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Jersey City is the second-most populous
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in the U.S. state of
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, after
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
.The Counties and Most Populous Cities and Townships in 2010 in New Jersey: 2000 and 2010
,
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
. Accessed November 7, 2011.
It is the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of Hudson County and the county's largest city.New Jersey County Map
New Jersey Department of State The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing artistic, cultural, and historical programs within the U.S. state of New Jersey, as we ...
. Accessed July 10, 2017.
The city's population as of the
2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
was 283,927, which represents an increase of 18.1% from the 2010 census, when the city's population stood at 247,597. The Census Bureau's
Population Estimates Program The Population Estimates Program (PEP) is a program of the U.S. Census Bureau that publishes annual population estimates and estimates of birth, death, and international migration rates for people in the United States. In addition to publishing tho ...
calculated that the city's population was 283,927 in 2021, ranking the city the 75th-most-populous in the country. Constituting part of the
New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...
, Jersey City is bounded on the east by the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
and Upper New York Bay and on the west by the
Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...
and
Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...
. A
port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internati ...
, with of waterfront and extensive rail infrastructure and connectivity, the city is an important transportation terminus and distribution and manufacturing center for the
Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable water ...
. Jersey City shares significant
mass transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
connections with
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Redevelopment of the Jersey City waterfront has made the city one of the largest centers of banking and finance in the United States and has led to the district and city being nicknamed
Wall Street West Wall Street West is a name used by real estate developers, city officials and news media in the United States to call particular streets or places west of Manhattan that have a high concentration of Wall Street companies or a major exchange. The mo ...
. By the early 2020s, the construction of residential high-rises made median rental rates the highest of any city in the United States.


History


Lenape and New Netherland

The land comprising what is now Jersey City was inhabited by the
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
, a collection of Native American tribes (later called Delaware Indian). In 1609,
Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 160 ...
, seeking an alternate route to
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
, anchored his small vessel Halve Maen (English: Half Moon) at
Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern en ...
,
Harsimus Cove Harsimus (also known as Harsimus Cove) is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment (the Sixth Street Embankment) on the north to Christophe ...
and Weehawken Cove, and elsewhere along what was later named the North River. After spending nine days surveying the area and meeting its inhabitants, he sailed as far north as Albany. The contemporary flag of the city is a variation on the Prince's Flag from the Netherlands. The stripes are blue, white and yellow, with the center of the flag showing the city seal, depicting Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, and other modern vessels. By 1621, the
Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
was organized to manage this new territory and in June 1623,
New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...
became a Dutch province, with headquarters in
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
. Michael Reyniersz Pauw received a land grant as patroon on the condition that he would establish a settlement of not fewer than fifty persons within four years. He chose the west bank of the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
and purchased the land from the Lenape. This grant is dated November 22, 1630, and is the earliest known conveyance for what are now Hoboken and Jersey City. Pauw, however, was an absentee landlord who neglected to populate the area and was obliged to sell his holdings back to the Company in 1633. That year, a house was built at Communipaw for
Jan Evertsen Bout Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...
, superintendent of the colony, which had been named '' Pavonia'' (the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
ized form of Pauw's name, which means "peacock"). Shortly after, another house was built at
Harsimus Cove Harsimus (also known as Harsimus Cove) is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment (the Sixth Street Embankment) on the north to Christophe ...
and became the home of
Cornelius Van Vorst Cornelius Van Vorst (March 7, 1822 – November 19, 1906) was the twelfth Mayor of Jersey City, serving from 1860 to 1862. Biography The kitchen step of his mansion was known to be the slab of marble that was originally the base of the statue of K ...
, who had succeeded Bout as superintendent, and whose family would become influential in the development of the city. Relations with the Lenape deteriorated, in part because of the colonialist's mismanagement and misunderstanding of the indigenous people, and led to series of raids and reprisals and the virtual destruction of the settlement on the west bank. During
Kieft's War Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New Nethe ...
, approximately eighty
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
s were killed by the Dutch in a massacre at Pavonia on the night of February 25, 1643. Scattered communities of farmsteads characterized the Dutch settlements at Pavonia: Communipaw, Harsimus,
Paulus Hook Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck", which translates to "point of land." This "point of land" ...
, Hoebuck, Awiehaken, Pamrapo, and other lands "behind
Kill van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the ...
". The village of
Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
(located inside a palisaded garrison) was established on what is now Bergen Square in 1660 and officially chartered on September 5, 1661, as the state's first local civil government. As a result, it is regarded as the first permanent settlement and oldest municipality in what would become the state of New Jersey. In addition, the oldest surviving houses in Jersey City are of Dutch origin including the
Newkirk House The Newkirk House, also known as the Summit House, located at 510 Summit Avenue is the oldest surviving structure in Jersey City, New Jersey. The two-story Dutch Colonial building, composed of sandstone, brick, and clapboard dates to 1690. Orig ...
(1690),Karnoutsos, Carmela
Summit House / Newkirk House
, Jersey City Past and Present,
New Jersey City University New Jersey City University (NJCU) is a public university in Jersey City, New Jersey. Originally chartered in 1927, and known as Jersey City State College for 40 years of its history, New Jersey City University consists of the School of Business, ...
. Accessed November 13, 2019. "At a high point with a view of the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, the Summit House, previously owned by the Newkirk family, is considered one of Jersey City's oldest buildings. It stands on the east side of Summit Avenue north of Sip Avenue outside of the original boundaries of the historic village of Bergen which was once populated by Dutch settlers.... The date of purchase is not known, but the date for construction of the building is about 1690, and it is known that Newkirk died in 1705."
the Van Vorst Farmhouse (1740), and the Van Wagenen House (1740).


19th century

In 1804,
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
, now a private citizen, was focused on increasing manufacturing in the greater New York City area. To that end, he helped to create the Associates of the Jersey Company which would lay the groundwork for modern Jersey City through private development. The consortium behind the company were predominantly
Federalists The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...
who, like Hamilton, had been swept out of power in the election of 1800 by
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
and other
Democratic-Republicans The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...
. Large tracts of land in
Paulus Hook Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck", which translates to "point of land." This "point of land" ...
were purchased by the company with the titles owned by Anthony Dey, who was from a prominent old Dutch family, and his two cousins, Colonel Richard Varick, the former mayor of New York City (1789–1801), and Jacob Radcliff, a Justice of the New York Supreme Court who would later become mayor of New York City (twice) from 1810 to 1811 and again from 1815 – 1818. They laid out the city squares and streets that still characterize the neighborhood, giving them names also seen in
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
or after war heroes (Grove, Varick, Mercer, Wayne, Monmouth and Montgomery among them). Despite Hamilton's untimely death in August 1804, the Association carried on, though the enterprise was mired in a legal dispute between New York City and the state of
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
over who owned the waterfront. The unresolved dispute would continue until the Treaty of 1834 where New York City formally ceded control of Jersey City to New Jersey. Over that time though, the Jersey Company applied to the
New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...
to incorporate the Town of Jersey. The legislature enacted "An Act to incorporate the City of Jersey, in the County of Bergen" on January 28, 1820. Under the provision, five freeholders (including Varick, Dey, and Radcliff) were to be chosen as "the Board of Selectmen of Jersey City," thereby establishing the first governing body of the emerging municipality. The city was reincorporated on January 23, 1829, and again on February 22, 1838, at which time it became completely independent of North Bergen and was given its present name. On February 22, 1840, it became part of the newly created Hudson County.Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968''
Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. pp. 146–147. Accessed July 27, 2013.
During the 19th century, former slaves reached Jersey City on one of the four routes of the
Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
that led to the city. Soon after the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, the idea arose of uniting all of the towns of Hudson County east of the Hackensack River into one municipality. A bill was approved by the state legislature on April 2, 1869, with a special election to be held on October 5, 1869. An element of the bill provide that only contiguous towns could be consolidated. While a majority of the voters across the county approved the merger, the only municipalities that had approved the consolidation plan and that adjoined Jersey City were Hudson City and Bergen City.Winfield, Charles Hardenburg
"History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time"
p. 289. Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Co., 1874. Accessed December 21, 2011.
The consolidation began on March 17, 1870, taking effect on May 3, 1870. Three years later the present outline of Jersey City was completed when Greenville agreed to merge into the Greater Jersey City. In the late 1880s, three passenger railroad terminals opened in Jersey City next to the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
( Pavonia Terminal, Exchange Place and Communipaw).Liberty State Park: CRRNJ
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Accessed August 30, 2015.
Tens of millions of
immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
passed through these stations as they made their way westward from Ellis Island into the United States. The railroads transformed the geography of the city by building the
Erie Cut Bergen Arches is an abandoned railroad right of way (transportation), right of way through Bergen Hill (the lower New Jersey Palisades) in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey. History Bergen Arches is the common name for the Erie ...
as well as several large freight rail yards.The Bergen Arches of the Erie Railroad
, Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy. Accessed April 1, 2015.


20th and 21st centuries

Jersey City was a dock and manufacturing town for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Much like New York City, Jersey City has always been a destination for new immigrants to the United States. In its heyday before
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, German, Irish, and Italian immigrants found work at Colgate,
Chloro Chlorine is a chemical element with the symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between them. Chlorine is ...
or
Dixon Ticonderoga The Dixon Ticonderoga Company () is an office and art supplies maker from the United States, with headquarters in Heathrow, Florida. The company offers a number of brands, with one of the most well-known being ''Ticonderoga'': the yellow No. 2 penc ...
. In 1908, the first permanent disinfection system for drinking water in the U.S. was installed on the water supply for the city by
John L. Leal John Laing Leal (May 5, 1858 – March 13, 1914) was an American physician and water treatment expert who, in 1908, was responsible for conceiving and implementing the first disinfection of a U.S. drinking water supply using chlorine. He was one ...
. The Hudson Tubes opened in 1911, allowing passengers to take the train to
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
as an alternative to the extensive ferry system. The Black Tom explosion occurred on July 30, 1916, as an act of sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent the materials from being used by the Allies in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. From 1917 to 1947, Jersey City was governed by Mayor Frank Hague. Originally elected as a candidate supporting reform in governance, the Jersey City History website says his name is "synonymous with the early twentieth century urban American blend of political favoritism and social welfare known as
bossism In politics, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous off ...
". Hague ran the city with an iron fist while, at the same time, molding governors, United States senators, and judges to his whims. Boss Hague was known to be loud and vulgar, but dressed in a stylish manner, earning him the nickname "King Hanky-Panky". In his later years in office, Hague would often dismiss his enemies as "
red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
s" or "
commies Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
". Hague lived like a millionaire, despite having an annual salary that never exceeded $8,500. He was able to maintain a fourteen-room duplex apartment in Jersey City, a suite at the
Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...
in Manhattan, and a palatial summer home in the seaside community of
Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...
, and travel to Europe yearly in the royal suites of the best ocean liners.Staff
"Hague's End"
''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', May 23, 1949. Accessed June 1, 2015.
After Hague's retirement from politics, a series of mayors including John V. Kenny, Thomas J. Whelan and
Thomas F. X. Smith Thomas Francis Xavier Smith (July 5, 1928 – May 31, 1996) was a reformist politician and author. He served as mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, from 1977 to 1981. Career Smith was affectionately known as "The Mouth That Roared" due to his outsp ...
attempted to take control of Hague's organization, usually under the mantle of political reform. None were able to duplicate the level of power held by Hague, but the city and the county remained notorious for political corruption for years.Strunsky, Steve
"Why Can't Hudson County Get Any Respect?; Despite Soaring Towers, Rising Property Values and Even a Light Rail, the Region Struggles to Polish Its Image"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', January 14, 2001. Accessed April 1, 2015.
By the 1970s the city experienced a period of urban decline that saw many of its wealthy residents leave for the suburbs, due to rising crime, civil unrest, political corruption, and economic hardship. From 1950 to 1980, Jersey City lost 75,000 residents, and from 1975 to 1982, it lost 5,000 jobs, or 9% of its workforce. Beginning in the 1980s, development of the waterfront in an area previously occupied by rail yards and factories helped to stir the beginnings of a renaissance for Jersey City. The rapid construction of numerous high-rise buildings increased the population and led to the development of the Exchange Place financial district, also known as "
Wall Street West Wall Street West is a name used by real estate developers, city officials and news media in the United States to call particular streets or places west of Manhattan that have a high concentration of Wall Street companies or a major exchange. The mo ...
", one of the largest
financial center A financial centre ( BE), financial center ( AE), or financial hub, is a location with a concentration of participants in banking, asset management, insurance or financial markets with venues and supporting services for these activities to t ...
s in the United States. Large financial institutions such as
UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...
,
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
, Chase Bank,
Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
, and
Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...
occupy prominent buildings on the Jersey City waterfront, some of which are among the tallest buildings in New Jersey. Simultaneous to this building boom, the light-rail network was developed. With of office space as of 2011, it has the nation's 12th-largest
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
. City Ordinance 13.097, passed in October 2013, requires employers with ten or more employees to offer up to five
paid sick days Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sic ...
a year. The bill impacts all businesses employing workers who work at least 80 hours a calendar year in Jersey City.


Geography

Jersey City is the
seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...
of Hudson County and the second-most-populous city in New Jersey. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the city had a total area of 21.13 square miles (54.74 km2), including 14.74 square miles (38.19 km2) of land and 6.39 square miles (16.55 km2) of water (30.24%). As of the 1990 census, it had the smallest land area of the 100 most populous cities in the United States. Jersey City is bordered to the east by the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
, to the north by
Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,North Bergen North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a ...
, Union City and Hoboken, to the west, across the
Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...
, by Kearny and
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
, and to the south by
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...
. Jersey City includes most of Ellis Island (the parts awarded to New Jersey by the 1998 U.S. Supreme Court in the case of ''
New Jersey v. New York ''New Jersey v. New York'', 523 U.S. 767 (1998), was a U.S. Supreme Court case that determined that roughly 83% of Ellis Island was part of New Jersey, rather than New York State. Because the New Jersey's original 1664 land grant was unclear, t ...
''). Liberty Island is surrounded by Jersey City waters in the Upper New York Bay. Given their proximity and accessibility by
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
to Manhattan, Jersey City and Hudson County are sometimes referred to as New York City's
Sixth borough The term sixth borough is used to describe any of a number of places that are not politically within the borders of any of the five boroughs of New York City but have been referred to as a metaphorical part of the city by virtue of their geograp ...
. Jersey City (and most of Hudson County) is located on the peninsula known as Bergen Neck, with a waterfront on the east at the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
and
New York Bay New York Bay is the large tidal body of water in the New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary where the Hudson River, Raritan River, and Arthur Kill empty into the Atlantic Ocean between Sandy Hook and Rockaway Point. Geography New York Bay is usu ...
and on the west at the
Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...
and
Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...
. Its north–south axis corresponds with the ridge of Bergen Hill, the emergence of the Hudson Palisades. The city is the site of some of the earliest European settlements in North America, which grew into each other rather than expanding from a central point. This growth and the
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
greatly influenced the development of the sections of the city and its various neighborhoods.


Neighborhoods

The city is divided into six
wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
.


Bergen-Lafayette

Bergen-Lafayette, formerly Bergen City, New Jersey, lies between Greenville to the south and
McGinley Square McGinley Square is in Jersey City, New Jersey, located near the middle of the city, south of Journal Square. The square itself is at the intersection of two of the city's major thoroughfares, Montgomery Street (which runs from Downtown at Ex ...
to the north, while bordering Liberty State Park and
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
to the east and the
West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...
neighborhood to the west. Communipaw Avenue, Bergen Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive, and Ocean Avenue are main thoroughfares. The former Jersey City Medical Center complex, a cluster of
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
buildings on a rise in the center of the city, has been converted into residential complexes called The Beacon. Completed in 2016 at a cost of $38 million,
Berry Lane Park Berry Lane Park is a park created on a of former brownfield site in the Communipaw-Lafayette Section of Jersey City, New Jersey. Construction of the park, which cost $38 million, began in 2012 and the park officially opened in June 2016. ...
is located along Garfield Avenue in the northern section of Bergen-Lafayette; covering , it the largest municipal park in Jersey City.


Downtown Jersey City

Downtown Jersey City is the area from the Hudson River westward to the Newark Bay Extension of the
New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not consi ...
(
Interstate 78 Interstate 78 (I-78) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Northeastern United States, running from I-81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown to western and northern New Jersey and terminating at the Holland Tunn ...
) and the New Jersey Palisades; it is also bounded by Hoboken to the north and Liberty State Park to the south. Historic Downtown is an area of mostly low-rise buildings to the west of the waterfront that is highly desirable due to its proximity to local amenities and Manhattan. It includes the neighborhoods of Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park, which are both square parks surrounded by brownstones. This historic downtown also includes
Paulus Hook Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck", which translates to "point of land." This "point of land" ...
, the Village and
Harsimus Cove Harsimus (also known as Harsimus Cove) is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment (the Sixth Street Embankment) on the north to Christophe ...
neighborhoods. Newark Avenue & Grove Street, are the main thoroughfares in Downtown Jersey City, both have seen a lot of development and the surrounding neighborhoods have many stores and restaurants. The Grove Street
PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...
station is in the process of being renovated and a number of new residential buildings are being built around the stop, including a proposed 50-story building at 90 Columbus. Historic Downtown is home to many cultural attractions including the Jersey City Museum, the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse (planned to become a museum and artist housing) and the
Harsimus Stem Embankment The Harsimus Stem Embankment, also called Sixth Street Embankment, is a half-mile-long historic railroad embankment, now abandoned and largely overgrown with foliage, in the heart of the historic downtown of Jersey City, New Jersey in the U ...
along Sixth Street, which a citizens' movement is working to turn into public parkland that would be modeled after the High Line in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...
and Exchange Place are redeveloped waterfront areas consisting mostly of residential towers, hotels and office buildings that are among the tallest buildings in the city. Newport is a planned mixed-use community, built on the old Erie Lackawanna Railway yards, made up of residential rental towers, condominiums, office buildings, a marina, schools, restaurants, hotels,
Newport Centre Mall Newport Centre, commonly known as Newport Mall, is a shopping mall in Jersey City, New Jersey, that opened in 1987. It is a major component of the enormous Newport, Jersey City, a mixed-use community on the Hudson River waterfront across from Lo ...
, a waterfront walkway, transportation facilities, and on-site parking for more than 15,000 vehicles. Newport had a hand in the renaissance of Jersey City although, before ground was broken, much of the downtown area had already begun a steady climb (much like Hoboken).


The Heights

The Heights or Jersey City Heights is a district in the north end of Jersey City atop the New Jersey Palisades overlooking Hoboken to the east and Croxton in the Meadowlands to the west. Previously the city of Hudson City, The Heights was incorporated into Jersey City in 1869. The southern border of The Heights is generally considered to be north of Bergen Arches and The Divided Highway, while Paterson Plank Road in Washington Park is its main northern boundary. Transfer Station is just over the city line. Its postal area ZIP Code is 07307. The Heights mostly contains two- and three-family houses and low rise apartment buildings, and is similar to North Hudson architectural style and neighborhood character.


Journal Square

Journal Square is a mixed-use district. It takes its name from the newspaper ''Jersey Journal'', whose headquarters were located there from 1911 to 2013. The square was created in 1923 when the city condemned and demolished the offices of the ''Jersey Journal'', creating a broad intersection with
Hudson Boulevard Hudson Park and Boulevard is a Greenway (landscape), greenway and boulevard in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan in New York City, being built as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project. It lies between 10th Avenue (Man ...
which itself had been widened in 1908.
McGinley Square McGinley Square is in Jersey City, New Jersey, located near the middle of the city, south of Journal Square. The square itself is at the intersection of two of the city's major thoroughfares, Montgomery Street (which runs from Downtown at Ex ...
is located in close proximity to Journal Square, and has been described as an extension of it.


Greenville

Greenville is on the south end of Jersey City. In the 2010s, the neighborhood underwent a revitalization. Considered an affordable neighborhood in the New York City area, a number of
Ultra-Orthodox Jews Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
and young families purchased homes and built a substantial community there, attracted by housing that costs less than half of comparable homes in New York City. In a December 2019 shooting incident, three bystanders were killed in a kosher market in Greenville. The two assailants, who had earlier killed a police detective, were also shot and killed.


Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Jersey City has a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
in which, its climate is similar to its parallel cities like
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
and
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.


Demographics

As of the 2020 census, Jersey City had a population of 292,449, up from 247,597 at the
2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 17,954.6 persons per square mile. At the 2020 census, Jersey City experienced an increase of 44,852 residents (18.1%) from its 2010 census population of 247,597. Since it was believed the earlier population was under-counted, the 2010 census was anticipated with the possibility that Jersey City might become the state's most populated city, surpassing Newark.Hayes, Melissa
"2010 Census road tour stops in Jersey City"
'' The Jersey Journal'', January 5, 2010. Accessed July 8, 2015.
The city hired an outside firm to contest the results, citing the fact that development in the city between 2000 and 2010 substantially increased the number of housing units and that new populations may have been under-counted by as many as 30,000 residents based on the city's calculations. Preliminary findings indicated that 19,000 housing units went uncounted. Per the
American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
's 2014–2018 estimates, Jersey City's age distribution was 7.7% of the population under 5, 13.2% between 6–18, 69% – from 19 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age 34.2 years. Females made up 50.8% of the population and there were 100.1 males per 100 females. 86.5% of the population graduated high school, while 44.9% of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher. 7.1% of residents under 65 were disabled, while 15.9% of residents live without health insurance. There were 110,801 housing units and 102,353 households in 2018. The average household size was 2.57. The average per capita income was $36,453, and the median household income was $62,739. 18.7% of residents lived below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
. 67.9% of residents 16+ were within the civilian labor force. The mean travel time to work for residents was 36.8 minutes. 28.6% of housing units are owner-occupied, with the median value of the homes being $344,200. The median gross rent in the city was $1,271.


Race and ethnicity

Jersey City is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world.Hortillosa, Summer Dawn
"Jersey City named most diverse city in America: report"
'' The Jersey Journal'', February 17, 2015. Accessed August 30, 2015.
McKee, Spencer
"53 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Jersey City"
Movoto. Accessed August 30, 2015.
The city is a major
port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internati ...
for
immigration to the United States Immigration has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than a ...
and a major employment center at the approximate core of the New York City metropolitan area; and given its proximity to
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, Jersey City has evolved a globally
cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
ambiance of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity with respect to metrics including nationality, religion, race, and domiciliary partnership. There were an estimated 55,493 non-Hispanic whites in Jersey City, according to the 2013–2017 American Community Survey, representing a 4.2% increase from 53,236 non-Hispanic whites enumerated in the 2010 United States census. An estimated 63,788
African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
resided in Jersey City, or 24.0% of the city's population in 2017, representing a slight decrease from 64,002 African Americans enumerated in the
2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
. This is in contrast with Hudson County overall, where there were an estimated 84,114 African Americans, according to the 2013–2017 American Community Survey,ACS Demographic And Housing Estimates 2013–2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Hudson County, New Jersey
,
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
. Accessed November 13, 2019.
representing a 2.3% increase from 83,925 African Americans enumerated in the county in the 2010 United States census. However, modest growth in the African immigrant population, most notably the growing Nigerian American and Kenyan American populations in Jersey City, is partially offsetting the decline in the city's American-born black population, which as a whole has been experiencing an exodus from northern New Jersey to the
Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
. Approximately 76,637 Latino and Hispanic Americans lived in Jersey City, composing 28.8% of the population in 2017, representing a 12.3% increase from 68,256 Latino or Hispanic Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.DP-1: Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 – Demographic Profile Data – Jersey City city, New Jersey
,
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
. Accessed March 16, 2016.
Stateside Puerto Ricans Stateside Puerto Ricans ( es, link=no, Puertorriqueños de Estados Unidos), also ambiguously known as Puerto Rican Americans ( es, link=no, puertorriqueño-americanos,), or Puerto Ricans in the United States, are Puerto Ricans who are in the ...
, making up a third of the city's Latin American or Hispanic population, constituted the largest Hispanic group in Jersey City. While Cuban Americans are not as highly concentrated in Jersey City as they are in
northern Hudson County North Hudson is the area in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, situated on the west bank of the Hudson River, mostly atop the Hudson Palisades. It comprises Weehawken, Union City, West New York, Guttenberg and North Bergen. With a ...
, Jersey City has hosted the annual Cuban Parade and Festival of New Jersey at Exchange Place on its downtown waterfront since it was established in 2001. An estimated 67,526
Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
live in Jersey City, constituting 25.4% of the city's population,DP05: ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates from the 2013–2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Jersey City city, New Jersey
Accessed January 25, 2019.
representing a 15.2% increase from 58,595 Asian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.
India Square India Square, also known as "Little India (location), Little India," is a commercial and restaurant district in the Journal Square and Marion Section neighborhoods of Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey. The area is home to the highest ...
, also known as "
Little India Little India or India Town (less commonly known as Indian Street or India Bazaar) is an Indian or Desi (South Asian) sociocultural environment outside India or the subcontinent. It especially refers to an area with Indian residences and a dive ...
" or "Little
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,"Kiniry, Laura. ''Moon Handbooks New Jersey'', Avalon Travel Publishing, 2006. pg. 34 home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the
Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...
, is a rapidly growing
Indian American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...
ethnic enclave In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity. The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration ...
in Jersey City. Indian Americans constituted 10.9% of the overall population of Jersey City in 2010, the highest proportion of any major U.S. city. India Square has been home to the largest outdoor
Navratri Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Sharada. It is ob ...
festivities in New Jersey as well as several
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
; while an annual, color-filled spring
Holi Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...
festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
has taken place in Jersey City since 1992, centered upon India Square and attracting significant participation and international media attention. In 2017 there were an estimated 31,578 Indian Americans in Jersey City, representing a 16.5% increase from 27,111 Indian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census. Filipino Americans, with 16,610 residents, made up 6.2% of Jersey City's population. The Five Corners district is home to a thriving Filipino community and Jersey City's Little Manila, which is the second-largest Asian American subgroup in the city. A variety of Filipino restaurants, shippers and freighters, doctors' offices, bakeries, stores, and an office of
The Filipino Channel The Filipino Channel, commonly known as TFC, is a 24-hour global subscription television network based in Daly City, California with studios in Redwood City, California and offices in Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, UAE, Ethi ...
have made Newark Avenue their home. The largest Filipino-owned grocery store on the
East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...
, Phil-Am Food, has been there since 1973. An array of Filipino-owned businesses can also be found at the section of
West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...
of Jersey City, where many of its residents are of Filipino descent. In 2006, a
Red Ribbon The red ribbon, as an awareness ribbon, is used as the symbol for the solidarity of people living with HIV/AIDS, and for the awareness and prevention of drug abuse and drunk driving. In Canada the red ribbon represents Canadians with Multiple ...
pastry shop, one of the Philippines' most famous food chains, opened its first branch on the East Coast in the Garden State. Manila Avenue in Downtown Jersey City was named for the Philippine capital city because of the many Filipinos who built their homes on this street during the 1970s. A memorial, dedicated to the Filipino American veterans of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, was built in a small square on Manila Avenue. A park and statue dedicated to Jose P. Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines, is located in downtown Jersey City. Jersey City is the host of the annual Philippine-American Friendship Day Parade, an event that occurs yearly in June, on its last Sunday. The City Hall of Jersey City raises the Philippine flag in correlation to this event and as a tribute to the contributions of the Filipino community. The Santacruzan Procession along Manila Avenue has taken place since 1977. Behind English and Spanish, Tagalog is the third-most-common language spoken in Jersey City. Jersey City was home to an estimated 9,379
Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
s in 2017, representing a notably rapid growth of 66.2% from the 5,643 Chinese Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census. Chinese nationals have also been obtaining EB-5 immigrant visas by investing US$500,000 apiece in new Downtown Jersey City residential
skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
s. New Jersey's largest Vietnamese American population resides in Jersey City. There were an estimated 1,813 Vietnamese Americans in Jersey City, according to the 2013–2017 American Community Survey, representing a 12.8% increase from 1,607 Vietnamese Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census. Arab Americans numbered an estimated 18,628 individuals in Hudson County per the 2013–2017 American Community Survey, representing 2.8% of the county's total population. Arab Americans are the second- highest percentage in New Jersey after
Passaic County Passaic County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Passaic County was enumerated at 524,118, an increase of 22,892 (4.6%) from t ...
. Arab Americans are most concentrated in Jersey City, led by
Egyptian Americans Egyptian Americans are Americans of partial or full Egyptian ancestry. The 2016 US Census estimated the number of people with Egyptian ancestry at 256,000. Most of whom are from Egypt's Christian Coptic minority.Estimates for the number of Copti ...
, including the largest population of Coptic Christians in the United States.


Sexual orientation and gender identity

There were 2,726 same-sex couples in Hudson County in 2010, with Jersey City being the hub, prior to the commencement of same-sex marriages in New Jersey on October 21, 2013.Hayes, Melissa; Markos, Kibret; and Fallon, Scott
"Christie drops appeal of ruling allowing gay marriage in NJ"
''
The Record The Record may refer to: Music * ''The Record'' (album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Records, an English power pop band * '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record'', a 2001 greatest-hits album by the pop-music group Bee Ge ...
'', October 21, 2013, backed up by the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
as of February 9, 2014. Accessed November 13, 2019.


Religion

Nearly 59.6% of Jersey City's inhabitants are religious adherents, of which 46.2% are Catholic Christians and 7.3% are Protestant Christians.Jersey City, New Jersey Religion.
from bestplaces.net Accessed 17 February 2022.
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
constituted 3.4% of religious adherents in Jersey City, with local Latino and Hispanics being the largest demographic converting to Islam after Black or African Americans. Eastern religions including
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
,
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, and
Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
make up 1.5% of the city's religious demographic, with Judaism at 0.6%. Jersey City has a growing
Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
population, centered in the Greenville neighborhood.


Economy

Jersey City is a regional employment center with over 100,000 private and public sector jobs, which creates a daytime swell in population. Many jobs are in the financial and service sectors, as well as in shipping,
logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
, and retail.''Sandy Recovery Strategic Planning Report A Strategic Plan for Resilience''
, City of Jersey City, August 2014. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Jersey City is home to a waterfront regional employment center known as 'Wall Street West,' with 13.3 million square feet of Class A office space located in flood zones. It also has a major shipping port, and sizable manufacturing, wholesale, retail and service sectors. It is an economic engine for the state, and its daytime population swells with visitors and jobs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 108,914 public and private sector jobs in Jersey City at the beginning of the second quarter in 2011."
Jersey City's tax base grew by $136 million in 2017, giving Jersey City the largest municipal tax base in the State of New Jersey. As part of a 2017 revaluation, the city's property tax base is expected to increase from $6.2 billion to $26 billion.


Wall Street West

Jersey City's Hudson River waterfront, from Exchange Place to
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...
, is known as
Wall Street West Wall Street West is a name used by real estate developers, city officials and news media in the United States to call particular streets or places west of Manhattan that have a high concentration of Wall Street companies or a major exchange. The mo ...
and has over 13 million square feet of Class A office space. One third of the
private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...
jobs in the city are in the financial services sector: more than 60% are in the securities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% in
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
. Jersey City is home to the headquarters of
Verisk Analytics Verisk Analytics, Inc. is an American multinational data analytics and risk assessment firm based in Jersey City, New Jersey, with customers in insurance, natural resources, financial services, government, and risk management sectors. The company ...
and Lord Abbett,Todd, Susan
"Verisk Analytics of Jersey City raises $1.9B in stock offering"
''
The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...
'', October 8, 2009. Accessed October 8, 2009.
a privately held money management firm. Companies such as Computershare,
ADP Adp or ADP may refer to: Aviation * Aéroports de Paris, airport authority for the Parisian region in France * Aeropuertos del Perú, airport operator for airports in northern Peru * SLAF Anuradhapura, an airport in Sri Lanka * Ampara Air ...
,
IPC Systems IPC Systems, Inc. is an American company headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey that provides and services voice communication systems for financial companies. In 2014, IPC Systems employs approximately 1,000 employees throughout the Americas, E ...
, and
Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is on ...
also conduct operations in the city. In 2014, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine moved its headquarters to the district, having been awarded a $27 million tax grant in exchange for bringing 350 jobs to the city over a ten-year period.


Retail

Jersey City has several shopping districts, some of which are traditional main streets for their respective neighborhoods, such as
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
, Danforth, and
West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...
Avenues. Journal Square is a major commercial district. Newport Mall is a regional shopping area. Portions of the city are part of an Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ). Jersey City was selected in 1983 as one of the initial group of 10 zones chosen to participate in the program. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment and investment within the Zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125%
sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
rate (half of the 6.625% rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. Established in November 1992, the city's Urban Enterprise Zone status expires in November 2023. About one third of Jersey City is included in the state's largest Urban Enterprise Zone.


Port Jersey

Port Jersey is an intermodal freight transport facility that includes a
container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...
located on the Upper New York Bay in the
Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable water ...
. The municipal border of the Hudson County cities of Jersey City and
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...
runs along the long pier extending into the bay. The north end of the facility houses the
Greenville Yard Greenville Yard is a freight rail yard in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey adjacent and north of Port Jersey. Originally developed in 1904 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was late ...
, a rail yard located on a manmade peninsula that was built in the early 1900s by the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
, The central area of the facility contains GCT Bayonne, a major post-panamax shipping facility operated by Global Container Terminals that underwent a major expansion in June 2014. The largest ship ever to call at the Port of New York-New Jersey, the MOL Benefactor, docked at Port Jersey in July 2016 after sailing from China through the newly widened Panama Canal.


Other

Goya Foods Goya Foods, Inc. is an American producer of a brand of foods sold in the United States and many Spanish-speaking countries. It has facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Spain. It is under third-generation ownersh ...
, which had been headquartered in adjacent
Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...
and distribution center in Jersey City in April 2015.Morley, Hugh R
"Goya Foods opens new HQ-warehouse in Jersey City"
''
The Record The Record may refer to: Music * ''The Record'' (album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Records, an English power pop band * '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record'', a 2001 greatest-hits album by the pop-music group Bee Ge ...
'', April 29, 2015, backed up by the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
as of July 21, 2015. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The state-of-the-art facility in Jersey City, which includes a 600,000-square-foot warehouse along with the headquarters, is the largest piece of what the company – generally considered to be the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the nation – says is a more than $500 million investment that will help Goya expand for years to come."
In 2014, Paul Fireman proposed a 95-story tower for Jersey City that would have included a casino. The project, which was endorsed by Mayor
Steve Fulop Steven Michael Fulop (born February 28, 1977) is an American politician serving as the 49th and current Mayor of Jersey City, mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he was formerly the Councilman for Jersey ...
, would cost an estimated $4.6 billion. In February 2014, New Jersey State Senate President Stephen Sweeney argued that Jersey City, among other distressed cities, could benefit from a casino—were construction of one outside of Atlantic City eventually permitted by New Jersey. In 2020,
Merck & Co Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp ...
spin-off Organon International agreed to locate its headquarters at Goldman Sachs Tower.


Art and culture

Based upon a 2011 survey of census data on the number of artists as a percentages of the population, ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' magazine called Jersey City the 10th-most-artistic city in the United States.


Notable landmarks

* Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island (Liberty Island and part of Ellis Island are located in New York; but closer to the Jersey shore.) * Liberty Science Center * The Katyń Memorial by well-known
Polish-American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Poles, Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing abou ...
artist
Andrzej Pitynski Andrzej Pitynski (15 March 1947, Ulanów – 18 September 2020, Mount Holly, New Jersey) was a Polish-American monumental sculptor who lived and worked in the United States. A book of his works was published in 2008. Work The Partisans In Jan ...
on Exchange Place is the first memorial of its kind to be raised on American soil to honor the dead of the Katyń Forest Massacre. * The Colgate Clock, promoted by
Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...
as the largest in the world, sits in Jersey City and faces
Lower New York Bay Lower New York Bay is a section of New York Bay south of the Narrows (the strait between Staten Island and Brooklyn). The eastern end of the Bay is marked by two spits of land, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Rockaway, Queens. The waterway b ...
and Lower
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
(it is clearly visible from Battery Park in lower Manhattan). The clock, which is in diameter with a minute hand weighing , was erected in 1924 to replace a smaller one that was relocated to a plant in
Jeffersonville, Indiana Jeffersonville is a city and the county seat of Clark County, Indiana, Clark County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It lies directly across the Ohio River ...
. * The Landmark
Loew's Jersey Theatre The Loew's Jersey Theatre is a theater in Jersey City, New Jersey. Opened in 1929, it was one of the five Loew's Wonder Theatres, a series of flagship Loew's movie palaces in the New York City area. It was designed by the architectural firm of Rapp ...
, one of the five
Loew's Wonder Theatres The Loew's Wonder Theatres were movie palaces of the Loew's Theatres chain in and near New York City. These five lavishly designed theaters were built by Loew's to establish its preeminence in film exhibition in the metropolitan New York City ar ...
constructed in the 1920s and the only one located outside of New York City, is located in Journal Square. Currently presenting classic films, live performances, and events while the theatre undergoes restoration by volunteers. * The
White Eagle Hall White Eagle Hall is a music, theatre, and dining venue in a restored historic building in the Village neighborhood of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, located on Newark Avenue. Originally built in 1910 as community center. It was used for even ...
is a renovated and re-opened historic theater. Constructed in 1910, it had served as the practice gym for the Saint Anthony High School Friars basketball program.


Museums and libraries

The
Jersey City Free Public Library Jersey City is the second-most populous city (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark, New Jersey, Newark.
has a Main Library and nine branches. Liberty State Park is home to Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, the Interpretive Center, and Liberty Science Center, an interactive science and learning center. The center, which first opened in 1993 as New Jersey's first major state science museum, has science exhibits, the world's largest IMAX Dome theater, numerous educational resources, and the original
Hoberman sphere A Hoberman sphere is an isokinetic structure patented by Chuck Hoberman that resembles a geodesic dome, but is capable of folding down to a fraction of its normal size by the scissor-like action of its joints. Colorful plastic versions have beco ...
. From the park, ferries travel to both Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum and Liberty Island, site of the
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
. The Jersey City Museum, Mana Contemporary, and the Museum of Russian Art, which specializes in
Soviet Nonconformist Art The term Soviet Nonconformist Art refers to Soviet art produced in the former Soviet Union from 1953 to 1986 (after the death of Joseph Stalin until the advent of Perestroika and Glasnost) outside of the rubric of Socialist Realism. Other terms u ...
, include permanent collections and special exhibits. Some stations of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail feature public art exhibitions, including those at Exchange Place,
Danforth Avenue Danforth Avenue (informally also known as the Danforth) and Danforth Road are two historically-related arterial streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Danforth ''Avenue'' is an east-west street that begins in Old Toronto at the Prince Edward ...
and Martin Luther King Drive station.


Festivals and events

Jersey City is home to several annual visual and performing arts festivals, fairs, and other events. These include Jersey City Art & Studio Tour (JCAST), a city-sponsored visual art showcase founded in 1990, Art Fair 14C, a non-profit juried exhibition for New Jersey artists, an
Your Move Modern Dance Festival
which was founded in 2010 and continues to be produced by
Art House Productions Art House Productions is a not-for-profit arts organization located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Art House Productions is best known for organizing and coordinating JC Fridays, a variation on a First Fridays citywide art and culture event, held qu ...
. Jersey City has also hosted JC Fridays, a city-wide quarterly seasonal arts festival organized by
Art House Productions Art House Productions is a not-for-profit arts organization located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Art House Productions is best known for organizing and coordinating JC Fridays, a variation on a First Fridays citywide art and culture event, held qu ...
each March, June, September, and December since 2006.
Art House Productions Art House Productions is a not-for-profit arts organization located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Art House Productions is best known for organizing and coordinating JC Fridays, a variation on a First Fridays citywide art and culture event, held qu ...
also produces the Jersey City Comedy Festival (formerly known as the 6th Borough Comedy Festival), which presents
stand up Stand Up may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Stand-up comedy, a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience Film * ''Stand Up'' (2007 film), a film featuring Modi Rosenfeld * ''Stand Up'' (2008 film), a Brit ...
, improv, and
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
. Since 1992, the
Hudson Shakespeare Company The Hudson Shakespeare Company is a regional Shakespeare touring festival based in Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, that produces an annual summer Shakespeare in the Park festival and often features lesser done Shakespeare works such as '' ...
has been the resident Shakespeare festival of Hudson County performing a free Shakespeare production for each month of the summer throughout various parks in the city. The group regularly performs at Hamilton Park (9th Street & Jersey Avenue), Van Vorst Park (Jersey Avenue & Montgomery Street), and The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery (435 Newark Avenue). The
Golden Door Film Festival The Golden Door Film Festival is a film festival in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, which was inaugurated in 2011. The four-day festival takes place in fall, and shows features, documentaries, and shorts. The opening and closing night a ...
has taken place since 2011.


In literature

The American poet
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
described the city as a place where "the deer and the dachshund are one."


Government


Local

Jersey City is governed under the Faulkner Act (mayor–council) form of municipal government. The city is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the nine-member City Council. The city council is comprised of six members elected from
wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
and three elected
at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...
, all elected to concurrent four-year terms on a non-partisan basis as part of the November general election.''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'',
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University (The Bloustein School) serves as a center for the theory and practice of urban planning, public policy and public health/health administration scholarship. The sc ...
, March 2013, p. 139.
Ward boundaries will be redrawn based on the results of the 2020 United States census to rebalance wards based on population changes. , the
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
is Steven Fulop, whose term of office ends December 31, 2025.Mayor's Office
City of Jersey City. Accessed June 26, 2022.
Members of the City Council are Council President Joyce Watterman (at large), Richard Boggiano (Ward C – Journal Square), Amy M. DeGise (at large), Frank E. Gilmore (Ward F – Bergen/Lafayette), Mira Prinz-Arey (Ward B – West Side), Denise Ridley (Ward A – Greenville), Daniel Rivera (at large), Yousef J. Saleh (Ward D – The Heights) and James Solomon (Ward E – Downtown), all of whom are serving concurrent terms of office that end December 31, 2025.Elected Officials
Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It 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 t ...
Clerk. Accessed June 1, 2022.
General Election November 2, 2021 Official results
Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It 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 t ...
, updated November 17, 2021. Accessed January 1, 2022.
In April 2020, Yousef J. Saleh was appointed to fill the Ward D seat that became vacant following the death earlier that month of Michael Yun from complications related to COVID-19; Saleh served on an interim basis until the November 2020 general election, when voters chose him to serve the balance of the term of office. The Business Administrator is John J. Metro; the City Clerk is Sean J. Gallagher.


Federal, state and county representation

Jersey City is split between the 8th and 10th Congressional DistrictsPlan Components Report
New Jersey Redistricting Commission The New Jersey Redistricting Commission is a constitutional body of the government of New Jersey tasked with redrawing the state's Congressional election districts after each decade's census. Like Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington; t ...
, December 23, 2011. Accessed February 1, 2020.
and is part of New Jersey's 31st and 33rd state legislative districts.Municipalities Sorted by 2011–2020 Legislative District
New Jersey Department of State The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing artistic, cultural, and historical programs within the U.S. state of New Jersey, as we ...
. Accessed February 1, 2020.
''2019 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government''
New Jersey
League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...
. Accessed October 30, 2019.
Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 census, Jersey City had been in the 31st, 32nd and the 33rd state legislative districts.''2011 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government''
, p. 59, New Jersey
League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...
. Accessed May 22, 2015.
Prior to the 2010 census, Jersey City had been split between the , 10th Congressional District and the , a change made by the
New Jersey Redistricting Commission The New Jersey Redistricting Commission is a constitutional body of the government of New Jersey tasked with redrawing the state's Congressional election districts after each decade's census. Like Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington; t ...
that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections. The split that went into effect in 2013 placed 111,678 residents living in the city's north and east in the 8th District, while 139,519 residents in the southwest portion of the city were placed in the 10th District. The city encompasses three Hudson County commissioner districts in their entirety, while three others are shared with adjacent municipalities.


Politics

As of March 23, 2011, there was a total of 120,229 registered voters in Jersey City, of whom 58,194 (48.4%) were registered as Democrats, 7,655 (6.4%) were registered as
Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, and 54,293 (45.2%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 87 voters registered to other parties. In the
2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: E ...
, Democrat
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
received 85.5% of the vote (64,052 cast), ahead of Republican
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
with 13.5% (10,120 votes), and other candidates with 1.0% (751 votes), among the 75,506 ballots cast by the city's 133,197 registered voters (583 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 56.7%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 81.8% of the vote (65,780 cast), ahead of Republican
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
with 16.8% (13,529 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (584 votes), among the 80,381 ballots cast by the city's 139,158 registered voters, for a turnout of 57.8%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
received 74.5% of the vote (52,979 ballots cast), out polling Republican
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
with 22.8% (16,216 votes) and other candidates with 0.5% (559 votes), among the 71,130 ballots cast by the city's 119,723 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 59.4. In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat
Barbara Buono Barbara A. Buono (born July 28, 1953) is an American politician who served in the New Jersey Senate from 2002 to 2014, where she represented the 18th Legislative District. She served from 2010 to 2012 as the Majority Leader in the Senate, succ ...
received 66.5% of the vote (20,421 cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 31.8% (9,784 votes), and other candidates with 1.7% (514 votes), among the 32,347 ballots cast by the city's 139,265 registered voters (1,628 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 23.2%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 76.2% of the vote (29,817 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 18.7% (7,336 votes), Independent
Chris Daggett Christopher Jarvis Daggett (born March 7, 1950) is an American businessman who is the president and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, one of the largest foundations in New Jersey. A former regional administrator of the United States En ...
with 3.2% (1,263 votes) and other candidates with 0.9% (371 votes), among the 39,143 ballots cast by the city's 120,269 registered voters, yielding a 32.5% turnout.


Emergency services

* The
Jersey City Fire Department The Jersey City Fire Department is the largest fire department in the state of New Jersey and provides fire protection, hazardous materials services, and first responder emergency medical services to the city of Jersey City. In all, the departme ...
has 667 uniformed firefighters and is the state's largest municipal fire department. Established as a volunteer department in 1829, the department became a paid professional organization in 1871. Jersey City is a member of the Metro USAR Strike Team, which is comprised of nine north Jersey fire departments. * The Jersey City Police Department has more than 950 sworn officers. The creation of the department dates back to 1829 with the first appointment of watchmen. The Patrol Division is divided into four districts including the North, East, West and South areas of the city.


Education


Colleges and universities

Jersey City is home to
New Jersey City University New Jersey City University (NJCU) is a public university in Jersey City, New Jersey. Originally chartered in 1927, and known as Jersey City State College for 40 years of its history, New Jersey City University consists of the School of Business, ...
and Saint Peter's University.
Hudson County Community College Hudson County Community College (HCCC) is a public community college in Hudson County, New Jersey. Locations The school's main campus is located in Jersey City, with several institutions tapered throughout Journal Square and nearby Bergen Squar ...
is a junior college located in the Journal Square area offering courses to help students transition into a larger university. The Newark-based
New Jersey Institute of Technology {{Infobox university , name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology , image = New Jersey IT seal.svg , image_upright = 0.9 , former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...
has an annex at 101 Hudson Street. The
University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree lev ...
has a facility at Newport, and
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
offers MBA classes at Harborside Financial Center.


Public schools

The Jersey City Public Schools serve students in
pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
through
twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...
. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in ''Abbott v. Burke'' which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. As of the 2017–18 school year, the district, comprised of 38 schools, had an enrollment of 29,634 students and 2,326.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a
student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...
of 12.7:1.District information for Jersey City Public Schools
National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...
. Accessed November 13, 2019.
High schools in the district (with 2017–18 enrollment data from the
National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...
) are
William L. Dickinson High School William L. Dickinson High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school located in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Jersey City Public Sch ...
Academy of the Sciences (1,780; 9–12), James J. Ferris High School Academy of International Enterprise (1,327; 9–12), Infinity Institute (257; 6–12),
Innovation High School The Innovation High School is a four-year public high school in Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Jersey City Public Schools. It is one of a number of high school programs serving students in nint ...
(319; 9–12), Liberty High School (188; 9–12), Lincoln High School Academy of Governance and Social Sciences (659; 9–12), Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School (683; 9–12), Renaissance Institute (9–12), and
Henry Snyder High School Academy of the Arts at Henry Snyder High School is a four-year performing arts public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in the Greenville section of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, operating as part o ...
Academy of the Arts (804; 9–12). Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School was the first-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in ''
New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication fe ...
'' magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked second in 2008 out of 316 schools. and was selected as 41st best high school in the United States in ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' magazine's national 2011 survey. William L. Dickinson High School is the oldest high school in the city and one of the largest schools in Hudson County in terms of student population. Opened in 1906 as the Jersey City High School it is one of the oldest school sites in the city, it is a four-story Beaux-Arts building located on a hilltop facing the Hudson River. Among Jersey City's elementary and middle schools is Academy I Middle School and Frank R. Conwell Middle School #4, which is part of the Academic Enrichment Program for Gifted Students. Another school is Alexander D. Sullivan P.S. #30, an ESL magnet school in the Greenville district, which serves nearly 800 Pre-k through 5th grade students. The
Hudson County Schools of Technology The Hudson County Schools of Technology is a public school district based in North Bergen that offers career and vocational education for public middle school and high school students in sixth through twelfth grades, and for adult students thro ...
(which also has campuses in
North Bergen North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a ...
and
Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,County Prep High School County Prep High School is a full-time public magnet high school for students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hudson County Schools of Technology. A ...
. Jersey City also has 12 charter schools, which are run under a special charter granted by the Commissioner of the
New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...
, including the Mathematics, Engineering, Technology and Science Charter School (for grades 6 – 12) and the Dr. Lena Edwards Charter School (for K-8), which were approved in January 2011. BelovED Community Charter School opened in 2012 and has purchased a half-acre parcel of land on Grand Street to make room for a new , $12 million middle school building designed to serve 240 students in sixth through ninth grades.


Private schools


Catholic schools

The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark The Archdiocese of Newark is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in northeastern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes all of the Catholic parishes and schools in the New Jerse ...
maintains a network of elementary and secondary
Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...
s serve every area of Jersey City. High schools administered by the Archdiocese are
Hudson Catholic Regional High School Hudson Catholic Regional High School is a regional four-year co-educational University-preparatory Catholic high school in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The school was established in 1964 by the Roman Catholic Archd ...
,
Saint Dominic Academy Saint Dominic Academy (SDA) is a private college-preparatory for girls in seventh through twelfth grades, located in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The school, which is situated within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese ...
and
St. Peter's Preparatory School Saint Peter's Preparatory School ("Saint Peter's Prep" or "Prep") is a private, all-male, Jesuit, college-preparatory school located in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. T ...
. St. Mary High School closed in June 2011 due to declining enrollment. St. Anthony High School, a prep basketball powerhouse known for its success under
Bob Hurley Robert Emmet Hurley (born July 31, 1947) is an American basketball coach. At the now-closed St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, Hurley amassed 26 state championships in 39 years as a coach. On February 2, 2011, Hurley became the ...
and his 26 state championships in 39 years as a coach, closed in June 2017 due to declining funding and enrollment. Catholic K-8 elementary schools include Our Lady of Czestochowa School, Sacred Heart School, Saint Aloysius Elementary Academy, St. Joseph School and St. Nicholas School. In 2015, Our Lady of Czestochowa School was one of 15 schools in New Jersey, and one of six private schools, recognized as a
National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...
in the exemplary high performing category by the
United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
. In the face of declining enrollment and rising expenses, the Newark Archdiocese closed Our Lady of Mercy Academy (founded in 1964) and Resurrection School at the end of the 2012–13 school year. St. Anne School closed at the end of the 2011–12 school year after 112 years, as enrollment declined from 700 students in 1976 to 240 in 2010–11 and 188 in the school's final year of operation.


Other private schools

Other private high schools in Jersey City include First Christian Pentecostal Academy and Stevens Cooperative School.
Kenmare High School Kenmare High School is an all-female, private, Roman Catholic high school in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. It is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. The school has been accredited by the Midd ...
is operated through the York Street Project as part of an effort to reduce rates of poverty in households headed by women, through a program that offers small class sizes, individualized learning and development of life skills. The French American Academy, located in the century-old three-story building of the former St. Mary's High School, is a private bilingual school PK-3. A number of other private schools are also available. Genesis Educational Center is a private Christian school located in downtown Jersey City for ages newborn through 8th grade. The Jersey City Art School is a private art school located in downtown Jersey City for all ages.


Media

Jersey City is located in the New York media market, and most of its daily papers are available for sale or delivery. The daily newspaper '' The Jersey Journal'', formerly located at its namesake Journal Square, covers Hudson County, its morning daily, ''
Hudson Dispatch The ''Hudson Dispatch'' was a newspaper covering events in Hudson and Bergen counties in Northern New Jersey. It published continuously from 1874 until 1991, when it was purchased by Newhouse Newspapers. Its headquarters were located at 400 38th ...
'' now defunct. The '' Jersey City Reporter'' is part of
The Hudson Reporter ''The Hudson Reporter'' is a newspaper chain based in Hudson County, New Jersey. ''The Hudson Reporter'' publications mainly focus on local politics and community news. The oldest newspaper in the chain is the '' Hoboken Reporter'', founded in 1983 ...
group of local weeklies. The ''Jersey City Independent'' is a web-only news outlet that covers politics and culture in the city. The ''
River View Observer ''River View Observer'' is a monthly newspaper owned by Ad Vantage Publishing Inc., headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. ...
'' is another weekly published in the city and distributed throughout the county. Another countywide weekly, ''El Especialito'', also serves the city. The ''
Jersey City Independent The ''Jersey City Independent'' is a hyperlocal online community news site covering Jersey City and surrounding municipalities in Hudson County, New Jersey. It also publishes ''JCI Magazine'', a quarterly print magazine. The ''Jersey City Indep ...
'' is an
online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...
covering Jersey City and surrounding municipalities. It also publishes ''JCI Magazine'', a print quarterly magazine. The '' Daily News'' maintains extensive publishing and distribution facilities at Liberty Industrial Park.Jersey City, New Jersey
City-Data. Accessed November 14, 2016.
WSNR WSNR (620 AM) is a commercial radio station, licensed to Jersey City, New Jersey, and serving the New York metropolitan area. It airs a brokered time radio format. The station is co-owned by Gregory Davidzon and Sam Katsman, through licensee ...
AM 620 is licensed to Jersey City. WFMU 91.1FM (WMFU 90.1 FM in the
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
), the longest-running freeform radio station in the United States, moved to Jersey City in 1998. Jersey City was the filming location for the debut season of the 2012
reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
series '' Snooki & JWoww'', a spinoff of ''
Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...
'' that starred
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi Nicole Elizabeth LaValle ( née Polizzi; born November 23, 1987), best known by her nickname Snooki, is an American reality television personality. She is best known for being a cast member of the MTV reality show '' Jersey Shore'' and starr ...
and Jennifer "JWoww" Farley living at a former firehouse at 38 Mercer Street at Grove Street in Downtown Jersey City.


Transportation

Of all Jersey City commuters, 8.17% walk to work, and 46.62% take
public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
.Most Public Transit Commuters in Cities with 50,000 to 250,000 Residents
Cars At Work, backed up by the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
as of October 13, 2007. Accessed June 1, 2015.
This is the second highest percentage of public transit riders of any city with a population of 100,000+ in the United States, behind only New York City and ahead of
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
40.67% of Jersey City households do not own an automobile, the second-highest of all cities in the United States with 50,000 to 250,000 residents.


Air

* Newport Helistop Heliport, at
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
at
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...


Mass transit


Rail

* Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: One of the most popular forms of transportation in the city. Of the 24 HBLR stations that connect its three terminus points, 13 are located in Jersey City. *
PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...
: 24-hour
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
system with four stations in Jersey City: Exchange Place,
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...
, Grove Street, and Journal Square. Service goes to Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, 33rd Street station in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
,
World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
in
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
, and Newark Penn Station in Newark. At the last station, inter-state
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
connections can be made. * Hoboken Terminal, straddling the city's northeast corner:
Main Line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
(to Suffern, and in partnership with MTA/
Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut D ...
, express service to Port Jervis), Bergen County Line, and Pascack Valley Line, all via Secaucus Junction (where transfer is possible to
Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad ...
); Montclair-Boonton Line and
Morris and Essex Lines The Morris & Essex Lines are a group of former Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad (DL&W) railroad lines in New Jersey now owned and operated by NJ Transit. The lines include service offered on the Morristown Line and the Gladstone Branch. P ...
(both via Newark Broad Street Station); North Jersey Coast Line (limited service as Waterfront Connection via Newark Penn Station to Long Branch and Bay Head); Raritan Valley Line (limited service via Newark Penn).


Bus

The
Journal Square Transportation Center The Journal Square Transportation Center is a multi-modal transportation hub located on Magnolia Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard at Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. Owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and ...
, Exchange Place and Hoboken Terminal are major origination/destination points for buses. Service is available to numerous points in Jersey City, Hudson County, and some suburban areas as well as to Newark on the 1, 2, 6, 10, 22, 64, 67, 68, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 123, 125,
319 __NOTOC__ Year 319 ( CCCXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Licinius (or, less frequently, year 1 ...
lines. Also serving Jersey City are various lines operated by Academy Bus and
A&C Bus The A&C Bus Corporation, also known as the Montgomery & Westside Independent Bus Owners Association, is an independent bus company headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. All buses operated by A&C are known for their solid red line on the sid ...
. Increased use of jitneys, locally known as dollar vans, has greatly affected travel patterns in Hudson County, leading to decreased bus ridership on traditional bus lines. After studies examining existing systems and changes in public transportation usage patterns it was determined that a Journal Square-Bayonne bus rapid transit system should be investigated. In 2012, the Board of Chosen Freeholders authorized the identification of possible BRT corridors. Since 2016, two Taiwanese airlines, China Airlines and
EVA Air EVA Airways Corporation (pronounced as three letters: ; ) (), of which "EVA" stands for Evergreen Airways, is a Taiwanese international airline based at Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei, Taiwan, operating passenger and dedicated carg ...
, have provided private bus services to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City for customers based in New Jersey. These bus services stop in Jersey City.


Via on-demand public transit

In February 2020, the city launched its on-demand transit system in partnership with
Via Transportation Via Transportation, Inc. is a global public transport, logistics, and Transit Tech company headquartered in New York City. Via was founded in 2012. Via licenses its technology to cities, transportation authorities, school districts, universiti ...
. The city-run
microtransit Microtransit is a form of bus demand responsive transport vehicle for hire. This transit service offers a highly flexible routing and/or highly flexible scheduling of minibus vehicles shared with other passengers. Microtransit providers build ro ...
service, Via Jersey City, complements and extends the existing public transit networks, providing better connections between residential neighborhoods, business districts, government facilities, PATH stations, and ferry and light rail stops in the north and south regions of the city. Commuters can use the Via app to book an on-demand ride from their smartphone. As of March 2021, Via Jersey City was expanding to provide a weekend service.


Water

* NY Waterway ferries operate between Harborside,
Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal Exchange Place is a district of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey that is sometimes referred to as Wall Street West due to the concentration of financial companies that have offices there. The namesake is a square, about 200 feet long, at the f ...
, Liberty Harbor and Port Liberté to Manhattan at
Battery Park City Ferry Terminal The Battery Park City Ferry Terminal, is a passenger ferry terminal in Battery Park City, Manhattan, serving ferries along the Hudson River in New York City and Gateway Region, northeastern New Jersey. It provides ferry slip, slips to ferries, wa ...
, Pier 11/Wall Street, and
West Midtown Ferry Terminal The West Midtown Ferry Terminal is a passenger bus and ferry terminal serving ferries along the Hudson River in New York City and northeastern New Jersey. It is located at Piers 78 and 79 in Hudson River Park adjacent to the West Side Highway at W ...
, where free transfer is available to a variety of "loop" buses. *
Statue Cruises Hornblower Cruises & Events NOW City Experiences is a San Francisco-based charter yacht, dining cruise and ferry service company. History The company began in 1974 in Berkeley, California with two ships. In 1980 the original owner, Ward Proes ...
provides service to and between Ellis Island and Liberty Island *
Liberty Water Taxi Liberty Water Taxi is a water taxi service based at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States offering service between Liberty State Park in Jersey City, Liberty Harbor in Jersey City and the Brookfield Place in Battery Pa ...
operates ferries between Liberty Landing Marina, Warren Street and the World Financial Center.


Road

, the city had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Hudson County and by the
New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportat ...
, by the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...
and by the
New Jersey Turnpike Authority The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) is a state agency responsible for maintaining the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, which are two toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The agency is headquartered in Woodbridge Towns ...
. * Holland Tunnel: From Boyle Plaza in downtown Jersey City to its eastern terminus at Canal Street, Manhattan (carries
Interstate 78 Interstate 78 (I-78) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Northeastern United States, running from I-81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown to western and northern New Jersey and terminating at the Holland Tunn ...
and Route 139) *
Highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
s include the New Jersey Turnpike Extension (Interstate 78); the Pulaski Skyway ( U.S. Route 1/9), Route 7, Route 139, Route 185 and Route 440.


Bike

A part of the East Coast Greenway, a planned unbroken bike route from Maine to the Florida Keys, will travel through the city. In June 2012, part of the route was officially designated in
Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...
and over the Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge. Both the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway and
Hackensack RiverWalk Hackensack RiverWalk, also known as the Hackensack River Greenway, a is partially constructed greenway along the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The linear park, which closely follows the contour ...
are bicycle friendly. In April 2012, the city initiated the Morris Canal Greenway Plan to investigate the establishment of a greenway, including a bicycle path, that would follow the route of the Morris Canal to the greatest extent possible. In the same month, the city established bikes lanes along the length Grove Street, originally meant to temporary. In December 2012, the city announced that Grove Street lanes would become permanent and that it would add an additional of both dedicated and shared bike lanes. ''The Harbor Ring'' is an initiative to create a 50-mile bike route along the Lower Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, and
Kill van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the ...
that would incorporate bike paths in the city. In 2013, the city simplified the application and reduced the cost for business and residences to install bike racks as well as making them obligatory for certain new construction projects. Also in 2013, Hudson County had initiated exploration of a
bike-share A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include bot ...
program. Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken intended to operate the program starting in 2014 but delayed the launch due to lack of sponsorship. The revamped program officially launched on September 21, 2015, as
Citi Bike Citi Bike is a privately owned public bicycle sharing system serving the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, as well as Jersey City, New Jersey, and Hoboken, New Jersey. Named after lead sponsor Citigroup, it w ...
with membership working in Jersey City and New York City.


Modal characteristics

Jersey City has a high percentage of residents who commute without a car. In 2015, 40.1 percent of city Jersey City households were without a car, which decreased to 37.1 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Jersey City averaged 0.85 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8 per household.


Notable people


Sister cities

Sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...
of Jersey City are: *
Cusco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the list of cities in Peru, seventh m ...
, Peru (1988) *
Karpathos Karpathos ( el, Κάρπαθος, ), also Carpathos, is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality of Karpathos, which is part o ...
, Greece (1992) *
Changwon Changwon () is the capital city of Gyeongsangnam-do, on the southeast coast of South Korea. With a population of 1.07 million , Changwon is South Korea's ninth-most populous city. A port city, Changwon is bordered by Masan Bay to the south ...
, South Korea (1993) *
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
, India (1993) *
Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
, India (1994) *
Nantong Nantong (; alternate names: Nan-t'ung, Nantung, Tongzhou, or Tungchow; Qihai dialect: ) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. ...
, China (1994) *
Ozamiz Ozamiz, officially the City of Ozamiz ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Ozamiz; fil, Lungsod ng Ozamiz), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Misamis Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 140,334 people. A ...
, Philippines (1995) *
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, Israel (1997) *
Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...
, Spain (1998) *
Sant'Arsenio Sant'Arsenio is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy, located about 180 km southeast of Naples and about 76 km southeast of Salerno. As of 30 June 2006, it had a population of 2, ...
, Italy (1999) *
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, India (2001) * Saint John's, Antigua and Barbuda (2002) *
Palatka, Florida Palatka () is a city in northeastern Florida and it is the county seat of Putnam County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,558 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Putnam County. Palatka is the principal city of the Palatka Mi ...
, United States (2016) *
Gomoa West District Gomoa West District is one of the twenty-two districts in Central Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger Gomoa District in 1988, until the eastern part of the district was split off to create the first Gomoa East Dist ...
, Ghana (2018) * Indrawati, Nepal (2018) *
Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...
, Israel (2022)"Jersey City and Beit Shemesh sign sister cities agreement"
Jewish News Syndicate, November 14, 2022. Accessed November 18, 2022. "City, New Jersey, and Israel’s Beit Shemesh have signed a sister city agreement, aiming for economic cooperation and partnerships in urban planning and workforce development."


See also

*
Bergen Township, New Jersey (1661–1862) Bergen Township was a Township (New Jersey), township that existed in the U.S. state of New Jersey, from 1661 to 1862, first as Bergen, New Netherland, then as part Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, and later as part of Hudson County, New J ...
*
Demographics of New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
*
Gold Coast, New Jersey The Hudson Waterfront is an urban area of northeastern New Jersey along the lower reaches of the Hudson River, the Upper New York Bay and the Kill van Kull. Though the term can specifically mean the shoreline, it is often used to mean the contigu ...
*
Northeast Megalopolis The Northeast megalopolis, also known as the Northeast Corridor, Acela Corridor, Boston–Washington corridor, or BosWash, is the world's largest megalopolis in terms of economic output and the second most populous megalopolis in the United St ...
*
Timeline of Jersey City area railroads __NOTOC__ For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater (the Northern end of the line along the Hudson River), South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east o ...
*
Transportation in New Jersey Transportation in New Jersey utilizes a combination of road, rail, air, and water modes. New Jersey is situated between Philadelphia and New York City, two major metropolitan centers of the Boston-Washington megalopolis, making it a regional c ...
*
Van Vorst Township, New Jersey Van Vorst was a township that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, from 1841 to 1851, that is now a neighborhood in Jersey City. The township was located on the Hudson River, to the west and north of the original territory of Jersey ...


References


Bibliography


External links


Official websiteJersey City ListVisitNJ – Jersey City
* {{Authority control 1633 establishments in North America 1838 establishments in New Jersey 1633 establishments in the Dutch Empire Cities in Hudson County, New Jersey County seats in New Jersey Establishments in New Netherland Faulkner Act (mayor–council) New Jersey Meadowlands District New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zones Populated places established in 1633 Populated places established in 1838 New Jersey populated places on the Hackensack River New Jersey populated places on the Hudson River Populated places on the Underground Railroad Port cities and towns in New Jersey