NJ · Garden State · Northeast · admitted 1787 (#3)
New Jersey map
New Jersey highlighted on the US map, with its capital Trenton on the Delaware River and largest city Newark across the Hudson from New York City. It is the most densely populated state.
- Capital
- Trenton
- Largest city
- Newark
- Population (2020)
- 9,288,994
- Area
- 8,723 sq mi
- Counties
- 21
- Time zone
- Eastern
- Region
- Northeast · Middle Atlantic
- Statehood
- December 18, 1787
Where New Jersey is
New Jersey occupies the peninsula between the Hudson and Delaware rivers on the Mid-Atlantic coast. It is about 170 miles long from High Point to Cape May and about 70 miles wide at the middle. Clockwise from the north: New York along a surveyed line, then across the Hudson River and New York Bay to the east; the Atlantic Ocean down the 130-mile Jersey Shore; Delaware Bay and Delaware to the southwest; and Pennsylvania across the Delaware River to the west. It ranks 47th in area but 11th in population, giving it over 1,200 people per square mile.
Major cities
| City | Region of state | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Newark | Northeast, on Newark Bay | 311,549 |
| Jersey City | Northeast, on the Hudson | 292,449 |
| Paterson | Northeast, on the Passaic | 159,732 |
| Elizabeth | Northeast, Union County | 137,298 |
| Trenton (capital) | Central, on the Delaware | 90,871 |
| Camden | South, across from Philadelphia | 71,791 |
No city has 400,000 people. The northeast is part of the New York metropolitan area and the southwest is part of Philadelphia's; the two metros together cover most of the state's residents.
Geography
- Highest point — High Point, 1,803 ft, on Kittatinny Mountain in the northwest corner near the New York line.
- Delaware River — the entire western border, passing the Delaware Water Gap, Trenton and Camden before widening into Delaware Bay.
- Hudson River — the northeastern border with New York; the Palisades cliffs face Manhattan. See the Hudson River map.
- Pine Barrens — about 1.1 million acres of sandy pine forest across the southern interior, over the Kirkwood–Cohansey aquifer.
- Coast — barrier islands and bays from Sandy Hook to Cape May, including Atlantic City and Long Beach Island.
- Other rivers — the Passaic (with the Great Falls at Paterson), the Raritan and the Hackensack; the Meadowlands wetlands lie between Newark and the Hudson.
Borders
The Delaware River is the natural border with Pennsylvania and Delaware, but the line does not simply follow the middle: within a 12-mile circle centered on New Castle, Delaware, the state of Delaware owns the river to the New Jersey low-water mark, a colonial grant upheld by the Supreme Court in 1934 and again in 2008. The New York border is a surveyed line from the Delaware River at Port Jervis to the Hudson at about 41°N, then the Hudson, New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill around Staten Island. Ellis Island is split between the two states.
Regions of New Jersey
North Jersey (the Gateway counties around Newark and the Skylands of the northwest highlands), Central Jersey around New Brunswick, Princeton and Trenton, South Jersey around Camden and the Pine Barrens, and the Jersey Shore along the Atlantic. The Delaware Bayshore in the far southwest is the least populated corner.
Related maps
- New Jersey county map — all 21 counties with seats.
- Blank New Jersey map — outline for printing.
- Printable New Jersey map.
- Trenton — the capital, midway between New York and Philadelphia.
- Neighbors: New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania.
- Northeast, Middle Atlantic division, Mid-Atlantic, Eastern Time Zone.
- Geography: Hudson River, coastlines, Appalachian Mountains.