I grew up in Bayonne and was actually surprised it's on here now. Mostly because I was under the impression that the population has gone down in the last 20+ years since I lived there.
The population was decreasing by large amounts, until the 1990's, in which the population began to increase again. This culminated with an almost 14% population increase from 2010 to 2020, which increased the population from 63k, to 71.6k. This is the largest increase since the 1920's. However, Bayonne still has yet to reestablish its peak population of 88k, which it had in 1930.
Small in area, but the most densely populated state in the USA. Basically about 2/3 of the state is a suburb to either NYC or Philly. It's unlike anywhere else - you can only tell that you've passed out of one town and into another if you happen to drive through the town centers.
Moved here 19 years ago. From Florida, even. Expected to hate it. Still love it. Amazingly beautiful state, except where it isn't. It's like a really nice house - but you have to enter through the utility room. At least the 'what's that smell' along the NJ Turnpike has (mostly) gone away. And no more medical waste washes up on the beaches 'down the shore'. But, Camden is still a murder capital and AC is collapsing with the closing casinos. And property taxes are at nosebleed levels and rising (I'm lucky - only $10,000 / year - I know many who pay much, much more)
I think the problem is that people almost always come in through Newark and North Jersey which is dumpy beyond words so they pre-judge the state quickly. Throwing Camden in there for people from Philly also doesn't help
Yes. I used to tell people, "It is like a nice house that you have to enter through the garage or the utility room." Which pretty much sums it up. All the old, dilapidated factories or run-down cities whose peak years were a century ago are basically at the entrance points to the state from Philly, NYC, or via air/rail. Many have had a rebirth - Hoboken - and some are still on the way - Jersey City - while others are unlikely to get there any time soon - Camden.
Most of the places you've heard of because they're close to NYC aren't here because they're too small individually, places like Secaucus, Bayonne, Tererboro, and Hackensack
A lot of New Jersey cities are tiny in area. For example, Union City has a population over 68,000 in an area of just 1.28 square miles. This is why the four most densely population cities in the U.S. are all in New Jersey.
I actually thought Hoboken was more densely populated than Union City. (I worked there for 27 years before moving to Florida a year ago.) I knew it wasn't quite in the top 10 cities, but it's simply growing (up). Nice job going with both cities and townships for the quiz.
Or what's the New Jersey definition of a nanosecond? The amount of time between when the light in front of you turns green and the car behind you starts beeping at you.
This quiz needs to be fixed. Edison, Cherry Hill, North Bergen, etc. are not unincorporated as the instructions suggest. They ARE incorporated. Townships in New Jersey are full-fledged municipalities on par to cities, towns, boroughs, etc. such as Newark or Jersey City.
Do not confuse NJ townships with unincorporated areas.
The quiz includes only cities, and not townships. I personally disagree with this, as US states typically don't differentiate between cities and townships, but most people from out-of-state would never have heard of Toms River or Cherry Hill.
BTW, how can you tell if the person you're speaking with is from New Jers...ANSWER ME!!!
Do not confuse NJ townships with unincorporated areas.
I'm not going to add townships back to the quiz though. We used to include them. The stats made it clear that almost nobody knows them.
>West Orange
>North Orange
Okay fine, no Orange. Give up.
>East Orange