page_title: Hudson County, New Jersey
section_title: Landforms and borders
hierarchical_section_title: Hudson County, New Jersey / Geography and topography / Landforms and borders
caption_attribution_description: View of New York Midtown From Hoboken, Jersey City
context_page_description: Hudson County, a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City is its largest city and county seat.
  As of the 2019 Census estimate, Hudson County was the fastest-growing county in New Jersey compared to 2010; the county's population was 672,391, making it the state's 4th-most populous county, an increase of 9.0% from the 2010 United States Census, when its population was enumerated at 634,266, in turn an increase of 25,291 from the 608,975 enumerated in the 2000 Census. Hudson County is the fourth-most populous county in the state. Hudson County is the geographically smallest and most densely populated county in New Jersey and the sixth-most densely populated county in the United States with 13,731.4 residents per square mile of total area in 2010, and 14,973.9 per square mile in 2017.
context_section_description: According to the 2010 Census, the county had a total area of 62.31 square miles (161.4 km²), including 46.19 square miles (119.6 km²) of land (74.1%) and 16.12 square miles (41.8 km²) of water (25.9%). Based on land area, it is the smallest of New Jersey's 21 counties, less than half the size of the next smallest (Union County) and the eighth-smallest of all counties in the United States.
  Hudson is located in the heart of New York metropolitan area in northeastern New Jersey.
  It is bordered by the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay to the east; Kill Van Kull to the south; Newark Bay and the Hackensack River or the Passaic River to the west; its only land border is shared with Bergen County to the north and west.
  The topography is marked by the New Jersey Palisades in the north with cliffs overlooking the Hudson to the east and less severe cuesta, or slope, to the west. They gradually level off to the southern peninsula, which is coastal and flat. The western region, around the Hackensack and Passaic is part of the New Jersey Meadowlands. Much of the land along the county's extensive shoreline and littoral zone was created by land reclamation.
  The highest point, at 260 feet (79 m) above sea level, is in West New York; the lowest point is at sea level. North Bergen is the city with the second most hills per square mile in the United States behind San Francisco.
  Ellis Island and Liberty Island, opposite Liberty State Park, lie entirely within Hudson County's waters, which extend to the New York state line. Liberty Island is part of New York. Largely created through land reclamation, Ellis Island covers a land area of 27.5 acres (11.1 ha), with the 2.74-acre (1.11 ha) natural island and contiguous areas comprising a 3.3 acres (1.3 ha) exclave of New York. Shooters Island, in the Kill van Kull, is also shared with New York. Robbins Reef Light sits atop a reef which runs parallel the Bayonne and Jersey City waterfront.
  Much of the county lies between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers on geographically long narrow peninsula, (sometimes called Bergen Neck), that is a contiguous urban area where it's often difficult to know when one's crossed a civic boundary. These boundaries and the topography-including many hills and inlets-create very distinct neighborhoods. Kennedy Boulevard runs the entire length of the peninsula. Numerous cuts for rail and vehicular traffic cross Bergen Hill.
  Counties adjacent to Hudson are New York County, New York and Kings County, New York to the east; Essex County and Union County to west; Richmond County, New York to the south; and Bergen County, the only one with which it shares a land border, to the north and west. Given its proximity to Manhattan, it is sometimes referred to as New York City's sixth borough.
caption: Midtown Manhattan, seen across the Hudson River from Hoboken at night
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 40D", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:04:15 01:02:57", "Image ExifOffset": "154", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "776", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10304", "EXIF ExposureTime": "20", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Unknown", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:04:14 22:42:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:04:14 22:42:19", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "-540241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "4/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "4294967295", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "32", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "324000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2592000/583", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "1120501199", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 70, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM"}