The county is divided into 70 municipalities, the most of any county in New Jersey, made up of 56boroughs, nine townships, three cities, and two villages. Its most populous place, with 46,030 residents as of the 2020 census, isHackensack,[5] which is also itscounty seat.[2]Mahwah covers the largest area of any municipality, at 26.19 square miles (67.8 km2).[11]
Bergen County is one of the largest commercial hubs in both New Jersey and the United States, generating over $6 billion in annual revenues from retailers inParamus alone, despiteblue laws keeping most stores in the county and especially Paramus itself (which has even stricter blue laws than the rest of the county) open only six days per week.[12] The county is one of thewealthiest counties in the United States, with amedian household income of $109,497 (compared to $89,703 in New Jersey and $69,021 nationwide) and aper capita income of $55,710 (vs. $46,691 in the state and $37,638 in the U.S.) as of the 2017–2021American Community Survey.[13] Bergen County has some of the highest home prices in New Jersey, with the median home price in 2022 exceeding $600,000.[14] The county'spark system covers more than 9,000 acres (3,600 ha).[15]
Bergen andPassaic counties, 1872Bergen County, 1896Bergen County, 1918
At the time of firstEuropean contact, Bergen County was inhabited byNative American people, particularly theLenape Nation, whose subgroups included theTappan,Hackensack, andRumachenanck (later called the Haverstraw), as named by theDutch colonists.[18] Some of their descendants are included among theRamapough Mountain Indians, recognized as a tribe by the state in 1980.[19] Their ancestors had moved into the mountains to escape encroachment by Dutch andEnglish colonists. Their descendants reside mostly in the northwest of the county, in nearby Passaic County and inRockland County, New York, tracing their Lenape ancestry to speakers of theMunsee language, one of three major dialects of their language.[20] Over the years, they absorbed other ethnicities by intermarriage.[21]
In the 17th century, the Dutch considered the area comprising today's Bergen and Hudson counties as part ofNew Netherland, their colonialprovince of theDutch Republic. The Dutch claimed it afterHenry Hudson (sailing for theDutch East India Company) exploredNewark Bay and anchored his ship atWeehawken Cove in 1609.[22] From an early date, the Dutch began to importAfricanslaves to fill their labor needs. Bergen County eventually was the largest slaveholding county in the state, with nearly 20% of its population consisting of slaves in 1800.[23] The African slaves were used for labor at the ports to support shipping, as well as for domestic servants, trades, and farm labor.
Early settlement attempts by the Dutch colonists includedPavonia (1633),Vriessendael (1640), andAchter Col (1642), but the Native Americans repelled these settlements inKieft's War (1643–1645) and thePeach War (1655).[24][25] European settlers returned to the western shores of theHudson River in the 1660 formation ofBergen Township (now part ofJersey City, New Jersey), which would become one of the earliest permanent European settlements in present-day New Jersey.[26][27]
During theSecond Anglo-Dutch War, on August 27, 1664, New Amsterdam's governorPeter Stuyvesant surrendered to theEnglish Navy.[28] The English organized theProvince of New Jersey in 1665, later splitting the territory intoEast Jersey andWest Jersey in 1674. On November 30, 1675, the settlement Bergen and surrounding plantations and settlements were calledBergen County in an act passed by the province's General Assembly.[29] In 1683, Bergen (along with the three other original counties of East Jersey) was officially recognized as an independent county by the Provincial Assembly.[30][31]
Initially, Bergen County comprised only the land between the Hudson River and theHackensack River, extending north to the border between East Jersey and New York.[32] In January 1709, the boundaries were extended to include all of the current territory ofHudson County (formed in 1840) and portions of the current territory ofPassaic County (formed in 1837). The 1709 borders were described as follows:[32]
† The line between East and West Jersey here referred to is not the line finally adopted and known as the Lawrence line, which was run by John Lawrence in September and October 1743. It was the compromise line agreed upon between GovernorsDaniel Coxe andRobert Barclay in 1682, which ran a little north ofMorristown to the Passaic River; thence up the Pequaneck to forty-one degrees of northlatitude; and thence by a straight line due east to the New York State line. This line being afterward objected to by the East Jersey proprietors, the latter procured the running of the Lawrence line.[32]
Bergen was the location of several battles and troop movements during theAmerican Revolutionary War.Fort Lee's location on the bluffs of theNew Jersey Palisades, oppositeFort Washington inManhattan, made it a strategic position during the war. In November 1776, theBattle of Fort Lee took place as part of a British plan to captureGeorge Washington and to resoundingly defeat theContinental Army, whose forces were divided and located in Fort Lee and Hackensack. After abandoning the defenses in Fort Lee and leaving behind considerable supplies, the Continental forces staged a hasty retreat through present-dayEnglewood,Teaneck, andBergenfield, and across the Hackensack River atNew Bridge Landing, one of the few sites where the river was crossed by a bridge. They destroyed the bridge to delay the British assault on Washington's headquarters in the village of Hackensack. The next day, George Washington retreated toNewark and left Hackensack via Polifly Road. British forces pursued, and Washington continued to retreat across New Jersey. The retreat allowed American forces to escape capture and regroup for subsequent successes against the British elsewhere in New Jersey later that winter.[33]
Soon after the Battle of Princeton in January 1777, British forces realized that they were not able to spread themselves thin across New Jersey. Local militia retook Hackensack and the rest of Bergen County. Bergen County saw skirmishes throughout the war as armies from both sides maneuvered across the countryside.
In 1837,Passaic County was formed from parts of Bergen andEssex counties. In 1840,Hudson County was formed from Bergen. These two divisions took roughly 13,000 residents (nearly half of the previous population) from the county's rolls.[31][35]
In 1852, theErie Railroad began operating major rail services fromJersey City on theHudson River to points north and west via leased right-of-way in the county. This became known as theErie Main Line, and is still in use for passenger service today.[36] The Erie later leased two other railroads built in the 1850s and 1860s, later known as thePascack Valley Line and theNorthern Branch, and in 1881 built a cutoff, now the Bergen County Line. There were two other rail lines in the county, ultimately known as theWest Shore Railroad and theNew York, Susquehanna, and Western.
In 1894, state law was changed to allow easy formation of municipalities with theborough form of government. This led to the "boroughitis" phenomenon, in which many new municipalities were created in a span of a few years.[37] There were 26 boroughs that were formed in the county in 1894 alone, with two more boroughs (and one new township) formed in 1895.[38] Ultimately 56 boroughs were incorporated in Bergen County, the highest number for any county in New Jersey.
On January 11, 1917, theKingsland Explosion took place at amunitions factory in what is todayLyndhurst.[39] The explosion is believed to have been an act ofsabotage by German agents, as the munitions in question were destined forRussia, part of the U.S.'s effort to supply allies before entrance intoWorld War I.[40] After the U.S. entry into the war in April 1917,Camp Merritt was created in eastern Bergen County for troop staging. Beginning operations in August 1917, it housed 50,000 soldiers at a time, staging them for deployment toEurope viaHoboken. Camp Merritt was decommissioned in November 1919.[41]
TheGeorge Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, linkingFort Lee toManhattan. This connection spurred rapid development in the post-World War II era, developing much of the county tosuburban levels. Two lanes were added to the upper level in 1946 and asecond deck of traffic on the bridge was completed in 1962, expanding its capacity to becoming the world's only 14-lanesuspension bridge.[42] The bridge is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge, carrying 104 million vehicles in 2019.[43]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, as of the 2020 Census, the county had a total area of 246.45 square miles (638.3 km2), of which 232.79 square miles (602.9 km2) was land (94.5%) and 13.66 square miles (35.4 km2) was water (5.5%).[3]
Bergen County's highest elevation isBald Mountain near theNew York state line inMahwah, at 1,164 feet (355 m) above sea level.[46][47] The county's lowest point issea level, along the Hudson River, which in this region is atidal estuary.
The sharp cliffs of theNew Jersey Palisades lift much of the eastern boundary of the county up from the Hudson River. The relief becomes less pronounced across the middle section of the county, much of it being located in theHackensack River valley or thePascack Valley. In the northwestern portion of the county, Bergen County becomes hilly again and shares theRamapo Mountains with Rockland County, New York.
The damming of the Hackensack River and a tributary, thePascack Brook, produced threereservoirs in the county,Woodcliff Lake Reservoir (which impounds one billion gallons of water),Lake Tappan (3.5 billion gallons), andOradell Reservoir, which allowsUnited Water to provide drinking water to 750,000 residents ofNorth Jersey, mostly in Bergen and Hudson counties.[48] The Hackensack River drains the eastern portion of the county through theNew Jersey Meadowlands, awetlands area in the southern portion of the county. The central portion is drained by theSaddle River and the western portion is drained by theRamapo River. Both of these are tributaries of thePassaic River, which forms a section of the southwestern border of the county.
Southeastern Bergen County lies at the edge of thehumid subtropical climate zone (Cfa) according to theKöppen climate classification because its coldest month (January) averages above 26.6 °F / -3 °C.[50][51][52] In part due to Bergen's coastal location, its lowerelevation, and the partial shielding of the county from colder air by the three ridges of theWatchung Mountains as well as by the higherAppalachians, the climate of Bergen County is milder than in New Jersey counties further inland such asSussex County. Bergen County has a moderately sunny climate, averaging between 2,400 and 2,800 hours ofsunshine annually.[53]
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Hackensack have ranged from a low of 19 °F (−7 °C) in January to a high of 86 °F (30 °C) in July, although a record low of −15 °F (−26 °C) was recorded in February 1934 and a record high of 106 °F (41 °C) was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 3.21 inches (82 mm) in February to 4.60 inches (117 mm) in July.[49]
Average monthly temperatures at the interchange of Route 17 and MacArthur Boulevard in Mahwah range from 28.5 °F in January to 73.8 °F in July. Using the 0 °C January isotherm, most of Bergen has a hot-summerhumid continental climate (Dfa) except for higher areas in theRamapo Mountains, which areDfb, and along the Hudson River from Fort Lee downward, whereCfa exists.[54] Due to its location and elevation span, Bergen is the only county in New Jersey to have all three of the state's Köppen climate zones.[citation needed]
As of the2020 United States census, the county had 955,732 people, 343,733 households, and 242,272 families. The population density was 3,900 inhabitants per square mile (1,505.8/km2). There were 367,383 housing units at an average density of 1,576 per square mile (608.5/km2). The county racial makeup was 56.90%White, 5.73%African American, 0.47%Native American, 16.59%Asian, and 10.17% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino residents of any race were 21.41% of the population.[4]
There were 343,733 households, of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.1% weremarried couples living together, 24.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 13.9% had a male householder with no wife present and 29.5% were non-families. 14.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.18 and the average family size was 3.25.[4]
About 21.3% of the county's population was under age 18, 8.0% was from age 18 to 24, 36.7% was from age 25 to 44, and 17.0% was age 65 or older. The median age was 42.1 years. The gender makeup was 48.53% male and 51.14% female. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males.[4]
The median household income was $108,827, and the median family income was $122,981. About 5.6% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 7.4% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.[4]
The2010 United States census counted 905,116 people, 335,730 households, and 238,704 families in the county. Thepopulation density was 3,884.5 per square mile (1,499.8/km2). There were 352,388 housing units at an average density of 1,512.3 per square mile (583.9/km2). The racial makeup was 71.89% (650,703)White, 5.80% (52,473)Black or African American, 0.23% (2,061)Native American, 14.51% (131,329)Asian, 0.03% (229)Pacific Islander, 5.04% (45,611) fromother races, and 2.51% (22,710) from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 16.05% (145,281) of the population.[10]
Of the 335,730 households, 32% had children under the age of 18; 56.1% were married couples living together; 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present and 28.9% were non-families. Of all households, 24.6% were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.2.[10]
22.6% of the population was under the age of 18, 7.4% was from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 29% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.1 years. For every 100 females, the population had 92.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 89.8 males.[10]
Given its location as a suburban extension ofManhattan across theGeorge Washington Bridge,[56] Bergen County has evolved a globallycosmopolitan ambience of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity with respect to metrics including nationality, religion, race, anddomiciliary partnership.South Korea,Poland, andIndia are the three most common nations of birth forforeign-born Bergen County residents.[57]
Italian Americans have long had a significant presence in Bergen County; in fact, Italian is the most commonly identified first ancestry among Bergen residents (18.5%), with 168,974 Bergen residents were recorded as being of Italian heritage in the 2013American Community Survey.[58]
The diverseHispanic and Latin American population in Bergen is growing in many areas of the county but is especially concentrated in a handful of municipalities, includingFairview (37.1%),Hackensack (25.9%),Ridgefield Park (22.2%),Englewood (21.8%),Bogota (21.3%),Garfield (20.1%),Cliffside Park (18.2%),Lodi (18.0%), andBergenfield (17.0%).[65] Traditionally, many of theLatino residents were ofColombian andCuban ancestry, although that has been changing in recent years. Englewood's Colombian community is the largest in Bergen County and among the top ten by percent of population in the United States (7.17%); Hackensack, Fairview, Bergenfield, Bogota, and Lodi also have notable populations.[66] The Cuban population is largest in Fairview, Ridgefield Park,Ridgefield, and Bogota, although the Cuban community is much bigger inHudson County to the south.[67] Since 2000, an increasing number of immigrants from other countries (includingPeru,Mexico,Guatemala,El Salvador, theDominican Republic,Ecuador, andChile) as well as from theU.S. territory ofPuerto Rico have entered the county. The diverse backgrounds of the local Latino community are best exemplified in Fairview, where 10% of the overall population hails fromCentral America, 7% fromSouth America, and 9% from other Latin American countries, mainly those in the Caribbean. The borough of Fairview has the highest percentage of people of Salvadoran andSalvadoran American ancestry in the county, 12.4%.[68] The city of Hackensack has the highest percentage of people of Ecuadorian andEcuadorian American ancestry in the county, 10.01%, with a total of approximately 4,500 living within city limits.[citation needed] Overall, Bergen County's Latino population has demonstrated a robust increase recently, growing from 145,281 as of the 2010 census count[10] to an estimated 165,442 as of 2013.[69]
Irish Americans andGerman Americans are the next largest individual ethnic groups in Bergen County, numbering 115,914 (12.7% of the county's total population) and 80,288 (8.8%) respectively in 2013.[58] As is the case with Italian Americans, these two groups developed sizable enclaves long ago and are now well established in all areas of the county. In 2023,Waldwick (30.43%),Ho-Ho-Kus (26.72%), andHillsdale (24.94%) were reported as having the highest percentages of Irish American residents in the county.[70] The Council of Irish Associations of Greater Bergen County, based inBergenfield, has hosted an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade in the county since 1982.[71]
Bergen County is home to the largestJewish population in New Jersey.[72] Many municipalities in the county are home to a significant number ofJewish Americans, includingFair Lawn,Teaneck,Tenafly,Closter,Englewood,Englewood Cliffs,Fort Lee,Bergenfield,Woodcliff Lake,Paramus, andFranklin Lakes.[73] Teaneck, Fair Lawn, Englewood, and Bergenfield in particular have become havens for Bergen County's growingOrthodox Jewish communities, with a rising number ofsynagogues as well as supermarkets and restaurants offeringkosher foods.[74] The largestIsraeli American communities in Bergen County were in Fair Lawn (2.5%), Closter (1.4%), and Tenafly (1.3%) in 2000, representing three of the four largest in the state.[75] Altogether, 83,700 Bergen residents identified themselves as being ofJewish heritage in 2000, a number expected to show an increase per a 2014 survey of Jews in the county.[73][74] The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey is based in Paramus.[76]
The top ten municipalities in the United States as ranked byKorean American percentage of overall population in 2010 are illustrated in the following table.Palisades Park hasKoreans that comprise the majority (53.7%) of the population in 2022:[79]
One of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in Bergen County[80] is the Korean American community, which is concentrated along theHudson River – especially in the area near the George Washington Bridge – and represented more than half of the state's entire Korean population as of 2000.[81] As of the 2022American Community Survey, persons of Korean ancestry made up 6.5% of Bergen County's population,[82] the highest percentage for any county in the United States;[83] while the concentration of Koreans inPalisades Park, within Bergen County, is thehighest density and percentage of any municipality in the United States,[84] at 53.7% of the borough's population.[79] Per the 2010 Census, Palisades Park was home to the highest total number (10,115)[85] of individuals of Korean ancestry among all municipalities in the state,[86] while neighboringFort Lee had the second largest cluster (8,318),[87] and fourth highest proportion (23.5%, trailingLeonia (26.5%) andRidgefield (25.7%)). All of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population in 2010 were located in Bergen County,[78] including Palisades Park, Leonia, Ridgefield, Fort Lee,Closter,Englewood Cliffs,Norwood,Edgewater,Cresskill, andDemarest, closely followed byOld Tappan. Virtually all of the municipalities with the highest Korean concentrations are located in the eastern third of the county, near the Hudson River, althoughRidgewood has emerged as a Korean American nexus in western Bergen County,[88] andParamus[89] andRiver Edge[90] in central Bergen County. Beginning in 2012, county election ballots were printed in the Korean language,[91] in addition to English and Spanish, given the U.S. Census Bureau's directive that Bergen County's Korean population had grown large enough to warrant language assistance during elections.[92] Between 2011 and 2017, the Korean population ofFair Lawn was estimated to have more than doubled.[93]
South Koreanchaebols have establishedNorth Americanheadquarters operations in Bergen County, includingSamsung,[94]LG Corp,[95] andHanjin Shipping.[96] In April 2018, the largest Korean-themed supermarket in Bergen County opened in Paramus.[97] In January 2019, Christopher Chung was sworn in as the first Korean-American mayor of Palisades Park.[98]
The political stature of Koreatown appears to be increasing significantly as well. Bergen County's growing Korean community[99][100][101][102] was cited by county executive Kathleen Donovan in the context of attorney Jae Y. Kim's appointment to Central Municipal Courtjudgeship in nearbyHackensack in January 2011.[101] Subsequently, in March 2012, leaders from Bergen County's Korean community announced they would form a grassrootspolitical action committee to gain an organized voice in politics in the wake of the rejection of attorney Phillip Kwon to theNew Jersey Supreme Court by a state legislative body,[102] and in July 2012, Kwon was appointed instead as deputy general counsel of thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey.[103] Jacqueline Choi was then sworn in as Bergen County's first female Korean American assistantprosecutor in September 2012.[104] According toThe Record, the U.S. Census Bureau has determined that the county's Korean American population has grown enough to warrant language assistance during elections,[105] and Bergen County's Koreans have earned significant political respect.[106][107][108] As of May 2014, Korean Americans had garnered at least four borough council seats in Bergen County.[109] In November 2016, Ellen Park was elected to the borough council in nearbyEnglewood Cliffs,[110] while namesake Daniel Park was elected to the borough council in nearbyTenafly in November 2013.[111]
Polish Americans are well represented in western Bergen County and are growing as a community, with 59,294 (6.5%) of residents ofPolish descent residing in the county as of the 2013 American Community Survey.[58] The community's cultural and commercial heart has long been centered inWallington, where 45.5% of the population is of Polish descent; this is the largest concentration among New Jersey municipalities and the seventh-highest in the United States.[112] The adjacent city ofGarfield has also become a magnet for Polish immigrants, with 22.9% of the population identifying themselves as being of Polish ancestry, the third highest concentration in the state.[112]
The county'sAfrican American community is almost entirely concentrated in three municipalities: Englewood (10,215 residents, accounting for 38.98% of the city's total population), Teaneck (11,298; 28.78%), and Hackensack (10,518; 24.65%). Collectively, these three areas account for nearly 70% of the county's total African American population of 46,568, and in fact, blacks have had a presence in these towns since the earliest days of the county. In sharp contrast, African Americans comprise less than 2% of the total in most of Bergen's other municipalities.[113] In Englewood, the African American population is concentrated in the Third and Fourth wards of the western half of the city, while the northeastern section of Teaneck has been an African American enclave for several decades.[114] In 2014, Teaneck selected its first female African-American mayor.[115] Hackensack's long-established African American community is primarily located in the central part of the city, especially in the area near Central Avenue and First Street.[116] Bergen County's black population has declined from 52,473 counted in the 2010 Census[10] to an estimated 50,478 in 2012.[69] Other county municipalities with a sizeable minority of African Americans includeBergenfield (7.7%),Bogota (9.4%),Garfield (6.5%),Lodi (7.5%) andRidgefield Park (6.4%).[117]
Indian Americans represent a rapidly growing demographic in Bergen County, enumerating over 40,000 individuals in 2013,[69] a significant increase from the 24,973 counted in the 2010 Census,[10] and represent the second largest Asian ethnic group in Bergen County, after Korean Americans. The biggest clusters of Indian Americans are located inHackensack,[118]Ridgewood,[119]Fair Lawn,[120]Paramus,[121]Teaneck,[122]Mahwah,[123]Bergenfield,[124]Lodi,[125] andElmwood Park.[126] Within the county's Indian population is America's largestMalayali community,[127] andKerala-based Kitex Garments, India's largest children's clothing manufacturer, opened its first U.S. office inMontvale in October 2015.[128]Glen Rock residentGurbir Grewal, a member of Bergen County's growing Indian AmericanSikh community, was sworn into the position of countyprosecutor in 2016,[129] and an architecturally notable Sikhgurudwara resides in Glen Rock,[130] while a similarly prominentHindumandir has been built in Mahwah.[131] The public library in Fair Lawn began a highly attendedHindi language (हिन्दी) storytelling program in October 2013.[132] The affluent municipalities of northern Bergen County are witnessing significant growth in their Indian American communities, including Glen Rock, into which up to 90% of this constituency was estimated by one member in 2014 to have moved within the preceding two-year period alone.[133] In February 2015, the board of education of theGlen Rock Public Schools voted to designate the Hindu holy dayDiwali as an annual school holiday, making it the first district in the county to close for the holiday,[134] while thousands celebrated the first county-wide celebration of Diwali under a unified sponsorship banner in 2016.[135] An annual "Holi in the Village" festival of colors has been launched in Ridgewood.[136]
Bergenfield, along withParamus,Hackensack,[141]New Milford,Dumont,[142]Fair Lawn, andTeaneck,[122] have become growing hubs forFilipino Americans. Taken as a whole, these municipalities are home to a significant proportion of Bergen County's Philippine population.[124][143][144][145] A census-estimated 20,859 Filipino Americans resided in Bergen County as of 2013,[69] embodying an increase from the 19,155 counted in 2010.[146] Between 2000 and 2010, the Filipino-American population of Bergenfield grew from 11.7%, or 3,081 residents, to 17.1%, or 4,569,[147] and increasing further to 5,062 (18.4%) by 2016.[148] Bergenfield is informally known as theLittle Manila of Bergen County, with a significant concentration of Filipino residents and businesses.[149][150] In the late 1990s, Bergenfield became the first municipality on theEast Coast of the United States to elect a Filipino mayor, Robert C. Rivas.[citation needed] The annual Filipino American Festival is held in Bergenfield.[151] The Philippine-American Community of Bergen County (PACBC) organization is based in Paramus,[152] while other Filipino organizations are based in Fair Lawn[142][153][154] and Bergenfield.[155] Bergen County's culturally active Filipino community repatriated significant financial assistance to victims ofTyphoon Haiyan, which ravaged thePhilippines in November 2013.[142] Between 2011 and 2017, Fair Lawn's Filipino population was estimated to have more than doubled.[156] In 2021, the multinationalconglomerateJollibee restaurant chain based inMetro Manila, planned to open its first Bergen County location inEast Rutherford.[157]
TheChinese American population is also spread out, with sizable populations in Fort Lee, Paramus,Ridgewood, River Edge, and Englewood Cliffs.[158] Fort Lee and Paramus have the highest total number of Chinese among Bergen municipalities, while Englewood Cliffs has the highest percentage (8.42%). Several school districts throughout the county have addedMandarin to their curricula.
The Japanese community, which includes a significant number of Japanese nationals, has long had a presence in Fort Lee, with over a quarter of the county's total Japanese population living in that borough alone. AdjacentEdgewater has also developed an activeJapanese American community, particularly after the construction of the largest Japanese-oriented commercial center on theU.S. East Coast in this borough. As of March 2011, about 2,500 Japanese Americans lived in Fort Lee and Edgewater combined; this is the largest concentration of Japanese Americans in New Jersey.[159] The remainder of Bergen County's Japanese residents are concentrated in northern communities, including Ridgewood. The Japanese-American Society of New Jersey is based in Fort Lee.[160]
Greek Americans have had a fairly sizable presence in Bergen for several decades, and according to 2000 census data, the Greek community numbered 13,247 county-wide.[161] Greek restaurants are abundant in Bergen County.[162] The largest concentrations of Greeks by percentage in the county are inEnglewood Cliffs (7.2%),Alpine (5.2%),Fort Lee (3.7%), andPalisades Park (3.5%).[163]Macedonian Americans andAlbanian Americans have arrived relatively recently in New Jersey[164][165][166][167] but have quickly established Bergen County enclaves, roughly in tandem, in Garfield, Elmwood Park, and Fair Lawn.
A relatively recent community ofIranian Americans has emerged in Bergen County,[168][169] including those inprofessional occupations scattered throughout the county.
Same-sex couples headed one in 160 households in 2010,[170] prior to the commencement of same-sex marriages in New Jersey on October 21, 2013.[171] On June 28, 2016, Bergen County officials for the first time raised the rainbow-coloredgay pride flag at the county administration building in Hackensack to commemorate thegay rights movement.[172]
Bergen County also has a moderate-sizedMuslim population, which numbered 6,473 as of the 2000 census.[73] Teaneck and Hackensack have emerged as the two most significant Muslim enclaves in the county, with the American Muslim Union's 18th annual brunch gathering held in Teaneck in 2016.[173][174] Bergen's Muslim population primarily consists ofArab Americans,South Asian Americans, African Americans, and more recently, Macedonian Americans and Albanian Americans, although many members of these groups practice other religions.[175] While Arab Americans have not established a significant presence in any particular municipality, in total there are 11,755 county residents who indicatedArab ancestry in the 2000 census.[176] The overwhelming majority of Bergen's Arab American population (64.3%) is constituted by persons ofLebanese (2,576),[177]Syrian (2,568),[178] andEgyptian (2,417)[179] descent. The county'sdiners provide late-night and pre-dawn dining options during the Islamic holy month ofRamadan.[180]
TheGeorge Washington Bridge, connectingFort Lee in Bergen County across the Hudson River to theUpper Manhattan section ofNew York City, is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.[186][187] Access to New York City is alternatively available for motorists through theLincoln Tunnel andHolland Tunnel inHudson County. Access across the Hudson River to Westchester County in New York is available using the Tappan Zee Bridge in neighboring Rockland County, New York.
Local and express bus service is available fromNJ Transit and private companies such asAcademy Bus Lines, andCoach USA, offering transport within Bergen County, elsewhere in New Jersey, and to thePort Authority Bus Terminal andGeorge Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York City. In studies conducted to determine the best possible routes for theBergen BRT (bus rapid transit) system, it has been determined the many malls and other "activity generators" in the vicinity of the intersection of routes 4 and 17 would constitute the core of any system.[194][195][196][197] While no funding has for construction of the project has been identified, a study begun in 2012 will define the optimal routes.[198][199][200]
TheBergen Performing Arts Center (PAC) is based inEnglewood, while numerous museums are located throughout the county. In September 2014, the Englewood-based Northern New Jersey Community Foundation announced an initiative known as ArtsBergen, a centralizing body with the goal of connecting artists and arts organizations with one another in Bergen County.[216]
Bergen has had acounty executive form of government since voters chose the first executive in 1986,[231] joiningAtlantic,Essex,Hudson andMercer counties as one of the 5 of 21 New Jersey counties with an elected executive.[232] The executive oversees the county's business, while the seven-memberBergen County Board of Commissioners has a legislative and oversight role. The Commissioners are elected at-large to three-year terms in office on a staggered basis, with either two or three seats coming up for election each November in a three-year cycle. All members of the governing body are electedat-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general elections.[233][234] In 2018, Commissioners were paid $28,312 and the Commissioner chairman was paid an annual salary of $29,312.[235] Day-to-day oversight of the operation of the county and its departments is delegated to the County Administrator,Thomas J. Duch.[236] Duch took the position in June 2021, succeedingJulien X. Neals who was appointed as a federal judge.[237] As of 2025[update], theBergen County Executive is James J. Tedesco III (D,Paramus), whose four-year term of office ends December 31, 2026.[238] Bergen County's Commissioners are (with terms for Chair and Vice Chair ending every December 31):[239][240][233][241][242][243][244]
Pursuant to Article VII Section II of theNew Jersey State Constitution, each county in New Jersey is required to have three elected administrative officials known as "constitutional officers." These officers are theCounty Clerk andCounty Surrogate (both elected for five-year terms of office) and theCounty Sheriff (elected for a three-year term).[251] Bergen County's constitutional officials are:[233][252]
The Bergen County Prosecutor is Mark Musella.[260] Musella succeeded acting prosecutor Dennis Calo, who was sworn into office in January 2018 afterGurbir Grewal ofGlen Rock left office to becomeNew Jersey Attorney General.[261] Bergen County constitutes Vicinage 2 of theNew Jersey Superior Court, which is seated at the Bergen County Justice Center in Hackensack; the Assignment Judge for Vicinage 2 is Bonnie J. Mizdol.[262]
In March 2023, Rafael Marte was selected to fill the seat expiring in December 2023 that had been held by Ramon Hache until he resigned from office earlier that month.[263]
In 2014, Freeholder James Tedesco challenged incumbentKathleen Donovan on a platform that highlighted his own plan to merge the Bergen County Police Department with the sheriff's office, as well as Donovan's connections to recent scandals in the New Jersey state government, including the nationally reported"Bridgegate" scandal and alleged campaign finance abuse among her staff.[264] Election results showed Tedesco with 54.2% of the vote (107,958), ahead of Donovan with 45.8% (91,299),[265] in a race in which Tedesco's campaign spending nearly $1 million, outspending Donovan by a 2–1 margin; that sweep mirrored that by neighboring Passaic County Democrats, who also defeated the three Republicans elected there in 2010, in the election in 2013, although voters in Passaic County would elect their first Republican candidate since 2013 to the then-renamed Board of County Commissioners in 2021. No Republican has won county-wide office in Bergen County since 2013.[266]
In November 2010, Republican County Clerk Kathleen Donovan won the race for County Executive, defeatingDennis McNerney in his bid for a third term. Three incumbent Freeholders, Chairman James Carroll, Freeholder Elizabeth Calabrese, and Freeholder John Hogan were all defeated by Republican challengers Franklin Lakes Mayor Maura DeNicola, former River Edge Councilman John Felice, and Cliffside Park resident John Mitchell. Incumbent Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire also failed in his bid for a third term as Emerson Police Chief Mike Saudino defeated him. As a result of the 2010 elections, Republicans controlled Bergen County government for the first time in nearly a decade, with County Executive Kathleen Donovan and a 5–2 majority on the Board of Chosen Freeholders.[267] Saudino would later face backlash over his remarks disparagingBlack Americans andSikhs—including remarks about Gurbir Grewal, who was the Bergen County prosecutor at the time—and resigned his position in 2018.[268]
Negotiations to merge the Bergen County Police Department with the Sheriff's Office began in 2015, and were finally completed in 2021. The county Police Department was created in 1917.[269][270]
The Bergen County court system consists of a number of municipal courts handlingtraffic court and other minor matters, plus the Bergen County Superior Court which handles more serious offenses. Law enforcement at the county level includes the Bergen County Sheriff's Office and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Bergen County's first femalepolice chief took office in September 2015, as police chief of Bergenfield.[271] In August 2015, abranding campaign was launched to highlight county government services, with its centerpiece being the officialseal of Bergen County, depicting aDutch settler shaking hands with aNative American. The county's contemporaneous executive James Tedesco made an approximately $5,000 private donation to initiate the effort in the form of a nine-foot rendering of this seal woven into the carpet of the county executive's office.[272]
The county leans Democratic and is characterized by a divide between mostlyRepublican communities in the north and northwest of the county, and mostlyDemocratic communities in its center and southeast. That dichotomy largely remained in place for quite a while, until2020. Mirroring the national "suburban revolt" against President Donald Trump, Democratic candidateJoe Biden made significant gains in the northern portion of the county, winning in many affluent and typically Republican voting communities, such as River Vale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Ramsey, Allendale, Hillsdale, and Montvale, winning in Upper Saddle River by a mere 2 vote margin. He also won somewhat less affluent suburban towns such as Mahwah, Waldwick, and Midland Park, along with surpassing the margins of victory obtained by Hillary Clinton in municipalities like Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Ridgewood, and wealthier southern Bergen towns like Rutherford (although the results in most of the rest of southern Bergen largely stayed the same compared to 2016 - either Biden or Trump barely won the more blue-collar towns of Carlstadt (Trump, by 57 votes)/East Rutherford (Biden, 485)/Lyndhurst (Trump, 68)/Moonachie (Biden, 48)/North Arlington (Trump, just 5)/South Hackensack (Biden, 88), while Trump's margins of defeat shrank in Garfield/Lodi, and his margin of victory grew in Wallington, all compared to 2016).[282][283][284][285] In fact, the2020 presidential election sawJoe Biden win the county by the largest margin for a Democrat since1964, and marked the first time the county voted to the left of the state since 1904. In 2024, however, Bergen mirrored the rest of the state by shifting heavily to the right,[286] cutting the margin down to less than 4% - the best Republican result since the county was won outright by Republicans in 1992. Bergen County returned to voting to the right of the state in this election, albeit by a very small margin.
As of October 1, 2021, there were a total of 688,213 registered voters in Bergen County, of whom 265,251 (38.5%) were registered asDemocrats, 150,812 (21.9%) were registered asRepublicans, and 265,186 (38.5%) were registered asunaffiliated. There were 6,965 voters (1.0%) registered to other parties.[287] Among the county's 2010 Census population, 61.4% were registered to vote, including 77.4% of those ages 18 and over.[288][289]
United States presidential election results for Bergen County, New Jersey[290]
Labeled outline map of Bergen County municipalities.Constitution Park in Fort Lee.High-rise residential complexes are a prominent feature of thisborough, withseveral over 300 feet tall.
Interactive map of municipalities in Bergen County.
In the last decades of the 19th century, Bergen County, to a far greater extent than any other county in the state, began dividing its townships up into incorporatedboroughs; this was chiefly due to the "boroughitis" phenomenon, triggered by a number of loopholes in state laws that allowed boroughs to levy lower taxes and send more members to the county's board of freeholders. There was a 10-year period in which many of Bergen County's townships disappeared into the patchwork of boroughs that exist today, before the state laws governing municipal incorporation were changed.[38]
The county has 70 municipalities, the highest number of any county in the state, with 56 of them being boroughs.[292]
The 70 municipalities in Bergen County (with 2010 Census data for population, housing units and area) are:[293]
Over the history of the county, there have been various municipality secessions, annexations and renamings. The following is a partial list of former municipalities, ordered by year of incorporation.[31]
According to the Bergen County Economic Development Corporation, the largest employers in Bergen County as of November 2012, as ranked with at least 1,000 employees in the county, were as follows:[296]
In January 2015,Mercedes-Benz USA announced that it would be moving its headquarters from the borough of Montvale in Bergen County to theAtlanta, Georgia, area as of July. The company had been based in northern New Jersey since 1972 and has had 1,000 employees on a 37-acre (15 ha) campus in Montvale. Despite incentive offers from the State of New Jersey to remain in Bergen County, Mercedes-Benz cited proximity to itsAlabama manufacturing facility and a growing customer base in the southeastern United States, in addition to as much as $50 million in tax incentives from Georgia governmental agencies, in explaining its decision to move. However, Mercedes-Benz USA also stated its intent to maintain its Northeast regional headquarters in Montvale and to build a "state-of-the-art" assemblage training center in the borough as well.[297]
Theretail industry, anchored inParamus, is a mainstay of the Bergen County economy, with a combined payroll of $1.7 billion as of 2012.[299] The largest retail entities are described below in further detail:
TheGarden State Plaza megamall is located inParamus. The mall is owned and managed byParis-based real estate management companyUnibail-Rodamco-Westfield, and located at the intersection ofRoute 4 andRoute 17 near theGarden State Parkway, about 15 miles (24 km) west ofManhattan.[302] Opened in 1957 as the first suburban shopping mall in New Jersey,[303][304] it contains 2,118,718 sq ft (196,835.3 m2) of leasable space,[305][306] and housing over 300 stores,[302] it is the second-largest mall in New Jersey, the third-largest mall in theNew York metropolitan area, and one of the highest-revenue producing malls in the United States.[307]
American Dream, located 8 miles (13 km) south ofGarden State Plaza, is another large retail and entertainment complex, situated in theMeadowlands Sports Complex inEast Rutherford.[308] The first and second of four opening stages occurred on October 25, 2019, and on December 5, 2019.[309][310] The remaining opening stages occurred on October 1, 2020, and thereafter.[311] As of January 2023, the megamall hosts over 200 stores and other commercial establishments.
Bergen County enforces one of the last remaining U.S.blue laws that cover most retail sales, other than food and gasoline (among other limited items). The law enforced in the county is actually a state law that each county could reject by voterreferendum, with 20 of the state's 21 counties having voted to reject the legal option to enforce the law.[312] Thus one of the largest and most popular commercial shopping cores of theNew York metropolitan area[313] is almost completely closed on Sunday. Grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, entertainment venues, and any other exempted establishments that do not sell clothing, shoes, furniture, electronics, hardware, and home appliances are among the businesses allowed to operate. Furthermore, Bergen County has significant populations ofJewish (2000 estimate of 83,700) andMuslim (2000 estimate of 6,473) residents whose observant members would not be celebrating theSunday Sabbath with most of theirChristian neighbors.[314] The substantialOrthodox Jewish minority is placed in the position of being unable to shop either on Sunday (due to the blue laws) or on Saturday (due to religious observance).[315][316]
However, repeated attempts by voters to repeal the law have failed. A large part of the reason for maintaining the laws has been a desire by many Bergen County residents for relative tranquility and less traffic on one day of the week.[317] This desire for relative peace is most apparent in Paramus, where most of the county's largestshopping malls are located, along the intersecting highways ofRoute 4 andRoute 17, which are jam-packed on many Saturdays. Paramus has enacted blue laws of its own that are even more restrictive than those enforced by Bergen County,[318] banning all forms of "worldly employment" on Sundays, including white collar workers in office buildings.[317] Despite these strict blue laws, Paramus (07652) has become the top retailZIP Code in the United States, with the municipality generating over US$6 billion in annual retail sales.[319] Local blue laws in Paramus were first proposed in 1957, while the Bergen Mall (since renamed asThe Outlets at Bergen Town Center) andGarden State Plaza were under construction. The legislation was motivated by fears that the two new malls would aggravate the already severe highway congestion caused by local retail businesses along the borough's highways seven days a week and to preserve one day on which the roads were less congested.[320] In November 2012, Governor Chris Christie issued an executive order to temporarily suspend the blue law due to the effects ofHurricane Sandy.[321] The blue law was suspended on November 11 but was back in effect one week later.[322]
In November 2017, County Executive James Tedesco raised theminimum wage for full-time Bergen County workers to $15 per hour gradually increasing over a 6-year period, an increase from the prevailing state minimum wage at the time of $8.44 hourly. The raise constituted the first such hike in the minimum wage paid to employees of any New Jersey county.[323]
Van Saun County Park, Paramus, including the Bergen CountyZoological Park, the county's only zoo. The zoo was slated for an expansion as of 2016 which would nearly double its size from 12 to 23 acres and significantly diversify its population of animalspecies.[333]
Baylor Massacre site, River Vale – location of a surprise attack on September 27, 1778, against the 3rd Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons under the command ofColonel George Baylor during the American Revolutionary War.[334]
^Willis, David P."'This is how wars start': Does Central Jersey include both Ocean and Union counties?",Asbury Park Press, February 20, 2023. Accessed March 31, 2024. "North Jersey is defined as Sussex, Warren, Morris, Passaic, Bergen, Essex and Hudson counties; South Jersey would be Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Salem, Cumberland and Cape May counties. But for Central, things get a little tricky. It would include Hunterdon, Somerset, Union, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth, and Ocean counties."
^Outdoor Activities, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed January 20, 2024. "Totaling nearly 9,000 acres, Bergen County boasts an exceptional park system where residents can ski, skate, jog, cycle, golf, picnic, camp overnight, tour a zoo, visit a Revolutionary War battle site, take a guided nature hike, swim, and a number of sports."
^Romano, Jay."3 Indian Tribes Stir Casino Fears",The New York Times, August 1, 1993. Accessed August 9, 2012. "Dr. Herbert C. Kraft, professor of anthropology at Seton Hall University in South Orange, said that determining whether the Ramapoughs are descendants of American Indians is 'a very fuzzy problem. My bias has always been that there are Indians among them but that they intermarried with various other groups,' Dr. Kraft said. Included in those other groups, he said, were white settlers and freed blacks."
^"Jersey City: America's Golden Door", Jersey City online, accessed March 19, 2007. "Jersey City, the second largest city in New Jersey, is the site of the first permanent European community in the state."
^Document: Articles of Capitulation, 1664,WNET, August 13, 2009. Accessed July 18, 2012. "On August 27, 1664, four English warships arrived in New Amsterdam to claim the colony under the orders of James, Duke of York. New Amsterdam had limited defenses, ammunition and manpower, so Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant was forced to surrender without a shot in September."
^Van Valen, James M. (1900).History of Bergen County, New Jersey. New Jersey pub. and engraving Company. p. 48.The province of East Jersey was not divided into counties until 1682. Although the General Assembly of the whole colony by an Act passed on November 30, 1675 had declared Bergen and the plantations and settlements in its vicinity to be a county, in name Bergen county, though the Act does not say so in so many words.
^"Erie History". Erie Lackawanna Historical Society, Inc. Archived fromthe original on July 12, 2007. RetrievedDecember 28, 2006.In 1833 the Paterson & Hudson River Rail Road was chartered to build between Paterson, N. J., and Jersey City, and the Paterson & Ramapo Railroad north to the New York state line at Suffern. The two lines provided a shortcut between New York City and the New York & Erie at Suffern, even though they did not connect directly – passengers walked the mile between the two. The New York & Erie fought the situation until 1852, when it leased the two railroads, built a connecting track, and made that the main route, supplanting the original line to Piermont.
^abHarvey, Cornelius Burnham.Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, p. 11, New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900. Accessed September 17, 2013. "For a period of sixteen years following the passage of this act few boroughs were organized in the State, only three of them being in Bergen County ... As it was twenty-six boroughs were created in the county from January 23, 1894, to December 18, of the same year."
^Hanley, Robert."McGreevey Seeks Purity Standards for 2 Bergen Reservoirs",The New York Times, March 12, 2013. Accessed October 2, 2013. "Mr. McGreevey proposed Category 1 status today for Lake Tappan, a 3.5-billion-gallon reservoir created in 1967; for Woodcliff Lake, a 100-year-old, one-billion-gallon reservoir about 10 miles west of here; and for about 30 streams that flow into the two reservoirs. About 750,000 people in Bergen and Hudson Counties get water from them."
^Vial, Debra Lynn."Troubling Encounters along Suburban Byways; Minorities Feel Targeted by Local Police",The Record, May 9, 1999. Accessed September 4, 2016. "About 70 percent of Bergen County's African American residents live in Hackensack, Teaneck, and Englewood, according to current population estimates. In some 20 of the other towns, from River Vale to Ho-Ho-Kus, black residents make up less than 1 percent of the population. In 27 others, they are less than 2 percent."
^Day 22 – MalayaliArchived March 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine. Accessed January 6, 2023."In the U.S., the Malayali-speaking diaspora maintain a Youtube Malayalam Television News program. The highest concentrations of Malayali are found in Bergen County, New Jersey and Rockland County, New York."
^Harris, Chris."Glen Rock schools to close for Diwali"Archived February 24, 2015, at theWayback Machine,The Record, February 24, 2015. Accessed September 4, 2016. "Schools in the borough will be closed on Nov. 11, since the Board of Education voted to add Diwali, a Hindu holy day, to the district's calendar. District officials claim Glen Rock, which has a burgeoning Indian community, is the first district in Bergen County to formally recognize Diwali with an instruction-free day."
^Monsy Alvarado (October 23, 2016)."Thousands attend countywide celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights". NorthJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Archived fromthe original on October 24, 2016. RetrievedOctober 23, 2016.This is the first time in Bergen County that all religious organizations and community organizations are participating under this banner, the Indian Heritage Center," said Dinesh Khosla, president and one of the founders of the temple in Mahwah. "Ten families started the temple 20 years ago and we have over 3,000 members now.
^Rooney, Matt."Putin Moves Against Fair Lawn", Save Jersey, April 1, 2014. Accessed May 30, 2016. "In a move certain to carry dire geopolitical consequences for the world, the Russian Federation has moved troops into the 32,000-person borough of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, only days after annexing Crimea and strengthening its troop positions along the Ukrainian border."
^Stevens, Jean. "Popular roast pig finds a following in North Jersey",Herald News, September 12, 2007. "One might find more lechon in Passaic these days. The city may be North Jersey's next so-called Little Manila, following Bergenfield, Bloomfield and Belleville." Accessed April 29, 2018.
^Pizarro, Max."Rivas and Soriano champion Corzine and Christie respectively in Bergenfield",PolitickerNJ, July 12, 2009. Accessed April 29, 2018. "'I think people see him as an everyday man who is upset about the situation we are facing in New Jersey,' the reverend said today as he made the rounds with Christie from one vendor's booth to the next in a town dubbed Bergen's little Manila, home to 15,000 Filipino-Americans."
^James, George."Up Front: Worth Noting – Ikea Wonders Where the Crowds Are",The New York Times, August 3, 2003. Accessed May 11, 2015. "The intersection of Routes 4 and 17 in Paramus is one of the busiest in the world. Consider this: about 210,000 cars squeeze through the intersection every day on their way to a variety of destinations, including the adjacent Garden State Plaza shopping mall and the George Washington Bridge."
^Locations,Bergen Community College. Accessed June 22, 2022. "From North Arlington to Mahwah, and everywhere in between, students living throughout Bergen County begin their path to a degree at the College's three primary locations: the main campus (Paramus), Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands (Lyndhurst) and the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center (Hackensack)."
^Hanley, Robert."The Political Campaign; Bergen, After 271 Years, To Elect First Executive",The New York Times, October 30, 1986. Accessed October 26, 2017. "Bergen County's 271-year-old form of government - which critics have called fragmented, weak and obscure - vanishes with the election of the county's first Executive next Tuesday.... Under the executive form of government, the board will have new power to adopt ordinances and be a counterbalance to the powers of the executive.... Since 1975, four counties - Atlantic, Essex, Hudson and Mercer -have switched to the executive form of goverment [sic]"
^Rinde, Meir."Explainer: What's a Freeholder? NJ's Unusual County Government System", NJ Spotlight, October 27, 2015. Accessed October 26, 2017. "Five counties – Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Mercer – opted for popularly elected county executives in addition to freeholder boards."
^Sobko, Katie."Bergen County replaces outgoing administrator Julien Neals with Garfield official",The Record, June 9, 2021. Accessed June 17, 2022. "Less than a day after the current Bergen County administrator was appointed to a federal judge role, a successor was named and will be ready to step in when the office is vacated. Thomas Duch, of Wyckoff, will replace outgoing administrator Julien Neals."
^County Executive, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed March 16, 2023.
^Meet the Prosecutor, Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Accessed June 22, 2022. "Mark Musella was sworn in as Bergen County Prosecutor on May 20, 2019."
^Janoski, Steve."Dennis Calo named acting Bergen County prosecutor, replacing Gurbir Grewal",The Record, January 16, 2018. Accessed February 25, 2018. "Dennis Calo, an assistant Bergen County prosecutor, will serve as the county's top cop after the departure of Gurbir S. Grewal, the former county prosecutor who was sworn in Tuesday as state attorney general. Calo was named acting county prosecutor on Tuesday, said Liz Rebein, the agency's spokeswoman. Calo will hold the position until Gov.Phil Murphy appoints someone else or elevates Calo, allowing him to shed the 'acting' title."
^Bergen County, New Jersey Courts. Accessed June 22, 2022.
^Cattafi, Kristie."Democrats pick Bergenfield councilman to fill vacancy on Bergen County commissioners board",The Record, March 13, 2023. Accessed March 16, 2023. "A Democratic councilman from Bergenfield will be sworn in as a Bergen County commissioner Wednesday night, filling a vacancy on the governing body for almost 1 million residents. Rafael Marte will serve until Dec. 31, taking on the unexpired term left by former Commissioner Ramon Hache, a Democrat who resigned last week to lead the Ridgewood YMCA as its chief executive officer."
^Ensslin, John C.; and O'Neill, James N."Tedesco upsets Donovan in race for Bergen County executive",The Record, November 4, 2014. Accessed January 7, 2015. "Democrat James Tedesco, in a come-from-behind upset, won a hard-fought race for Bergen County Executive Tuesday, dealing Republican incumbent Kathleen Donovan her first loss at the county level in 25 years."
^Gartland, Michael."Donovan leads Republican sweep in Bergen",The Record, November 2, 2010. Accessed October 2, 2013. "In the headline battle, Republican County Clerk Kathleen Donovan unseated incumbent County Executive Dennis McNerney, 116,597 to 103,720 votes, with 547 of 553 precincts reporting ... But the GOP will take control of the board in January, when three new freeholders—Maura DiNicola, John Felice and John Mitchell—are sworn in, giving the GOP a 5–2 majority on the board. A Republican also captured the Bergen County sheriff's post, with Emerson Police Chief Michael Saudino ousting incumbent Leo McGuire."
^Biography, Congressman Josh Gottheimer. Accessed January 3, 2019. "Josh now lives in Wyckoff, New Jersey with Marla, his wife who was a federal prosecutor, and their two young children, Ellie and Ben."
^Aberback, Brian."Teaneck drops blue laws effort",The Record, August 19, 2006. Accessed December 24, 2013. "Teaneck — Legal concerns have sunk the Township Council's plan to ask voters whether the town should be exempted from the Sunday blue laws."
^abDePalma, Anthony."In New Jersey — Paramus Blue Laws Crimp Office Leasing",The New York Times, November 4, 1984. Accessed July 25, 2018. "Officials tried to regulate the effects of the tremendous growth on the borough by insisting that at least one day a week, Paramus be allowed to enjoy some of its former peace and quiet. In 1957, a law was passed banning allworldly employment on Sundays, forcing all the new stores and malls built in the celery fields to close for the day."
^Firschein, Merry.Paramus mayor faces challenge,The Record, October 31, 2006. Accessed December 24, 2013. "Both candidates said they would stand strong against any weakening of the blue laws, which keep most stores closed on Sunday, and would work to keep Paramus' laws the most restrictive in the state."
^Cowen, Richard."Minimum wage for Bergen County workers is now $15 an hour",The Record, November 21, 2017. Accessed July 25, 2018. "Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco gave thanks for county workers on Tuesday when he signed an executive order that raises the minimum wage for full-time employees to $15 an hour. Tedesco, riding the progressive wave that swept Phil Murphy into office earlier this month, did his part to help the governor-elect deliver on one of his key campaign promises: to nearly double the minimum wage all around the state, which now stands at $8.44."
^WelcomeArchived April 27, 2016, at theWayback Machine,New Bridge Landing. Accessed May 29, 2016. "New Bridge Landing was the site of a pivotal bridge crossing the Hackensack River, where General George Washington led his troops in retreat from British forces. Thearea is now a New Jersey historic site in portions of New Milford, River Edge and Teaneck in Bergen County, New Jersey."
^Home Page, Bergen Equestrian Center. Accessed July 28, 2022. "The Bergen Equestrian Center established in 1974 is a multi service horse facility on 22 acres of landscaped grounds providing a home for over 75 horses at Overpeck County Park in Leonia, New Jersey, (minutes away from the GWB.)"
^Campgaw Mountain Reservation, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed July 28, 2022. "Campgaw Mountain Reservation offers unique opportunities such as archery, disc golf, skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing in a wooded setting. Hiking is available along the marked trails in this 1,373-acre wooded park."
^Baylor Massacre Burial SiteArchived December 30, 2016, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. "On September 28, 1778 during America's Revolutionary War, there was a brutal surprise attack by British forces on the Third Continental Light Dragoons. It is known today as the Baylor Massacre. Now a County-owned historic park and burial ground, the Baylor Massacre Site is located in River Vale in northern Bergen County."
^Camp Merritt Memorial MonumentArchived December 30, 2016, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. "Camp Merritt Memorial Monument marks the center of an important World War I embarkation camp, where more than one million U.S. soldiers passed through on their way to and from the battlefields of Europe. In August 1919, Bergen County purchased land for the monument at the intersection of Madison Ave. and Knickerbocker Road in Cresskill."
^Campbell-Christie HouseArchived December 30, 2016, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. "The Campbell-Christie House, an 18th century sandstone structure, is located in Historic New Bridge Landing Park, River Edge. This historic building originally stood at the intersection of Henley Ave. & River Rd. in New Milford. In 1977 in order to save it from demolition Bergen County purchased and financed its move and restoration."
^Easton TowerArchived August 28, 2017, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. "Easton Tower is a unique site in Bergen County. This picturesque stone and wood frame structure was built along the Saddle River in 1900 as part of a landscaped park in the Arcola area of Paramus."
^Garretson FarmArchived December 30, 2016, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. "Garretson Farm, near the Passaic River in Fair Lawn, is one of the oldest homesteads in Bergen County. The stone house and farm were occupied by six generations of the Garretson family, from 1720 through the middle of the 20th century. The house is one of the oldest buildings in Bergen County reflecting approximately 300 years of architectural changes."
^Gethsamene CemeteryArchived December 30, 2016, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. "Gethsemane Cemetery, located west of the Hackensack River in southwest Bergen County, NJ, was founded in 1860 as a 'burial ground for the colored population of the Village of Hackensack.'"
^Washington SpringArchived January 8, 2017, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. " Washington Spring, located in Van Saun County Park, is associated with General George Washington and the movement of his Continental Army through Bergen County during the Revolutionary War."
^Wortendyke BarnArchived December 30, 2016, at theWayback Machine, Bergen County. Accessed December 29, 2016. "Resting like a jewel is suburban New Jersey is the Wortendyke Barn Museum, a National Register landmark that is all that remains of the original 460-acre Wortendyke Farm."
Bogert, Frederick W.Bergen County, New Jersey, History and Heritage, Volume II, The Colonial Days, 1630–1775, Bergen County, N.J., The Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 1983.
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