, printing
and publishing, and tourism. New Jersey's economy has a large base of
industry and chemical manufacturing. Although the state is certainly
not defined by these activities, their existence and visibility to those
passing through the state along some of its major highways does contribute
to many jokes about pollution and ironic plays on the state's nickname,
the "Garden State."
Demographics
As of 2004, the population of New
Jersey was estimated to be 8,698,879.
There are 1.6 million foreign-born living in the state (accounting
for 19.2% of the state population). New
Jersey is the tenth most populous state,
but the most densely populated, at 1,134.4 residents per square
mile.
Race, Ethnicity,
and Ancestry
The racial
makeup of New Jersey
is:
66.0% White
Non-Hispanic
13.6% Black
13.3% Hispanic
5.7% Asian
0.2% Native American
2.5% Mixed race
New Jersey has the
15th largest percentage of minority residents of any state and
the 2nd highest percentage in the North.
It also has
the second largest percentage of Jews (after New
York), the second largest percentage of Muslims (after Michigan.
New Jersey is the
third most Italian-American state in the nation, according to
the 2000 Census, and has large percentages of Blacks, Hispanics,
Arabs, and Asians.
The five largest
ancestry groups in New
Jersey are: Italian (17.9%), Irish (15.9%), African American
(13.6%), German (12.6%), Polish (6.9%).
Newark
and Camden
are two of the poorest cities in America, but New
Jersey as a whole has the highest median household income
in the nation, as well as the second highest per capita income,
after Connecticut.
This is largely due to the fact that so much of New
Jersey is comprised of suburbs, most of them affluent, of
New
York City and Philadelphia.
New Jersey is also
the most densely populated state in the nation, and the first
and only state that has had every one of its 21 counties deemed
"urban," as opposed to rural.
The dominant
race, ethnicity, or ancestry by region and county, according to
the 2000 Census, are the following:
- Italian
- Bergen, Morris, Somerset, Ocean, Monmouth counties
- Irish
- Sussex
- Black
- Essex, Union, Mercer
- German
- Warren, Hunterdon
- Polish/Slavic
- Middlesex
- Puerto
Rican/Hispanic - Hudson, Passaic
6.7% of its
population were reported as under 5, 24.8% under 18, and 13.2%
were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.5% of the population.
Religion
The religious
affiliations of adults of New
Jersey are:
Christian
– 77%
Roman Catholic – 39%
Protestant – 36%
Baptist – 9%
Methodist – 6%
Presbyterian – 4%
Other Protestant or general Protestant – 17%
Other Christian – 2%
Jewish – 5%
Muslim – 1%
Other Religions (e.g. Hindu, Sikh) – 1%
Non-Religious – 16% |
Historical
populations |
Census
year |
Population
|
1790 |
184,139
|
1800 |
211,149
|
1810 |
245,562 |
1820 |
277,575
|
1830 |
320,823 |
1840 |
373,306
|
1850 |
489,555
|
1860 |
672,035 |
1870 |
906,096
|
1880 |
1,131,116 |
1890 |
1,444,933
|
1900 |
1,883,669 |
1910 |
2,537,167
|
1920 |
3,155,900
|
1930 |
4,041,334 |
1940 |
4,160,165
|
1950 |
4,835,329 |
1960 |
6,066,782
|
1970 |
7,168,164
|
1980 |
7,364,823 |
1990 |
7,730,188
|
2000 |
8,414,350 |
|
Music
New
Jersey has long been an important area for both rock and rap music.
Some prominent musicians with connections to New
Jersey are:
- Musician Bruce
Springsteen, who has sung of New Jersey life on his debut album, Greetings
from Asbury Park, N.J. and in many of his most popular songs, including
"Atlantic City," "Born to Run," "Darlington
County," "Freehold," "Jersey Girl" (written
by Tom Waits), "Jungleland," "Spirit in the Night,"
and others. Fellow musician Jon Bon Jovi has also written many songs
about New Jersey and even
named one of his albums after it.
- Frank Sinatra,
born December 12, 1915, the only child of working-class Italian-American
immigrants, in a tenement at 415 Monroe St. in Hoboken.
He sang with a neighborhood vocal group, the Hoboken Four, and appeared
in neighborhood theater amateur shows before he became an entertainment
legend and Academy Award winning actor.
- Bob Dylan's
song "Hurricane" is about the accusation and trial of Rubin
Carter which took place in Paterson.
Dylan's view is that Carter was innocent.
- Legendary jazz
pianist and bandleader Count Basie, born in Red
Bank in 1904. In the 1960s, he collaborated on several albums
with fellow New Jersey native Frank Sinatra.
- Asbury Park,
home of The Stone Pony, where Springsteen and Bon Jovi frequented
early in their careers, which is still considered by many to be a
mecca for up-and-coming musicians.
- The Velvet Underground,
who had their first performance as a band at Summit High School in
Summit, New Jersey.
Songs included "There She Goes Again" and "Heroin."
- Jerseyan Zakk
Wylde of Jersey
City, who is currently the guitarist with Ozzy Osbourne and is
with another popular rock band, Black Label Society. Wylde is famous
for his signature "Bulls-eye" Gibson Les Paul guitar.
- Former Fugee
Lauryn Hill, a South
Orange resident and hip-hop's best-selling solo female artist.
Her 1998 debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, sold 10 million
copies internationally.
- Hip-hop's longest
running radio show, founded by two Jerseyans, Special K (Kevin Bonners)
and Teddy Ted (Ted Whiting) of Hackensack,
who began on New York's WHBI in 1982 and now appear on WPAT-AM.
- Other rap artists,
including Irvington's Queen Latifah, the first female rapper to succeed
in music, film, and TV, and the Grammy-winning Naughty By Nature of
East Orange, who cut 1992's smash hit "O.P.P." Redman, an
influential underground figure and Newark
native, has recently found commercial success through collaborations
with Eminem and the Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man.
- Musical artists
Fountains of Wayne, a group of New Jerseyians who took the name of
a semi-famous lawn and garden store on Route 46 in Wayne,
New Jersey (also featured on an episode of The Sopranos).
- The genre Emo
has recently found its home in New
Jersey, particularly near New
Brunswick. Such bands that fit into this category include Thursday,
My Chemical Romance, Midtown, Senses Fail, Saves The Day, Hidden In
Plain View, The Early November, Armor For Sleep, for some more popular
bands, recently, the growth of Jersey emo bands has seen somewhat
of a decrease as the genre has moved elsewhere.
- Punk music is
also an important alternative style in New
Jersey, perhaps starting with the band that essentially invented
hardcore, The Misfits from Lodi, in the 90's, The Bouncing Souls and
Catch 22 were also prominent figures in New Jersey punk.
- The DeLeo brothers
of Stone Temple Pilots are both from New
Jersey. The brothers, Dean and Robert, are the guitarist and bassist
for the band.
- Pete Yorn is
another New Jersey artist. He has two albums out: musicforthemorningafter
(2001) and Day I Forgot (2003).
- Deborah Harry
from Blondie was raised in Hawthorne,
New Jersey.
- Blues Traveler
was formed at Princeton (NJ) High School in 1987. John Popper, along
with high school buddies drummer Brendan Hill, guitarist Chan Kinchla
and the late bassist Bobby Sheehan are all natives of New
Jersey.
- Spin Doctors
began as Trucking Company in 1989 with Chris Barron (lead singer)
and Eric Schenkman and were high school friends of Blues Traveler
frontman John Popper at Princeton (NJ) high school.
- American Idol
season 4 contestant Anwar Robinson, considered to be one of AI's most
talented male singers, was born in Newark
and grew up in East
Orange and Montclair,
in addition, he teaches music at Edison Middle School in West
Orange
TV and film
Motion pictures and televisions shows also have been set in New
Jersey. The popular television drama The Sopranos depicts the life
of a New Jersey organized crime family and is filmed on location at
various places throughout the state.
The 2004 Sundance
Film Festival favorite Garden State (starring Zach Braff and Natalie
Portman) was shot on location in Morris Township. Also, the popular
animated series Megas XLR and Aqua Teen Hunger Force take place primarily
in New Jersey.
Director Kevin Smith
sets many of his films in New
Jersey, particularly his "New Jersey Trilogy" of Clerks,
Mallrats and Chasing Amy. The 2004 movie, Jersey Girl, is also based
in New Jersey. Clerks also
had a short-lived animated series spin-off with the same name. It took
place in the same locations as the movie.
Actor Jack Nicholson
grew up on the Jersey shore, and went to Manasquan High School in Monmouth
County.
The 2004 stoner
film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle took place in New
Jersey. Several locations seen in the movie include Princeton University,
Newark, New
Brunswick, and a fictional White Castle in Cherry
Hill.
Although supposedly
set in New York, the 2003 movie
School of Rock was filmed primarily in Edison
and Mahwah, perhaps due to the significance
these towns have on rock music.
The 1988 comedy
film 'Big' starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, Jon
Lovitz, and Mercedes Ruehl was also filmed in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Bruce Willis grew
up in Penns
Grove, New Jersey.
The movie War of
the Worlds was filmed in many locations in New
Jersey, including Bayonne
and Newark, NJ.
Urban legends
A long circulated
legend says a creature, the Jersey Devil or the Leeds Devil, terrorizes
the population of the Pine
Barrens. New Jersey
is also home to several other urban legends, such as the ghost of Annie's
Road in Totowa,
Midgetville in Edgewater,
Albino Village in Clifton,
the haunted and demon-possessed Clinton Road in West
Milford, and the Witch of Igoe Road in Marlboro.
There is also the popular attraction of the Atco Ghost where the ghost
of a little boy runs across the street late at night chasing a basketball
located on Burnt Mill Road in Atco.
It is also rumored that Jimmy Hoffa, the late leader of the Teamsters
union, is buried beneath Giants Stadium or the New Jersey Turnpike.
Camp NoBeBoSco in
Blairstown was the setting of the original
Friday the 13th movie, which was partially based on real murders that
have occurred near the campground, in the state's rural northwest. Such
horror stories were the inspiration behind the now nationally-famous
Weird NJ magazine and website.
Miscellaneous
The properties
in the United States version of the board game Monopoly are named after
the streets of Atlantic City.
Diners are considered
very common in New Jersey,
and it's thought that nearly all medium-sized and larger towns have
one. New Jersey is home
to many diner manufacturers.
Transportation
The New Jersey Turnpike
is one of the best-known and most-trafficked roadways in the USA. This
toll road carries interstate traffic between Delaware
and New York. Commonly referred to as simply "the
Turnpike," it is also known for its numerous rest-areas named after
prominent New Jerseyans as varied as inventor Thomas Edison; United
States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; U.S. Presidents
Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, ; writers James Fenimore Cooper,
Joyce Kilmer, and Walt Whitman; patriot Molly Pitcher; Red Cross advocate
Clara Barton, and football coach Vince Lombardi.
The Garden State
Parkway, or just "the Parkway," and "The Garden State
Parking Lot" on Fridays during the summer, carries more in-state
traffic, and runs from the town of Montvale
along New Jersey's northern border with New York
to the southernmost tip of the state at Cape
May. It is true that some New Jersey residents who live near the
Parkway or the Turnpike (a majority of the state population) locate
their hometowns according to their respective highway exits, though
very few New Jerseyans living anywhere else in the state will do so.
It also acts as the trunk that connects the New
York metropolitan area to Atlantic
City.
Other expressways
in New Jersey include the
Atlantic City Expressway, Palisades Interstate Parkway, Interstate 76,
Interstate 78, and Interstate 80.
The New Jersey Transit
Corporation (NJ Transit) operates extensive rail and bus service throughout
the state. NJ Transit is a state-run corporation that began with the
consolidation of several private bus companies in North Jersey. In the
early 1980s, it acquired the commuter train operations of CONRAIL that
connect towns in northern and central New
Jersey to New
York City. In 1989, NJ Transit began service between Atlantic
City and Lindenwold,
extending it to Philadelphia
in the 1990s.
New
Jersey has interstate compacts with all three neighboring states.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Delaware River Port Authority
(with Pennsylvania), and
the Delaware River and Bay Authority (with Delaware)
operate most of the major transportation routes into and out of New
Jersey. Tolls for the bridges are charged in one direction—it
is free to get into New Jersey,
but people have to pay to get out. The Scudders Falls bridge on I-95
near Trenton
is still free as of this writing.
Newark Liberty International
Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United
States. Run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who
runs the other two major airports in the New
York City region: John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia
Airport, it is one of the main airports serving the New
York City area. Continental Airlines is Newark's
largest tenant, operating an entire terminal at Newark
which they use as a hub. United Airlines and FedEx operate cargo hubs.
The airport has its own ralroad station on New Jersey Transit's Northeast
Corridor Line which is also served by Amtrak.
Cities, towns, boroughs,
villages, and townships
New
Jersey has 566 municipalities; until recently, 567. Unlike other
states, all of its municipalities are incorporated entities, with fixed
boundaries, and no local government can simply absorb land from another.
When the types of
government were devised in the nineteenth century, the intention was
that cities would be large built-up areas, with progressively smaller
boroughs, towns, and villages; the rural areas in between would be relatively
large townships. This is still often true, although Shrewsbury
Township, New Jersey has been divided until it is less than a square
mile, and consists of a single housing development. Some townships -
notably Middletown, Brick,
Hamilton, and Dover
(which includes Toms River) have, without
changing their boundaries, become large stretches of surburbia, as populous
as (if often more spread out than) cities, often focused around shopping
centers and highways rather than traditional downtowns and main streets.
As with Toms
River, many locations in New
Jersey are simply neighborhoods, with no exact boundaries; often
the cluster of houses, the traditional neighborhood, the postal district,
and the Census designated place will differ.
The five types of
muncipality differ mostly in name. Originally each type had its own
form of government, but more modern forms are available to any municipality,
whatever it may be called. This is the only difference between boroughs
and cities or townships: only boroughs can have the "borough form"
of government (although few still do).
The Federal Government
has often failed to understand that a New Jersey township is just another
municipality; and some municipalities have become the Township of the
Borough of Verona or the Township of South
Orange Village to receive more Federal aid. The Census Bureau also
has a hard time every ten years.
Loch
Arbour is New Jersey's only remaining village.
Important Cities and Towns
Large
Cities (+ 100,000 pop.)
- Newark:
273,546 (Census Estimate 2003: 278,000)
- Jersey
City: 240,055 (Census Estimate 2003: 242,000)
- Paterson:
149,222 (Census Estimate 2003: 152,000)
- Elizabeth:
120,568 (Census Estimate 2003: 124,000)
- Edison
97,687 (Census Estimate 2003: 101,000)
- Woodbridge:
97,203 (Census Estimate 2003: 108,000)
|
Towns
and small cities (60,000–99,999 pop.)
- Dover
Township: (Census Estimate 2003: 93,000) - includes Toms
River, a subsection of the municipality. This township is
not to be confused with the town of Dover,
which is in a different county.
- Hamilton:
87,109
- Toms
River: 86,327 - a town which is part of Dover
Township. This figure is for the census-designated place.
- Trenton:
85,403
- Camden:
79,904
- Clifton:
78,672
- Brick:
76,119
- Cherry
Hill: 69,965
- East
Orange: 69,824
- Passaic:
67,861
- Union
City: 67,088
- Middletown:
66,327
- Gloucester:
64,350
- Bayonne:
61,842
- Irvington:
60,695
- Old
Bridge 60,456
- Lakewood
60,352
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Other
(59,999 -)
The following
communities are college towns or other notable places in New
Jersey with under 60,000 people.
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Wealth of cities
by per capita income:
1
Mantoloking, New Jersey $114,017
2 Saddle River, New Jersey $85,934
3 Far Hills, New Jersey $81,535
4 Essex Fells, New Jersey $77,434
5 Alpine, New Jersey $76,995
6 Millburn, New Jersey $76,796
7 Rumson, New Jersey $73,692
8 Harding Township, New Jersey $72,689
9 Teterboro, New Jersey $72,613
10 Bernardsville, New Jersey $69,854 |
693
Newark, New Jersey $13,009
694 Laurel Lake, New Jersey $12,965
695 Passaic, New Jersey $12,874
696 Seabrook Farms, New Jersey $12,499
697 McGuire Air Force Base,
New Jersey $12,364
698 New Hanover Township, New Jersey
$12,140
699 Lakewood, New Jersey $11,802
700 Bridgeton, New Jersey $10,917
701 Fort Dix, New Jersey $10,543
702 Camden, New Jersey $9,815 |
Educaton
Although some problems
exist in certain inner city neighborhoods, New
Jersey overall is considered to have one of the best public education
systems in the United States.
In addition, 54% of high school graduates continue on to college or
university, tied with Massachusetts
for the second highest rate in the nation (North
Dakota holds first place at 59%. New
Jersey also has the highest average scores for advanced placement
testing in public schools in the nation.
New
Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers than any other state.
Colleges and Universities
- Berkeley
College, various campuses
- Bloomfield
College, Bloomfield
- Caldwell
College, Caldwell
- Centenary
College, Hackettstown
- The College
of New Jersey, Ewing Township
- College
of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown-Florham
Park
- Drew University,
Madison
- Fairleigh
Dickinson University, Florham Park-Madison
& Teaneck-Hackensack
campuses
- Felician
College, Rutherford & Lodi
campuses
- Georgian
Court College, Lakewood
- Kean University,
Union-Elizabeth
- Monmouth
University, West Long Branch
- Montclair
State University, Montclair
- New Jersey
City University, Jersey City
- New Jersey
Institute of Technology, Newark
- Princeton
University, Princeton
- Ramapo
College, Mahwah
- Richard
Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona,
New Jersey
- Rider
University, Lawrenceville
- Rowan
University, Glassboro
- Rowan
University, Camden Campus
- Rutgers,
The State University of New Jersey
- Rutgers,
New Brunswick/Piscataway
Campus
- Rutgers,
Camden Campus
- Rutgers,
Newark Campus
- Saint
Peter's College, Jersey City
- Seton
Hall University, South Orange
- Seton
Hall University School of Law, Newark
- Stevens
Institute of Technology, Hoboken
- Thomas
Edison State College, Trenton
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark
- William
Paterson University, Wayne
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In
addition to the afore mentioned institutions, there are 19 community
colleges, serving the 21 counties in the state.
- Atlantic
Cape Community College, Mays Landing
- Bergen
Community College, Paramus
- Brookdale
Community College, Lincroft
- Burlington
County College, Pemberton
- Camden
County College, Blackwood
- County
College of Morris, Randolph
- Cumberland
County College, Vineland
- Essex
County College, Newark & West
Caldwell campuses
- Gloucester
County College, Sewell
- Hudson
County Community College, Jersey
City
- Mercer
County Community College, Trenton
- Middlesex
County College, Edison
- Ocean
County College, Toms River
- Passaic
County Community College, Paterson-Wanaque-Wayne
- Raritan
Valley Community College, North
Branch
- Salem
Community College, Carneys Point
- Sussex
County Community College, Newton
- Union
County College, Cranford and Elizabeth
- Warren
County Community College, Washington
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Sports Teams
New Jersey Devils,
National Hockey League
New Jersey Nets, National Basketball Association
MetroStars, Major League Soccer
New Jersey Pride, Major League Lacrosse
National
Football League
New York Giants
New York Jets
Minor League Baseball teams
Atlantic City Surf
Camden Riversharks
New Jersey Cardinals (Augusta)
New Jersey Jackals (Montclair)
Newark Bears
Lakewood BlueClaws
Somerset Patriots (Bridgewater)
Trenton Thunder
Miscellaneous
- State bird: Eastern
Goldfinch
- State animal:
Horse
- State flower:
Common Violet
- State tree: Red
Oak
- State fish: Brook
Trout
- State dance:
The Square Dance
- State dinosaur:
Hadrosaurus Foulkii
- State insect:
Honey bee
- State motto:
Liberty and prosperity
- State license
plate slogan: Garden State
The USS New Jersey,
one of the most decorated vessels in the United States Navy, was named
in honor of this state and is now a tourist attraction in Camden,
New Jersey.
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