About 150 manufacturing plants employ about a third of the city's work force. Camden leads the nation in the manufacture of licorice extract. Other chief products include fabricated metal products, and radio and television communications equipment.
Shipping is also a major economic activity.
The State University of New Jersey has a branch campus and a law school in Camden. The city's museums include the home in which Walt Whitman, the great American poet, lived from 1884 until his death in 1892. Camden's transportation facilities include the Lindenwold High-Speed Line, a railway that travels from Camden to Philadelphia in about five minutes. Blacks make up about 55 percent of Camden's population. The city also has many people of English, Italian, or Puerto Rican descent.