New Jersey

**New Jersey** is one of the 50 states of the United States of America. It is in the northeastern section of the country along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a geographically small state, shaped like a letter [S], and bordered on the west by Pennsylvania and Delaware across the Delaware River, on the north by New York, on the northeast by the Hudson River and New York City, on the east and southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the southwest by Delaware Bay. New Jersey is divided into 21 counties.

The capital of New Jersey is Trenton and the largest city is Newark, though New Jersey is better known for bordering the large cities of New York City and Philadelphia. The state nickname is "The Garden State". The current governor is Phil Murphy.

New Jersey is the fourth smallest state, but has the eleventh highest number of people. It therefore has the highest **population density** (number of people for the amount of land) in the United States. New Jersey is also well known for its beaches, industries, swamps, and pine forests.

The climate is hot and humid summers and cold winters, with about  of precipitation every year. The average temperature in the summer is between  and , and in winter around 16 °F (-9 °C) to 34 °F (1 °C).

## History

Before Europeans came, the land that is now New Jersey was inhabited by the Lenape (also known as Delaware Indians by the English), who were nomads, hunters, and farmers. The Dutch came to the northern area of the state in the 1630s, after Henry Hudson explored the area, thought it was a nice place, and claimed it for the Dutch. Towns quickly sprang up, occupied by the Dutch, Swedes, and Finns. People rushed in. The first towns, such as Bergen (now Jersey City), Trenton (the capitol), and Burlington developed. Many others started themselves upon the west bank of the Hudson. New Jersey was part of the area known at this time as New Netherland.

In 1664, the English took New Netherland from the Dutch and added it to their colonies. This part was renamed New Jersey after an island in the English Channel known as Jersey.

New Jersey took part in the American Revolutionary War, and was a scene of battles. On Christmas in 1776, George Washington's army entered New Jersey to attack British soldiers at Trenton and Princeton. The American army won, in two small but famous battles that were important in boosting American morale.

Later, the rebels drove the British residents out of Princeton and for a time established a national capital there. New Jersey was the third state to join the US and the first to approve the Bill of Rights.

## Counties

New Jersey has 21 counties:

## Infobox (u.s. state)

- **name**: New Jersey
- **official name**: State of New Jersey
- **image flag**: Flag of New Jersey.svg
- **image seal**: Seal of New Jersey.svg
- **image map**: New Jersey in United States (zoom).svg
- **nickname**: The Garden State
- **motto**: Liberty and prosperity
- **former**: Province of New Jersey
- **seat**: Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton
- **anthem**: Hail, New Netherland
- **largestcity**: Newark, New Jersey, Newark
- **largestmetro**: New York metropolitan area, Greater New York
- **languages**: * English language, English (only) 69.4%
* Tagalog language, Tagalog 15.9%
* Indo-Aryan languages, Indic 2.7%
* Chinese 1.5%
* Korean language, Korean 1.1%
* French language, French 0.97%
* Spanish language, Spanish 0.94%
* Portuguese language, Portuguese 0.91%
* Italian language, Italian 0.83%
* Arabic language, Arabic 0.76%
* Polish language, Polish 0.72%
* Russian language, Russian 0.57%
- **population demonym**: New Jerseyan (official), New Jerseyite
- **legislature**: New Jersey Legislature
- **upperhouse**: New Jersey Senate, Senate
- **lowerhouse**: New Jersey General Assembly, General Assembly
- **senators**:

- **representative**: 9 Democrats
 3 Republicans
- **postal code**: NJ
- **tradabbreviation**: N.J.
- **officiallang**: English
- **area rank**: 47th
- **area total sq mi**: 8,722.58
- **area total km2**: 22,591.38
- **area land sq mi**: 7,354.22
- **area land km2**: 19,047.34
- **area water sq mi**: 1,368.36
- **area water km2**: 3,544.04
- **area water percent**: 15.7
- **population as of**: 2023
- **2010pop**: 13,082,190
- **population rank**: 13th
- **population density rank**: 1st
- **2000densityus**: 1789
- **2000density**: 700
- **2010densityus**: 1210.10
- **medianhouseholdincome**: $79,363
- **incomerank**: 3rd
- **admittanceorder**: 3rd
- **admittancedate**: December 18, 1787
- **timezone1**: Eastern Time Zone, Eastern
- **utc offset1**: −05:00
- **timezone1 dst**: Eastern Daylight Time, EDT
- **utc offset1 dst**: −04:00
- **latitude**: 38°56′ N to 41°21′ N
- **longitude**: 73°54′ W to 75°34′ W
- **width mi**: 70
- **width km**: 112
- **length mi**: 170
- **length km**: 273
- **elevation max point**: High Point (New Jersey), High Point
- **elevation max ft**: 1,803
- **elevation max m**: 549.6
- **elevation ft**: 250
- **elevation m**: 80
- **elevation min point**: Atlantic Ocean
- **elevation min ft**: 0
- **elevation min m**: 0
- **iso code**: US-NJ
- **electoralvotes**: 14
- **website**: https://nj.gov
- **nickname**: The Garden State
- **capital**: Newark


## Infobox (u.s. state symbols)

- **name**: New Jersey
- **flag**: Flag of New Jersey.svg
- **seal**: Seal_of_New_Jersey.svg
- **mammal**: Horse
- **bird**: American goldfinch, Eastern goldfinch
- **fish**: Brook trout
- **flower**: _Viola sororia_
- **insect**: Western honey bee
- **tree**: _Quercus rubra_ (northern red oak), dogwood (memorial tree)
- **colors**: Buff and blue

- **folk dance**: Square dance
- **food**: Blueberry (state fruit)
- **fossil**: Hadrosaurus foulkii
- **quarter**: 1999 NJ Proof.png
- **quarterreleasedate**: 1999
- **route marker**: Ellipse sign 47.svg
- **soil**: downer (soil), Downer