State bird
Eastern goldfinch (American goldfinch)
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeTrenton ·
U.S. States / Northeast · Card 030
New Jersey
The Garden State
The Delaware River passes through a gap in mountain ridges along the New Jersey–Pennsylvania border.
New Jersey and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights New Jersey.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Trenton
- Postal abbreviation
- NJ
- Population
- 9,548,215July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 22,591 km²8,723 square miles · land and water
- Constitution ratified
- December 18, 1787One of the original thirteen states
- Region
- Northeast
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State song
No official state song.
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania.
02
Landscape & places
The Delaware River passes through a gap in mountain ridges along the New Jersey–Pennsylvania border. The surrounding recreation area includes wooded slopes, waterfalls and river valleys rather than a single isolated viewpoint.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 19,047 km² of land and 3,544 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
The state coat of arms on a buff-colored field.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Delaware Water Gap
How the landscape works
A water gap is a passage where a river crosses a ridge. At Delaware Water Gap, the river and surrounding wooded slopes are parts of a longer corridor. The New Jersey–Pennsylvania boundary follows political geography, while the river provides an ecological and historical connection between the two sides. A border can be a shared feature as well as a dividing line.
History
What the Paterson silk workers were protesting
Paterson became a major center of silk manufacturing, drawing workers with different languages and backgrounds into its mills. Employers sought to increase output, while workers objected to demands that could increase their workload and threaten jobs.
In 1913, more than 20,000 silk workers participated in a strike that lasted over five months. They sought changes including an eight-hour day and limits on expanded loom assignments. The strike drew national attention but ended without achieving its main demands. Paterson’s industrial history includes both the wealth created by manufacturing and workers’ efforts to control the conditions under which they produced it.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
Paterson’s silk workers challenged factory conditions and changes that increased the work expected of them. Their strike illustrates how industrial productivity and workers’ wellbeing can become competing priorities. A machine or new production method may increase output without improving the conditions of the people operating it.
Key dates
-
New Jersey chartered
-
East and West Jersey reunited
-
Constitution ratified · One of the original thirteen states
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation provides a living community perspective from New Jersey. Indigenous connections to the region should not be confined to a preface before the page turns to factories and settlement.
Continue with Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
New Jersey and Delaware
| Measure | New Jersey | Delaware |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 9,548,215 | 1,059,952 |
| Land area (km²) | 19,047 | 5,047 |
| People per km² of land | 501.3 | 210.0 |
New Jersey has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Delaware.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, professional and business services was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included real estate and rental and leasing, educational services, health care, and social assistance, and government and government enterprises.
Total economic output was $887.2 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Professional and business services: 16.2%
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 16.2%
- Educational services, health care, and social assistance: 10.0%
- Government and government enterprises: 9.1%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people9.552025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 9,270,476 |
| 2021 | 9,266,509 |
| 2022 | 9,298,402 |
| 2023 | 9,395,315 |
| 2024 | 9,506,354 |
| 2025 | 9,548,215 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars688.122025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 554,764.4 |
| 2011 | 548,479.3 |
| 2012 | 560,729.7 |
| 2013 | 570,952.4 |
| 2014 | 570,696.4 |
| 2015 | 581,414.9 |
| 2016 | 587,049.7 |
| 2017 | 590,086.7 |
| 2018 | 606,892.2 |
| 2019 | 618,691.0 |
| 2020 | 598,481.3 |
| 2021 | 631,158.3 |
| 2022 | 648,512.4 |
| 2023 | 662,320.1 |
| 2024 | 675,897.6 |
| 2025 | 688,124.0 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
New Jersey’s population increased by about 3.0% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 142024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 122020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about New Jersey
Show a hint
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Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.