The area was settled by the Dutch in the 17th century asPavonia and later established asBergen; the first permanent settlement, local civil government and oldest municipality in what became the state of New Jersey. The area came under English control in 1664. Jersey City was incorporated in 1838 and annexedVan Vorst Township in 1851. On May 3, 1870, following a special election in 1869 with a majority of county support, Jersey City annexedBergen City andHudson City to form "Greater Jersey City" withGreenville joining in 1873.[41] Jersey City grew into a busy port city onNew York Harbor by the late 19th and early 20th century. Jersey City's official motto, displayed on the city seal and flag, is "Let Jersey Prosper" referencing its 19th century border dispute with New York City.
The land that is now Jersey City was inhabited by theLenape, a collection ofNative American tribes (later called Delaware Indian). In 1609,Henry Hudson, seeking an alternate route toEast Asia on behalf of theDutch East India Company, anchored his small vesselHalve Maen (English: Half Moon) atSandy Hook,Harsimus Cove andWeehawken Cove, and elsewhere along what was later named theNorth River. After spending nine days surveying the area and meeting its inhabitants, he sailed as far north asAlbany and later claimed the region for theNetherlands. The contemporary flag of the city is a variation on thePrince'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, theHalf Moon, and other modern vessels.[48]
By 1621, theDutch West India Company was organized to manage this new territory and in June 1623,New Netherland became a Dutch province, with headquarters inNew Amsterdam.Michael Reyniersz Pauw received a land grant aspatroon on the condition that he would establish a settlement of not fewer than fifty persons within four years. He chose the west bank of theHudson River and purchased the land from the Lenape for 80fathoms (146 m) ofwampum, 20 fathoms (37 m) of cloth, 12 kettles, six guns, two blankets, one double kettle, and half a barrel of beer. This grant is dated November 22, 1630, and is the earliest known conveyance for what are nowHoboken and Jersey City. Pauw, however, was anabsentee landlord who neglected to populate the area and was obliged to sell his holdings back to the Company in 1633.[49] That year, a house was built atCommunipaw forJan Evertsen Bout, superintendent of the colony, which had been namedPavonia (theLatinized form of Pauw's name, which means "peacock" or "land of the peacock").[50][51] Shortly after, another house was built atHarsimus Cove in 1634 and became the home of Cornelius Henrick Van Vorst, who had succeeded Bout as superintendent, and whose family would become influential in the development of the city.[52] Relations with the Lenape deteriorated, in part because Director-GeneralWillem Kieft attempted to tax and drive out the Lenapes, which led to a series of raids and reprisals and the virtual destruction of the settlement on the west bank. DuringKieft's War, approximately 120Lenapes were killed by the Dutch in a massacre ordered by Kieft atPavonia on the night of February 25, 1643.[53] On May 11, 1647,Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to replace Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland. On September 15, 1655, Pavonia was attacked as part of aMunsee occupation of New Amsterdam called thePeach War that saw 40 colonists killed and over 100, mostly women and children, taken captive and held at Paulus Hook. They were later ransomed to New Amsterdam.
On January 10, 1658, Stuyvesant "re-purchased" the scattered communities of farmsteads that characterized the Dutch settlements of Pavonia: Communipaw, Harsimus,Paulus Hook, Hoebuck,Awiehaken,Pamrapo, and other lands "behindKill van Kull". The village ofBergen (located inside a palisaded garrison) was established by the settlers who wished to return to the west bank of the Hudson on what is nowBergen Square in 1660, the firsttown square in North America, and officially chartered by Stuyvesant on September 5, 1661, as the state's first local civil government. The village was designed byJacques Cortelyou, the firstsurveyor of New Amsterdam.[54] The wordberg taken from the Dutch means "hill", whilebergen means "place of safety".[55] The charter partially removed Bergen from the jurisdiction of New Amsterdam and put the surrounding settlements under itsauthority. As a result, it is regarded as the first permanent settlement and oldest municipality in what would become the state of New Jersey.[56][57] It is also the home of Public School No. 11, the nation's longest-continuous school site and the site of the first free and public school building in New Jersey,[58] andOld Bergen Church, the oldest continuous congregation in New Jersey. In addition, the oldest surviving houses in Jersey City are of Dutch origin including theNewkirk House (1690),[59] theVan Vorst Farmhouse (1740),[60][61][62] and theVan Wagenen House (1740).[63][64]
In 1661,Communipaw Ferry began operation as the first ferry service between the village of Communipaw (Jersey City) andNew Amsterdam (Manhattan) shortly after the village of Bergen was established.[65]
Following theTreaty of Westminster, New Jersey split intoEast Jersey andWest Jersey. From 1674 to 1702,Bergen was part of East Jersey and became a town inBergen County on March 7, 1683, one of the four newly independent counties in East Jersey. In 1702, New Jersey was reunified and became aroyal colony. Bergen was chosen as thecounty seat in 1710 and was re-established byroyal charter on January 4, 1714.[68]
By the 1760s, Paulus Hook was known for its convenientstagecoach and ferry services. In 1764, Cornelius Van Vorst (1728–1818) established thePaulus Hook Ferry (later called "Jersey City Ferry")[69] and operated the service from Paulus Hook toCortlandt Street.[70] To further attract patrons to his ferry landing, Van Vorst created a mile-long circularhorse racing track that attracted tourists from both sides of the Hudson and built the Van Vorst Tavern near Grand and Hudson Streets as a one-story building with a Dutch roof and eaves and an overhanging porch that faced the river. To further ensure the profitability of his business ventures on the small island of Paulus Hook, he created an embankment road above the tidal marshes to the mainland. Ahead of the Revolutionary War, Van Vorst declared himself apatriot and in 1774 was appointed to one of the committees of correspondence, representing Bergen County and attended a meeting inNew Brunswick to elect delegates to theSecond Continental Congress.[71]
In 1776, even before thewar, GeneralGeorge Washington orderedAmerican patriots to construct severalforts to defend the western banks of theHudson River, one of which was located at Paulus Hook. The fort was a naturally defensible position that guarded New York from British attack, guarded the Hudson River channel and the gateway to New Jersey. After suffering defeats inNew York City, on September 23, 1776, the American patriots abandoned Paulus Hook, leaving the fort to become the first New Jersey territory invaded and occupied by theBritish.
In mid-summer 1779, a 23-year-oldPrinceton University graduate, MajorHenry Lee, recommended to General Washington a daring plan for theContinental Army to attack the fort, in what became known as theBattle of Paulus Hook. The assault was planned to begin shortly after midnight on August 19, 1779. Lee led a force of about 300 men, some of whom got lost during the march through the swampy, marshy land. The attack was late to start but the main contingent of the force was able to reach the fort's gate without being challenged. It is believed that the British mistook the approaching force for alliedHessians returning from patrol, though this has not been definitively documented.
The attacking Patriots succeeded in damaging the fort and took 158 British prisoners, but were unable to destroy the fort and spike its cannons.[72] As daytime approached, Lee decided the prudent action was to have his Patriots withdraw before British forces from New York could cross the river. Paulus Hook remained in British hands until after the war but the battle was a small strategic victory for the forces of independence as it forced the British to abandon their plans for taking additional rebel positions in the New York area.
Later that August, General Washington met with theMarquis de Lafayette in the village ofBergen to discuss war strategy over lunch and to bait the British into attacking Bergen from New York. The meeting purportedly took place at theVan Wagenen House on Academy Street. Additionally, a nearby "point of rocks" at the east end of the street provided an ideal vantage point for military surveillance of the Hudson River.[73]
One day in September 1780, a local Bergen farmer,Jane Tuers, was selling her goods in British-occupiedManhattan when she stopped inFraunces Tavern and spoke with the owner,Samuel Fraunces. He informed Tuers that British soldiers were in his tavern toasting GeneralBenedict Arnold, who was to deliverWest Point to the British. Tuers returned to Bergen later that day and informed her brother Daniel Van Reypen about the conspiracy. Van Reypen, a staunch patriot, rode toHackensack to meet with GeneralAnthony Wayne who then sent Van Reypen to inform General Washington of the conspiracy. The information provided by Tuers confirmed what Washington had suspected of Arnold and led to the arrest, trial, conviction and hanging of co-conspiratorJohn André fortreason and stopped the plot to surrender West Point. Arnold would later defect to the British to escape prosecution.[74]
On November 22, 1783, the British evacuated Paulus Hook and sailed home[75] three days before they left New York onEvacuation Day. While these events occupy a small portion of U.S.Revolutionary War history, they are important events in thehistory of New Jersey andNew Jersey's role in the American Revolution and hold an even greater significance in the history of the local neighborhoods. In 1903, aobelisk was erected at Paulus Hook Park at the intersection of Washington and Grand Streets, the site of the fort, to memorialize the Battle of Paulus Hook. In 1924, a plaque honoring Jane Tuer's heroism was installed at the site of her former home nowHudson Catholic Regional High School. In 2021, the restored Van Wagenen House was re-opened as the Museum of Jersey City History.[76][74]
In 1804,Alexander Hamilton, 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. While envisioning the future of Jersey City, Hamilton said: "One day, a great city shall rise on the western banks of the Hudson River."[77][78] The consortium of 35 investors behind the company were predominantlyFederalists who, like Hamilton, had been swept out of power in the election of 1800 byThomas Jefferson and otherDemocratic-Republicans. Large tracts of land inPaulus Hook were purchased by the company with the titles owned by Anthony Dey, who was from a prominent old Dutch family, and his two cousins, ColonelRichard Varick, the former mayor of New York City (1789–1801), andJacob Radcliff, a Justice of theNew York Supreme Court who would later become mayor of New York City (twice) from 1810 to 1811 and again from 1815 to 1818. They laid out the city squares and streets that still characterize the neighborhood, giving them names also seen inLower Manhattan or after war heroes (Grove, Varick, Mercer, Wayne, Monmouth and Montgomery among them).[79] John B. Coles, a formerNew York State senator (1799–1802), purchased the area north of Paulus Hook known asHarsimus and laid out a grid plan centered around a park. Following Hamilton's death, Coles proposed naming the park in his honor as "Hamilton Park".[80]
Despite Hamilton's untimely death in July 1804, the Association carried on with the New Jersey Legislature approving Hamilton's charter of incorporation on November 10, 1804. However, the enterprise was mired in a legal boundary dispute between New York City and the state ofNew Jersey over who owned the waterfront. This along with the associated press coverage discouraged investors who wanted lots on the waterfront for commercial purposes. The unresolved dispute would continue until the Treaty of 1834 where New York City formally ceded control of the Jersey City waterfront to New Jersey. Over that time though, the Jersey Company opened the city's first medical facility, known as the "pest house", in 1808[81] and applied to theNew Jersey Legislature to incorporate the "Town of Jersey" in 1819. 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 Bergen and was given its present name. On February 22, 1840, Jersey City became part of the newly createdHudson County which separated from Bergen County and annexed the formerEssex County land ofNew Barbadoes Neck.[68]
1847 map of Paulus Hook and the Jersey City Ferry's route. Note the historic name of Pavonia.
In 1812,Robert Fulton begansteam ferry service via "The Jersey" between Paulus Hook and Manhattan, eight years after building ashipyard at Greene and Morgan Streets.[82][83] In 1834, theNew Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company opened the city's first rail line from Jersey City Ferry to Newark. From 1834 to 1836, theMorris Canal was extended from Newark to Jersey City andNew York Harbor linking the Delaware River with the Hudson River. This extension connected Jersey City toPennsylvania'sLehigh Valley and New Jersey's interior providing a steady and easy supply ofcoal andanthracite pig iron for the growing iron industry and other developing industries adopting steam power in Jersey City and the region.
In 1839,Provident Savings Institution was charted by the state as the firstmutual savings bank in New Jersey and the first bank in Jersey City and Hudson County. Co-founded by the city's first mayor,Dudley S. Gregory (1838–1840), in the wake of thePanic of 1837, there was a general mistrust of banks by the public. In response, the bank's charter established it as a "mutual savings bank" to assist the city's immigrant poor. In 1891, the bank headquarters became the temporary home of the first branch of theJersey City Free Public Library until the Main Library branch opened in 1901.[84][85]
On April 12, 1841, the New Jersey Legislature incorporatedVan Vorst Township from portions of Bergen. Land was donated by the Van Vorst family for a town square style park that becameVan Vorst Park. The township was later annexed by Jersey City on March 18, 1851.[86] From 1854 to 1874, the kitchen step of the Van Vorst Mansion, home of former mayorCornelius Van Vorst (1860–1862), was known to be the slab of marble that was originally the base of the statue ofKing George III that was toppled by theSons of Liberty atBowling Green in Lower Manhattan in 1776.[87][88] Van Vorst also constructed the neighboringBarrow Mansion where his sister Eliza lived.
By mid century, Jersey City's rapidly urbanizing population began to encounter significant challenges gaining access to freshwater. In 1850, Jersey City Water Works engineer William S. Whitwell, proposed a three-reservoir complex in theJersey City Heights (then part ofNorth Bergen) connected to a pumping station near thePassaic River inBelleville by a massive undergroundaqueduct to deliver freshwater to the city. Reservoir No. 1 was built between 1851 and 1854 andReservoir No. 3 was built between 1871 and 1874 under the direction of engineer John Culver. Reservoir No. 2 was never constructed and later becamePershing Field.[89]
Panorama of Jersey City in 1854
During the 19th century, former slaves reached Jersey City on one of the four main routes of theUnderground Railroad that all converged in the city. OnBergen Hill, the Hilton-Holden House, named after notedabolitionist andastronomer David Le Cain Holden, was a "station" for fugitive slaves to stop over and seek refuge and is one of the last remaining in the city.[90] Slaves would then be hidden in wagons en route to the Jersey City waterfront and Morris Canal Basin where abolitionists would hire ferry and coal boats to transport former slaves up toCanada orNew England to freedom.[91][92]
In 1868, the Jersey City Board of Alderman took over the pest house and renamed it "Jersey City Charity Hospital" and operated it as a public medical facility, the first in the city and state, where physicians provided free medical care to city residents. In 1885, the hospital expanded to a new 200-bed facility on Bergen Hill to remove the hospital from the increasing industrial development at Paulus Hook.[81]
Soon after theCivil War, the idea arose of uniting all of the towns of Hudson County east of the Hackensack River into one municipality. In 1868, a bill for submitting the question of consolidation of all of Hudson County to the voters was presented to the Board of Chosen Freeholders (now known as theBoard of County Commissioners). The 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 wereHudson City andBergen City.[93] The consolidation began on March 17, 1870, taking effect on May 3, 1870.[94] Three years later the present outline of Jersey City was completed whenGreenville agreed to merge into the Greater Jersey City.[68][95]
Following consolidation, the city's first university,Saint Peter's College, was charted in 1872 and classes began on September 2, 1878, in Paulus Hook. Decades later, it would adopt thepeacock as its mascot in partial reference to the original settling of the Jersey City area as "Pavonia",land of the peacock.[96]
By the late 1880s, three passenger railroad terminals opened in Jersey City along theHudson River (Pavonia Terminal,[97]Exchange Place andCommunipaw) making Jersey City a terminus for the nation's rail network.[98][99][77] Tens of millions, roughly two-thirds, ofimmigrants that were processed at Ellis Island entered the United States through Communipaw Terminal to then settle in Jersey City and its neighboring municipalities or make their way westward.[98][100] The railroads transformed the geography of the city by building severaltunnels and cuts, such as theBergen Arches, through the city and filling in the coves at Harsimus and Communipaw for the construction of several large freight rail yards along the waterfront.[101][102][103]
Jersey City became an important port, railroad and manufacturing city during the 19th and 20th centuries. Much like New York City, Jersey City has always been a destination for new immigrants to the United States.German,Russian,Polish,Scottish,Irish andItalian immigrants settled in localtenements and found work at the local docks, railroads and adjacent companies such asAmerican Can,Colgate,Chloro,Lorillard Tobacoo andDixon Ticonderoga.[104] During this time, concern grew for the social issues of the city's immigrant poor.Cornelia Foster Bradford foundedWhittier House in Paulus Hook in 1894 as the first "settlement house" in New Jersey. Whittier House led to several social reforms and city "firsts" such as free kindergarten, a dental clinic, a visiting nurse service, a milk and medical dispensary, diet kitchen for mothers and babies and a playground. Mary Buell Sayles, a settlement resident, wroteThe Housing Conditions of Jersey City in 1902 about the lives of immigrants in and around Paulus Hook. In response, mayorMark M. Fagan (1902–1907) created the Municipal Sanitary League and opened the city's first public bath house on Coles Street in 1904. That same year, the first "State Tenement House Commission" was formed and the New Jersey Legislature passed the "Tenement House Act".[105][106][107]
By the turn of the 20th century, theCity Beautiful movement had spread throughout cities in the United States. Part of its mission was to preserve public space for recreational activities in urban industrial communities. TheHudson County Parks Commission was created in 1892 to plan and develop a county wide park and boulevard system similar to those found in other cities. From 1892 to 1897,Hudson Boulevard (now John F. Kennedy Boulevard) was built to connect the future park system fromBayonne toNorth Bergen through Jersey City.[108][109][110] In 1905,Lincoln Park opened on the city'sWest Side as the largest park in Jersey City and the first and largest park in the county system. Designed by Daniel W. Langton andCharles N. Lowrie, the 273.4 acres (110.6 ha) park was mostly built on undevelopedwetlands and woodlands known as "Glendale Woods", stretching from the Boulevard to theHackensack River.[111] The Jersey City government was also inspired by the City Beautiful movement to build more open space creatingDr. Leonard J. Gordon Park in the Heights along Hudson Boulevard, Mary Benson Park in Downtown and Bayside Park in Greenville.[112] The movement also inspired the construction of grand civic buildings in the city such as City Hall and theHudson County Courthouse.[77]
In 1908, the city's water supply was the first permanentchlorinated disinfection system for drinking water in the United States. Devised byJohn L. Leal and designed byGeorge W. Fuller, the system was installed at the city's newBoonton Reservoir, which replaced the Passaic River as the city's freshwater source in 1904.[113] TheHudson & Manhattan Railroad (now the PATH system) opened between 1908 and 1913 as New Jersey's first undergroundrapid transit system. For the first time, Jersey City and the rail terminals atHoboken, Pavonia and Exchange Place were directly linked withMidtown andLower Manhattan under the Hudson River, providing an alternative to transferring to the extensive ferry system.
In 1910,William L. Dickinson High School opened as the first purpose-built high school in Jersey City. The design of the school, built during the City Beautiful movement, is thought to have been inspired by that of theLouvre Colonnade andBuckingham Palace. The prominent hilltop location of the school has been an important location throughout the city's history. During theRevolutionary War, it was used as a lookout by General Washington and Marquis de Lafayette to observe British movements at the forts at Paulus Hook and in Lower Manhattan. After the start of theWar of 1812, the site assisted in defending New York Harbor with anarsenal built on the property's west side and with the east side serving as a troop campground. During theCivil War, the arsenal served as barracks forUnion soldiers and a hospital. The school was used as an army training facility duringWorld War I andWorld War II.[114][115]
On July 30, 1916, theBlack Tom explosion occurred killing 7 people, damaging the Statue of Liberty and causing millions of dollars in damage in Jersey City and throughout the New York metropolitan area. The explosion was an act of sabotage on Americanmunitions by German spies of theOffice of Naval Intelligence to prevent the ammunition from being shipped to theAllies for use during World War I. This event, coupled with thetorpedoing of the RMS Lusitania, which killed 136 Americans in 1915, pushed the United States into entering the War in 1917.[116][77]
Water bond of the City of Jersey City, issued 1 September 1922, signed by Mayor Frank Hague
From 1917 to 1947, Jersey City was governed by MayorFrank Hague. Originally elected as a candidate supporting reform in governance, his name is "synonymous with the early twentieth century urban American blend of political favoritism and social welfare known asbossism".[117] Hague ran the city with an iron fist while, at the same time, molding governors, United States senators, and judges to his whims while also being a close political ally toFranklin D. Roosevelt. Boss Hague was known to be loud and vulgar, but dressed in a stylish manner, earning him the nickname "King Hanky-Panky".[118] In his later years in office, Hague would often dismiss his enemies as "reds" or "commies". Hague lived like a millionaire, despite having an annual salary that never exceeded $8,500. He was able to maintain a fourteen-roomduplex apartment in Jersey City, a suite at thePlaza Hotel in Manhattan, and a palatial summer home in theJersey Shore community ofDeal, and travel to Europe yearly in the royal suites of the best ocean liners.[119][120]
After Hague's retirement from politics, a series of mayors includingJohn V. Kenny,Thomas J. Whelan andThomas F. X. Smith 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,[122] but the city and Hudson County remained notorious for political corruption for decades to come.[123][124][125]
Following World War II, returning veterans created apost-war economic boom and were beginning to buy homes in the suburbs with the assistance of theG.I. Bill. During theGreat Depression and the war years, not much new housing was constructed, leaving cities with older and overcrowded housing stock. In response, Jersey City looked to build new housing on undeveloped tracts around the city. College Towers was built on the West Side as the first middle-incomehousing cooperative apartment complex in New Jersey in 1956.Country Village was built in the 1960s as a middle-income "suburbia-in-the-city" planned community in the Greenville/West Side area to offer the "out of town" experience without leaving the city. The city had hoped that new residential neighborhoods and housing stock would keep the city's population stable.[126][127]
In 1956, theNewark Bay (Hudson County) Extension(I-78) of the New Jersey Turnpike opened. As the firstlimited-access section of I-78 to be built in the state, the extension connected Jersey City and the Holland Tunnel to the mainline of the Turnpike in Newark via theNewark Bay Bridge and at an estimated cost of $2,765 per foot, it was deemed the "world's most expensive road".[130] That same year, the standard shipping containerdebuted along with the maiden voyage of thecontainer shipSS Ideal X fromPort Newark to thePort of Houston. These innovations changed forever the way themaritime industry shipped goods by sea and led to the transformation of Port Newark into the leading container port in New York Harbor. As a result, the Jersey City waterfront, along with the other traditional waterfront port facilities in the harbor, quickly became antiquated and fell into a steep decline. Additionally, by the late 1960s, the rail terminals and associated ferry service that were so vital to the city's economic health had closed and were later abandoned after the host railroads declared bankruptcy.[77] In response to adapt to this economic shift,Port Jersey was created onUpper New York Bay adjacent toGreenville Yard between 1972 and 1976 as the city's own modernintermodal freight transport facility and container shipping terminal.
By the 1970s the city experienced a period of urban decline spurred on bydeindustrialization that saw many of its wealthy residentsleave 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, the city lost 5,000 jobs, or 9% of its workforce.[104]
In 1974,Hudson County Community College was established inJournal Square as one of two "contract" colleges in the United States and the first contract college in New Jersey to grant students occupational and career-oriented certificates and Associates in Applied Science degrees. Since then, the college has grown throughout the Journal Square andBergen Square neighborhoods.[131]
OnFlag Day 1976,Liberty State Park opened on New York Harbor to coincide with the nation'sbicentennial. At 1,212 acres (490.5 ha) with a two-mile waterfront walkway, it is the largest park in Jersey City and the largest urban park in New Jersey. The park was built on the site of the former railyards of theCentral Railroad of New Jersey andLehigh Valley Railroad. The idea for the park dated back to the late 1950s and its creation was advocated for and spearheaded by several Jersey City residents: Audrey Zapp, Theodore Conrad, Morris Pesin andJ. Owen Grundy. Jersey City donated 156 acres (63.1 ha) of land to the development of the park through their advocacy.[132][133][134] TheLiberty Science Center opened in the park in 1993.
Simultaneous to this building boom, new transit projects were prioritized. By the late 1980s, trans-Hudson ferry service was restored along the waterfront byNY Waterway with ferry terminals now atPaulus Hook,Liberty Harbor andPort Liberté. From 1996 to 2011,NJ Transit constructed theHudson-Bergen Light Rail as one of the largestpublic works projects in state history. The system was developed and extended throughout the city and its Downtown utilizing the former right-of-ways of the railroads that defined the city and county during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The system links Jersey City with its neighboring cities while connecting to severalNJ Transit bus lines,PATH stations and ferry terminals.[139]
Jersey City was directly affected by the September 11, 2001 attacks at theWorld Trade Center where 38 city residents lost their lives. One of the 38 victims was Joseph Lovero, aJersey City Fire Department dispatcher, who was killed by a piece of falling debris while responding.[140] The Jersey City Fire Department was the only New Jersey fire department to receive an official call for assistance from theNew York City Fire Department that day.[141] Following the attacks, the Jersey City waterfront became the largest triage center in the area for survivors escaping Lower Manhattan by ferry during the "9/11 Boatlift". In the days and weeks after, Jersey City became a staging area for rescue and aid workers headed to "Ground Zero" for rescue and recovery efforts.[142] The collapse of theTwin Towers destroyed theWorld Trade Center PATH station and the firefighting efforts flooded theDowntown Hudson River tunnels and theExchange Place PATH station severing therail connection between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan until 2003.[143][144] Over the years several memorials have been erected along the waterfront including theJersey City 9/11 Memorial and the official New Jersey state memorialEmpty Sky.
Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering,
Trump continued to repeat the conspiracy theory to multiple news outlets for weeks, later adding that the people wereMuslims, despite no confirmed reports, evidence or footage from that time being found to confirm his repeated falsehood.[145]
Jersey City was heavilyimpacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 with extended power outages for multiple days, severe wind damage in several neighborhoods and extensive flooding throughout the city especially in Downtown, the Country Village neighborhood, theWest Side andLiberty State Park. The flooding damaged the city's utility infrastructure and led to a days long shutdown of the PATH system, both of itsHudson Rivertunnels and theHolland Tunnel.[146][147][148][149][150]
In October 2013, City Ordinance 13.097 passed requiring employers with ten or more employees to offer up to fivepaid sick days a year. The bill impacts an estimated 30,000 workers at all businesses who employ workers who work at least 80 hours a calendar year in Jersey City.[151] The passage of the ordinance made Jersey City the first municipality in New Jersey and the sixth in the United States to guarantee paid sick leave.[152]
From 2018 to 2023, Jersey City built a new municipal complex called Jackson Square in theJackson Hill section of theBergen-Lafayette neighborhood. Planned since 2014, the city had previously rented office space throughout the city for its multiple agencies. The complex is made up of a City Hall Annex for several agencies, parking garage and public safety headquarters for the Jersey City Police and Fire Departments.[153][154]
Jersey City (and most of Hudson County) is located on the peninsula known asBergen Neck, with a waterfront on the east at theHudson River andNew York Bay and on the west at theHackensack River andNewark Bay. Its north–south axis corresponds with the ridge ofBergen Hill, the emergence of theHudson Palisades.[162] 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.[163][164] This growth and thetopography greatly influenced the development of the sections of the city and its various neighborhoods.[122][165][166]
Bergen-Lafayette, formerlyBergen City, New Jersey, lies between Greenville to the south andMcGinley Square to the north, while borderingLiberty State Park andDowntown to the east and theWest Side neighborhood to the west.Communipaw Avenue, Bergen Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive, and Ocean Avenue are main thoroughfares. The formerJersey City Medical Center complex, a cluster ofArt Deco buildings on a rise in the center of the city, has been converted into residential complexes calledThe Beacon.[168] Completed in 2016 at a cost of $38 million, (~$47.3 million in 2023)Berry Lane Park is located along Garfield Avenue in the northern section of Bergen-Lafayette; covering 17.5 acres (7.1 ha), it is the largest municipal park in Jersey City.[169] The Jersey City Municipal Complex opened in phases at Jackson Square in theJackson Hill neighborhood from 2018 to 2023.[153][154]
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 ofVan Vorst Park andHamilton Park, which are both square parks surrounded by brownstones. This historic downtown also includesPaulus Hook, the Village andHarsimus Cove 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.[170] TheGrove StreetPATH station has been renovated and made fully ADA compliant.[171] and a number of new residential buildings are being built around the stop, including a 50-story building at 90 Columbus.[172] 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 theHarsimus Stem Embankment along Sixth Street, which a citizens' movement is working to turn into public parkland that would be modeled after theHigh Line inManhattan.[173]
Newport andExchange Place are redeveloped waterfront areas consisting mostly of residential towers, hotels and office buildings that are among thetallest buildings in the city. Newport is a planned mixed-use community, built on the oldErie Lackawanna Railway yards, made up of residential rental towers, condominiums, office buildings, a marina, schools, restaurants, hotels,Newport Centre Mall, 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 or Jersey City Heights is a district in the north end of Jersey City atop theNew Jersey Palisades overlookingHoboken to the east andCroxton in theMeadowlands to the west. Previously the city ofHudson City, The Heights was incorporated into Jersey City in 1869.[93] The southern border of The Heights is generally considered to be north ofBergen Arches and theCovered Roadway, 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 toNorth Hudson architectural style and neighborhood character.[174]
Journal Square is a mixed-use central business district. The square was created in 1923, creating a broad intersection withHudson Boulevard which itself had been widened in 1908.[175] Other major squares in the neighborhood areBergen Square,India Square andFive Corners.McGinley Square is located in close proximity to Journal Square, and is considered an extension of it.[176]Hudson County Community College is located throughout the neighborhood. Journal Square is currently undergoing a massive wave of economic growth and development not seen since the neighborhood was first established with more than 4,400 residential units under construction.[177]
Greenville is on the south end of Jersey City. In the 2010s, the neighborhood underwent a revitalization.[178] Considered an affordable neighborhood in the New York City area, a number ofUltra-Orthodox Jews 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.[179] In aDecember 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.[180]
TheWest Side borders Greenville to the south and the Hackensack River to the west; it is also bounded to the east and north by Bergen-Lafayette and the broader Journal Square area, including McGinley Square. It consists of various diverse areas on both sides of West Side Avenue, one of Jersey City's leading shopping streets.[181] The West Side is the home ofNew Jersey City University andSaint Peter's University.
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally cool to cold winters with moderate snowfall. According to theKöppen climate classification system, Jersey City has ahumid subtropical climate (closely bordering on a humid continental climate), similar to its parallel cities likeNewark andNew York City.[182]
As of the2020 census, Jersey City had a population of 292,449, and apopulation density of 19,835.1 inhabitants per square mile (7,658.4/km2)[20] an increase of 44,852 residents (18.1%) from its2010 census population of 247,597.[33] 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.[193] 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.[194][195] Preliminary findings indicated that 19,000 housing units went uncounted.[196]
Per theAmerican Community Survey'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.[197] 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.[198]
There were 110,801 housing units and 102,353 households in 2018.[199] 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 thepoverty line. 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.[198]
From 2005 to 2023, Jersey City led New Jersey and theNortheastern United States in housing construction with a 43% increase producing twice as much housing as the rest of the state and 16.7% more than the United States average. Additionally, the city's population increased by 18% with a 20% increase in housing units resulting in housing development surpassing population growth. During this time, the median household income in Jersey City grew by 133%, the fourth-highest increase in the United States with the median home price increasing by 86%. Over this time, Jersey City has matched or surpassed the number of housing units created in Manhattan in a given year. In 2024, Jersey City ranked third in theNew York metropolitan area for new apartment construction behind onlyBrooklyn and Manhattan and ahead ofQueens with Jersey City building twice as many units.[200][201][202] In January 2025, the addition of new rental units to the city's market led to a median rent of $3,050 for one-bedroom units, a decrease of 2.9% year-over-year and a median rent of $3,340 for two-bedroom units, a decrease of 12.1% year-over-year.[203]
Jersey City has been called "one of the mostdiverse cities in the world" and for several years has been ranked as the most ethnically diverse city in theUnited States.[207] The city is a majorport of entry forimmigration to the United States and a majoremployment center at the approximate core of the New York City metropolitan area; and given its proximity toManhattan, Jersey City has evolved a globallycosmopolitan ambiance of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity concerning metrics including "nationality, religion, race, anddomiciliary partnership."[208][37][209]
Jersey City has undertaken several measures to engage its different immigrant communities. In 2017, Jersey City designated itself a "sanctuary city".[210] In 2018, Jersey City created the Division of Immigrant Affairs within the Department of Health and Human Services. The office works to address the concerns of immigrant communities and build partnerships with nonprofit organizations that serve them specifically in health and human services, immigration legal services, education and English language acquisition, job training, enrollment in public benefits and civic engagement. In 2020, Jersey City became the first municipality in the United States accredited for offering free legal services to immigrants as part of theUnited States Department of Justice (DOJ) Recognition and Accreditation Program. Additionally, The New American Economy (NAE) Research Award named Jersey City to receive NAE research to further address socioeconomic disparities within immigrant populations.[211][212]
Jersey City, New Jersey – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
The U.S. Census accounts for race by two methodologies. "Race alone" and "Race alone less Hispanics" where Hispanics are delineated separately as if a separate race.
There were an estimated 55,493non-Hispanic whites in Jersey City, according to the 2013–2017 American Community Survey,[218] representing a 4.2% increase from 53,236 non-Hispanic whites enumerated in the 2010 United States census.[219]
An estimated 63,788African Americans resided in Jersey City, or 24.0% of the city's population in 2017,[218] representing a slight decrease from 64,002 African Americans enumerated in the2010 United States census.[219] 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,[220] representing a 2.3% increase from 83,925 African Americans enumerated in the county in the 2010 United States census.[221] However, modest growth in theAfrican immigrant population, most notably the growingNigerian American andKenyan American populations[222][223] 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 theSouthern United States.[224]
Approximately 76,637Latino and Hispanic Americans lived in Jersey City, composing 28.8% of the population in 2017,[218] representing a 12.3% increase from 68,256 Latino or Hispanic Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.[219][208]Stateside Puerto Ricans, making up a third of the city's Latin American or Hispanic population, constituted the largest Hispanic group in Jersey City.[218] Since 1961, Jersey City has hosted its annual Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival which has grown to be the largest in the state.[225] WhileCuban Americans are not as highly concentrated in Jersey City as they are innorthern Hudson County, Jersey City has hosted the annual Cuban Parade and Festival of New Jersey atExchange Place on itsdowntown waterfront since it was established in 2001.[226]
An estimated 67,526Asian Americans live in Jersey City, constituting 25.4% of the city's population,[218] representing a 15.2% increase from 58,595 Asian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.[219]
India Square, also known as "Little India", "LittleBombay",[228] or "LittleGujarat",[229] home to the highest concentration ofAsian Indians in theWestern Hemisphere,[227] is a rapidly growingIndian Americanethnic enclave in Jersey City. Indian Americans constituted 10.9% of the overall population of Jersey City in 2010,[33] the highest proportion of any major U.S. city. India Square has been home to the largest outdoorNavratri festivities in New Jersey as well as severalHindutemples;[230] while an annual, color-filled springHolifestival has taken place in Jersey City since 1992, centered upon India Square and attracting significant participation and international media attention.[231][232] In 2017 there were an estimated 31,578 Indian Americans in Jersey City,[218] representing a 16.5% increase from 27,111 Indian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.[219]
Filipino Americans, numbering 16,610 residents, made up 6.2% of Jersey City's population in 2017.[218][233] TheFive Corners district serves as a prominentLittle Manila of Jersey City, being home to a thriving Filipino community that forms the second-largest Asian-American subgroup in the city.[33] A variety of Filipino restaurants, shippers and freighters, doctors' offices, bakeries, stores, and even an office ofThe Filipino Channel have madeNewark Avenue their home in recent decades. The largest Filipino-owned grocery store on theEast Coast, Phil-Am Food, has been established on the avenue since 1973.[234] An array of Filipino-owned businesses can also be found in the West Side section of the city, where many residents are of Filipino descent. In 2006,Red Ribbon Bakeshop, one of the Philippines' most famous food chains, opened its first branch on the East Coast: a new pastry outlet in Jersey City.[235]Manila Avenue inDowntown Jersey City was named for the Philippine capital city because of the many Filipinos who built their homes on the street during the 1970s. A memorial dedicated to the Filipino-American veterans of theVietnam War was built in a small square on Manila Avenue. A park and statue dedicated toJose P. Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines, are also located in Downtown Jersey City.[236] Furthermore, Jersey City hosts the annualPhilippine–American Friendship Day Parade along West Side Avenue ending atLincoln Park with a day long festival, an event that occurs yearly on the last Sunday in June.[237] The City Hall of Jersey City raises the Philippine flag in correlation with this event and as a tribute to the contributions of the local Filipino community. The city's annual Santacruzan procession has taken place since 1977 along Manila Avenue.[238]
Behind English and Spanish,Tagalog is the third-most-common language spoken in Jersey City.[239]
Jersey City was home to an estimated 9,379Chinese Americans in 2017,[218] representing a notably rapid growth of 66.2% from the 5,643 Chinese Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.[219] Chinese nationals have also been obtainingEB-5 immigrant visas by investing US$500,000 apiece in newDowntown Jersey City residentialskyscrapers.[240]
New Jersey's largestVietnamese 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,[218] representing a 12.8% increase from 1,607 Vietnamese Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.[219]
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.[241] Arab Americans are the second- highest percentage in New Jersey afterPassaic County.[242] Arab Americans are most concentrated in Jersey City, led byEgyptian Americans, including the largest population ofCoptic Christians in the United States.[208]
In 2010, there were 2,726same-sex couples in Hudson County, with Jersey City being the hub,[243] prior to the commencement of same-sex marriages in New Jersey on October 21, 2013.[244] Following the ruling, Jersey City was one of the first municipalities in New Jersey to issue marriage licenses and officiate ceremonies for same-sex couples. Jersey City is considered one of the mostLGBT-friendly communities in New Jersey and has achieved a perfect score from the Municipal Equality Index (MEI) for LGBTQ+ equality in municipal law, policies, and services for 12 consecutive years.[245][246]
Founded in 1993, theHudson Pride Connections Center is located inJournal Square and is largest LGBTQ+ social services center in New Jersey that advocates for the physical, mental, social and political well-being of the diverse LGBTQ+ community and its supporters.[247]
Every August since 2000 Jersey City hosts the Jersey City LBGTQ+ Pride Festival (JC Pride) which has grown to become one of the largest pride festivals in New Jersey attracting over 25,000 attendees. The celebrations begin on the first of the month with aProgress Pride Flag raising ceremony at City Hall.[248][249]
Nearly 59.6% of Jersey City's inhabitants are religious adherents, of which 46.2% are Catholic Christians and 7.3% are Protestant Christians.[250]Muslims constituted 3.4% of religious adherents in Jersey City.Dharmic religions includingBuddhism,Hinduism, andSikhism make up 1.5% of the city's religious demographic, with Judaism at 0.6%.[250] Jersey City has a growingOrthodox Jewish population, centered in theGreenville neighborhood.[251]
Jersey City is a regional employment center and one of the largest in the state 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, and retail.[252] From 2020 to 2021, Jersey City's employment rate increased by 8.12% from 140,000 to 151,000 employees. Tech and IT jobs made up 15.5% of all jobs created during that span.[253]
Jersey City's tax base grew by US$136 million in 2017, giving Jersey City the largest municipal tax base in the State of New Jersey.[254] As part of a 2017 revaluation, the city's property tax base is expected to increase from $6.2 billion to $26 billion.[255]
Jersey City's Hudson River waterfront, fromExchange Place toNewport, is known asWall Street West and has over 13,000,000 square feet (1,200,000 m2) ofClass A office space[252] and over 18,000,000 square feet (1,700,000 m2) of total office space for the nation's 12th-largestdowntown and the state's largest office market.[137] One-third of theprivate sector jobs in the city are in the financial services sector: more than 60% are in thesecurities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% ininsurance.[256]
Jersey City is the headquarters of theNational Stock Exchange. Jersey City is also home to the headquarters ofVerisk Analytics andLord Abbett,[257] a privately held money management firm.[258] Companies such asComputershare,ADP,IPC Systems, andFidelity Investments also conduct operations in the city.[259]Fintech firms such as Revenued also have a large presence to service the financial sector in Jersey City.[260] In 2014,Forbes 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 ten years.[261] Also in 2014,RBC Bank announced it was moving 900 jobs to 207,000 sq ft (19,200 m2) of office space at30 Hudson Street at Exchange Place.[262] In 2015,JPMorgan Chase expanded their presence in Jersey City by relocating 2,150 jobs fromManhattan to a company owned office building in Newport.[263] In 2020,American International Group (AIG) announced it was leasing 230,000 sq ft (21,000 m2) of office space at 30 Hudson St. starting in 2021.[264] TheBank of Montreal renewed its lease of 10,365 sq ft (962.9 m2) office space in 2024 at Harborside.[265] In 2024,Bank of America announced that they leased approximately 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2) of office space over 21 floors atNewport Tower in theNewport neighborhood. It represents the largest New Jersey office space lease in the last decade.[266]
The life science and technology industry is a rapidly growing and expanding sector for Jersey City. In 2024, Jersey City was ranked as the 5th top tech city in the United States and now houses 394 different Tech and IT firms with 15.5% of all jobs in Jersey City being created in that sector from 2020 to 2021.[253]
In 2021, theLiberty Science Center broke ground on SciTech Scity, a 30 acres (0.12 km2) campus across the street from the science center that will serve as a hub for life sciences, health care and technology. The $450 million campus will include Edge Works, an eight-story facility that will feature laboratories,research and development spaces, office suites, co-working spaces for startups, a tech exhibition hall and a state-of-the-art conference center.Sheba Medical Center is an anchor tenant and will develop a "hospital of the future" simulation space that will be known as "Liberty Science ARC HealthSpace 2030". Additionally, the campus will include Liberty Science Center High School, a newSTEM public high school that will be administered by theHudson County Schools of Technology and Scholars Village, a 500-unit residential project that will marketed toward families and individuals in tech related industries.[268][269]
Another life science and innovation hub called "The Cove" was announced in 2022. The 13 acres (0.053 km2) campus site is near SciTech Scity and will be a mixed-use development with 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m2) of life science office and research space, 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2) of residential space and feature a 3.5 acres (0.014 km2) public waterfront park.[270]
In 2023, thebiotechnology firmEpiBone, a company that grows bone and cartilage for skeletal reconstruction, announced it would move fromBrooklyn to Jersey City and lease 28,089 sq ft (2,609.6 m2) of lab space at 95 Greene Street, a purpose built life science facility atExchange Place.[271] The following year in 2024, RegenLab USA, which manufactures devices for the production of regenerativecell therapy, announced that they would also move from Brooklyn to Jersey City and lease 15,792 sq ft (1,467.1 m2) of lab space in the same facility.[272]
Jersey City has quickly grown to be a leader in the sports betting industry and the sports betting epicenter of the United States.BetMGM andCaesars Sports Book have established their headquarters atExchange Place along the Hudson River Waterfront and several other sports book such asFanDuel,Draft Kings andFanatics have offices in Jersey City. FanDuel expanded their operations with a new 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) office at Newport in 2025.[274] With New Jersey having a long history oflegalized gambling and also being a hub for tech employees, Jersey City has become an extension of the gaming industry inAtlantic City.[275]
The Journal Square district in 2021Newport Centre Mall in 2006
Jersey City has several shopping districts, some of which are traditionalmain streets for their respective neighborhoods, such asCentral,Danforth, Newark andWest Side Avenues. Lower Newark Avenue inDowntown Jersey City was converted to a permanent three-block long pedestrian plaza in 2022 becoming a hub for the city's dining, nightlife and cultural arts scene.[276]Journal Square is a major historic commercial and central business district that includes neighborhoods in the broader area such asBergen Square,McGinley Square,India Square, theFive Corners and portions of theMarion Section. Jersey City has two malls,Newport Centre Mall, a regional indoorshopping mall in Downtown Jersey City, andHudson Mall, a "non traditional" indoor shopping mall on the city's West Side.[181]
Portions of the city are part of anUrban Enterprise Zone (UEZ). Jersey City was selected in 1983 to be part of the initial group of 10 zones chosen to participate in the program.[277] In addition to other benefits to encourage employment and investment within the Zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125%sales tax rate (half of the 6.625% rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants.[278] Established in November 1992, the city's Urban Enterprise Zone status expires in November 2023.[279] Jersey City is the state's largest and most productive Urban Enterprise Zone encompassing one-third of the city.[280][281]
In 2013, Imperial Dade opened its 535,000 square feet (49,700 m2) distribution center and headquarters onU.S. Route 1/9 Truck in theMarion neighborhood on the city's West Side.[282]
East Coast Warehouse and Distribution expanded its warehouse operations by 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) in 2017.[283]
Goya Foods, which had been headquartered in adjacentSecaucus, opened a new headquarters including a 600,000-square-foot (56,000 m2)warehouse and distribution center in Jersey City in April 2015.[284]
In 2019,Nuts.com moved its headquarters to 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2) of office space at Exchange Place in Jersey City.[285]
In 2024,CVS Health leased 427,000 square feet (39,700 m2) of space at the newly constructed 86 acres (0.35 km2) HRP Hudson Logistics Park in theCroxton section of Jersey City.[286]
The north end of the facility houses theGreenville Yard, a rail yard located on a manmade peninsula that was built in the early 1900s by thePennsylvania Railroad.[287][288]New York New Jersey Rail is aswitching and terminal railroad headquartered in Greenville Yard that operates the onlycar float inNew York Harbor between Jersey City andBrooklyn. Operations were expanded in 2017 with a new barge,NYNJR100, that features four tracks that can carry up to 18 rail cars of 60-foot (18 m) length, with up to 2,298 long tons (2,335 tonne) of cargo.[289] A second barge of the same capacity,NYNJR200, was delivered in 2018 with an older 14-car barge, the278, still in service.[290] In 2019, the $600 million expansion was completed with the construction of anExpress Rail facility that features 9,600 ft (2,900 m) of track over eight tracks serviced by two rail mountedgantry cranes with a yearly capacity of 250,000 container lifts.
The central area of the facility contains Port Liberty Bayonne, a majorpost-panamax shipping facility operated byCMA CGM that underwent a major expansion in June 2014.[291][292] 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.[293] In 2024, Port Jersey received four newsuper post panamax cranes capable of serving 24,000twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels raising the number of cranes at the port from eight to twelve. Additionally, work is ongoing to create a third berth for vessels with a depth of 55 feet (17 m).[294]
In 2014, the apparel and foot ware company,VF Corporation, moved 145 workers from Manhattan to 42,000 sq ft (3,900 m2) of office space in Newport.[295]
In 2022, thesports memorabilia company, Collectors Holdings, owned byNew York Mets ownerSteve Cohen, leased 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2) of space for its authentication and grading services atHarborside 3 along the Hudson River Waterfront.[296]
In 2025, electronics companyCasio America Inc. leased 13,647 sq ft (1,267.8 m2) at Harborside 5 for their new sales and marketing headquarters.[297]
In 2014, Paul Fireman proposed a 95-story tower for Jersey City that would have included a casino next toLiberty National Golf Club. The project, which was endorsed by Mayor Steven Fulop, would cost an estimated $4.6 billion (~$5.83 billion in 2023).[298] 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.[299] In 2016, theNew Jersey Casino Expansion Amendment (2016) ballot question was put before New Jersey voters asking them if they would allow the expansion of casino gambling outside Atlantic City via a constitutional amendment. Voters rejected the ballot question by a margin of 77% to 23% effectively ending the casino proposal.
The LandmarkLoew's Jersey Theatre, one of the fiveLoew's Wonder Theatres 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.[305][306]
TheVan Wagenen House, also known as the "Apple Tree House". Built in 1740, it is one of the oldest structures in Jersey City and is the purported site of a meeting betweenGeorge Washington and theMarquis de Lafayette in 1779 during theRevolutionary War. It is now home to the Museum of Jersey City History.[307]
TheStatue of Mary McLeod Bethune designed by Alvin Petit who said "As a broader significance, this also plays a role in linking our City with a national movement to erect monuments that symbolize diversity and inclusiveness. This will be the first statue in Jersey City to honor the legacy of an African American woman."[312]
Based upon a 2011 survey of census data on the number of artists as a percentages of the population,The Atlantic magazine called Jersey City the 10th-most-artistic city in the United States.[313][314] In 2023,Americans for the Arts released the Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) study on the nation's non-profit arts and culture sector. The study found that in 2022 Jersey City's arts and culture sector generated $46 million in economic activity while supporting 532 jobs, providing $28.2 million in personal income to residents and generating $7.1 million in local, state and federal tax revenue.[315]
Morgan Branch Library, home of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society Museum
TheJersey City Free Public Library is the largest municipal library system in New Jersey. It has a Main Library, bookmobile and ten branches with the newest branch, the Communipaw Branch, opening in 2024 in theCommunipaw-Lafayette neighborhood as a public innovation hub for Jersey City and a hub forSTEAM learning, equipped with a makerspace that includes a range of tools from 3D printers to a recording studio.[316][317]
The Main Library Branch features theNew Jersey Room, a wing dedicated to historical documents about New Jersey, with a focus on Hudson County and Jersey City. Created in 1964, the room merged the collections of William H. Richardson and the Hudson County Historical Society with material the library already possessed.[318] The New Jersey Room holds over 20,000 volumes, in addition to historical maps and periodicals.[319][320]
TheAfro-American Historical and Cultural Society Museum is located on the upper floor of the Greenville Branch of the Jersey City Public Library and features the heritage of Jersey City's African American community which has been preserved in a special collection. Additionally, a permanent collection of material culture of New Jersey's African Americans as well as African artifacts is also on display.[321]
Liberty State Park is home to theCentral Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, the Interpretive Center, andLiberty 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 originalHoberman sphere.[323] In 2017, the center debuted the Jennifer ChalstyPlanetarium, the largest in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world.[324] From the park, ferries travel to bothEllis Island and the Immigration Museum andLiberty Island, site of theStatue of Liberty.[325]
Jersey City is also home to several art galleries of various scale and size including the Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery and Visial Arts Gallery atNew Jersey City University, the Fine Arts Gallery atSaint Peter's University, the Jersey City Art School 313 Gallery as well as Drawing Rooms, SMUSH Gallery, Pro Arts Jersey City - Art 150 Gallery and Novado Gallery to name a few.[330][331][332]
White Eagle Hall is a 400-seat (800 general admission) performing arts venue located inthe Village neighborhood ofDowntown Jersey City. It first opened in 1910 as a performing arts venue and parish hall forSt. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. For many years after it was the practice gym of the historic national powerhouseSt. Anthony High School Friars basketball team led byHall of Fame CoachBob Hurley. It reopened in 2017 after a three-year $6 million renovation as a performing arts, gallery space, and restaurant complex.[333] Starting in 2017, the Jersey City Theater Center performs their dance and theatre programming at White Eagle Hall.[334]
Loew's Jersey Theatre
TheLoew's Jersey Theatre is a 3,500-seat historic movie palace and performing arts venue in theJournal Square neighborhood of Jersey City. It was built in 1929 and designed by the architectural firm ofRapp and Rapp. It is one of fiveLoew's Wonder Theatres in the New York metropolitan area and the only one built outside ofNew York City. When it opened it was called the "most lavish temple of music and entertainment" in New Jersey.[335] In 2021, the theatre closed to undergo a $105 million renovation with a reopening scheduled for 2026 as a modern performing arts venue.[336]
Monty Hall is a live performing arts space owned and operated by WFMU 91.1FM starting in 2014 at their offices and studios at 43 Montgomery Street.[337][338]
Nimbus Arts Center at The Lively opened in 2020 in thePowerhouse Arts District (PAD) as the home for Nimbus Dance Works. At 15,000 sq ft (1,400 m2), the 150-seat performing arts venue hosts the organization's professional dance company, school of dance, performing arts presentations, visual arts program, and office headquarters. It is also home to Segunda Quimbamba and LUX Performing Arts.[339][340]
Art House Productions Theater Center is located in the Powerhouse Arts District (PAD) and opened in 2023. The two-story facility, gallery and 99-seatblack box theater was designed by nationally recognized theater architects Auerbach Consultants. The center hosts plays, comedy shows, film festivals, music performances, dance and visual arts.[341]
TheNew Jersey Symphony is opening its first permanent venue in 2026 in the Powerhouse Arts District (PAD). The Symphony will be moving from its long time base of operations at theNew Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) inNewark to a purpose built 550-seat theater called the "Symphony Center". The 44,000 sq ft (4,100 m2) Center will be a hub for concerts, classes and other activities. While the Symphony will continue to perform across New Jersey, the theater will serve as its primary location. The center will increase its programming over a five-year period, with about 20 to 30 performances in the 2026–27 season, and rising to about 150 to 200 performances in the 2030–31 season.[342]
Several venues at the universities in Jersey City are also used to present professional and semi-professional theater, dance, and music.New Jersey City University (NJCU) features the historic 1,000 seat Margaret Williams Theatre at Hepburn Hall and the 120-seat black box West Side Theatre.Saint Peter's University features the 200-seat Roy Irving Theatre at Dinneen Hall and the 400-seat "cabaret-style" performing arts space at the Mac Mahon Student Center.[343][344]
Since 2013, the Jersey City Mural Arts Program (JCMAPS), has partnered with established and emerging local, national and international mural artists, such as JC based graffiti artist DISTORT, local Jersey City teachers, Brazilian artistEduardo Kobra, and American artists and activists such asShepard Fairey andKyle Holbrook. The city also engages property owners throughout Jersey City as part of the innovative program that reduces graffiti, engages local residents and beautifies Jersey City by transforming the city into a vibrant outdoor art gallery. To date, over 200 murals have been created by over 138 artists.[345][346][347][348]
In 2014, the Jersey City Youth Mural Arts Program (JCYMAP) started as an extension of JCMAPS. Students throughout Jersey City work together with art instructors on the final layout and design of the murals and engage in hands-on, intensive workshops that are designed to provide young artists with the tools and skills necessary to create public art.[349][350] The program also works with local universities such asNew Jersey City University andSaint Peter's University to engage young-adults to create a mural under the direction of professional mural artists.[351]
Jersey City is home to several annualvisual and performing arts festivals,fairs, and other events.[352] These include Jersey City Art & Studio Tour (JCAST), a city-sponsored visual art showcase founded in 1990,[353] Art Fair 14C, a non-profit juried exhibition for New Jersey artists and New Jersey's largest visual arts event,[354][355] and Your Move Modern Dance Festival, which was founded in 2010 and continues to be produced byArt House Productions.[356][357] Jersey City has also hosted JC Fridays, a city-wide quarterly seasonal arts festival organized byArt House Productions each March, June, September, and December since 2006.[358]Art House Productions also produces the Jersey City Comedy Festival (formerly known as the 6th Borough Comedy Festival), which presentsstand up,improv, andsketch comedy.[359] Since 2008, Art House Productions also hosts the annual Snow Ball Gala with a different theme every year. The gala celebrates Jersey City's vibrant arts and culture scene by honoring those who support artists and enrich Hudson County through arts programming.[360]
Groove on Grove is a free weekly summer music series that takes place every Wednesday from May to August at Grove StreetPATH Plaza.[361]
The Ghost of Uncle Joe's is an annual weekend long music festival fundraiser that takes place in October and benefitsThe Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery. Started in 2010 and named after Uncle Joe's, a popular former rock club in Downtown Jersey City, performances are held at the cemetery and the festival isHalloween themed and features a mix of local musicians covering well known artists and bands.[363][364]
Starting in 2010, the annual Jersey City Ward Tour is a recreationalcycling event that takes riders on a 16-mile (26 km) tour through all six wards of Jersey City and attracts over 3,000 cyclists. The tour is a fundraising event held by Bike JC, a nonprofit organization that advocates on making the streets safer for cyclists by promoting bike-friendly policies such as protected bike lanes and bicycle safety education.[365]
The annual Jersey City Jazz Festival, started in 2013, is the largestjazz festival in theNew York metropolitan area and features performances throughout Jersey City over the course of four days. The festival has been so successful that in 2024, the Jersey CityLatin Jazz Festival began as its own event. Both festivals are held atExchange Place and are produced by Riverview Jazz, a Jersey City-based non-profit.[366][367]
The Jersey City Mural Arts Festival started in 2021 and was born out of the successful Jersey City Mural Arts Program (JCMAPS). The inaugural festival featured over 50 artists and activated more than 30 walls throughout Jersey City.[370]
The city'sculinary profile has risen in recent years with Jersey City hosting two annual restaurant weeks during thewinter months, Hudson County Restaurant Week and Jersey City Restaurant Fest, to celebrate its local establishments.[371][372]
Jersey City is located in theNew York media market, and most of its daily papers are available for sale or delivery such asThe New York Times and theDaily News, which maintained its extensive publishing and distribution facilities at Liberty Industrial Park from 1993 to 2022.[373][374] As of 2025, Jersey City no longer has a daily print newspaper. The city's former daily newspaper since 1867,The Jersey Journal, formerly located at its namesakeJournal Square, covered Hudson County and was its morning daily before ceasing publication in 2025.[375] TheHudson Dispatch merged with the Jersey Journal in 1991.[376] TheJersey City Reporter is part ofThe Hudson Reporter group of local weeklies and is an online-only news outlet since ceasing physical publication in 2023. TheRiver View Observer is another weekly published in the city and distributed throughout the county. Another countywide weekly,El Especialito, also serves the city.[377] TheJersey City Times began in 2019 as an online-only news outlet dedicated to in-depth coverage of Jersey City.[378] TheJersey City Independent was anonline newspaper covering Jersey City and surrounding municipalities. It also publishedJCI Magazine, a print quarterly magazine.[379]
Jersey City has a long history with the film and television industry dating back to its early days.
Jersey City has hosted several film festivals over the years. The annualGolden Door Film Festival has taken place at various venues throughout Jersey City since 2011, including theLoew's Jersey Theatre, and is the city's longest running film festival.[383] The Brightside Film Festival has been held at the Brightside Tavern since 2014 and is an annual festival that featuresshort films.[384] The Jersey City Horror Film Festival (JCHFF) began as the Jersey City Popup Film Festival in 2015 and is designed to be a fun and relaxed film festival, offering quality independent films.[385] TheThomas Edison Film Festival (TEFF) began as the "Black Maria Film Festival" in 1981 as a project of the Thomas A. Edison Media Arts Consortium, an independent non-profit organization originally based at the Media Arts Department at New Jersey City University (NJCU) and was held a Hepburn Hall. The consortium has since moved operations to theHoboken Historical Museum in neighboring Hoboken and now shows films across New Jersey, the United States and abroad.[386][387]
The first film studio in the city was built in 1910 in theJersey City Heights by film production companyPathé Exchange as an outgrowth of thebirth of the motion picture industry in Fort Lee at the turn of the 20th century. The most successful film series produced by the studio wasThe Perils of Pauline starringPearl White in 1914. The term "cliffhanger" is thought to have originated with the series due to a number of episodes filmed on or around theNew Jersey Palisades. Additionally, the hero or heroine was sometimes hanging from the Palisade cliffs, seemingly with no way out, until the next episode.
TheFrederick Douglass Film Company was a production company established in 1916 inLafayette by two prominent residents, Dr. George E. Cannon and Rev. Dr. W.S. Smith of Monumental Baptist Church. Named after theAfrican-American abolitionistFrederick Douglass, the company was founded to produce films to counter the negativity from anti-African-American films such asThe Birth of a Nation (1915), the stereotypical images of Black entertainers in comedic roles and to improverace relations. The company produced three films,The Colored American Winning His Suit (1916),The Scapegoat (1917) andHeroic Negro Soldiers of the World War (1919).[388][389]
Parlay Studios is Jersey City's longest serving film studio since it opened in The Heights in 2005. It is now located on the campus ofMana Contemporary and features over 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) of space across three soundstages, three studios, production offices and flex and support spaces.[394][395]
In 2021,Cinelease Studios-Caven Point opened as the largest film studio in the State of New Jersey.[396] The studio has threesoundstages totaling 112,400 square feet (10,440 m2) that are 40 feet (12 m) high to thegrid and 50 feet (15 m) to the ceiling.[397] In 2023, the Cinelease announced they are planning to double the number of soundstages with a 76,649 square feet (7,120.9 m2) expansion that will include three new stages.[398]
Jersey City has been the backdrop and location of several movies, television shows and music videos over the years.
In the 1972 film,The Godfather, the famous scene featuringPeter Clemenza and Rocco Lampone's famous exchange, "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli", was filmed at the site that became Freedom Way in Liberty State Park in Jersey City.[400]
In the 1992"Black Hole" episode ofThe Ren and Stimpy Show, Commander Höek and Space Cadet Stimpy get sucked into a black hole and end up on a strange world. In order to escape they need catch a bus that is headed for Jersey City.
In 1997, the filmMen in Black depicts a scene whereAgent J delivers a newborn alien squid on Morris Pesin Drive in Liberty State Park in Jersey City.[399]
The 2004animated television seriesMegas XLR is set in Jersey City and features mechanic Coop and his best friend Jamie who find a mecha robot from the future at a local junkyard.
The 2009NBCmedical dramaMercy was set and filmed in Jersey City and featured the fictional "Mercy Hospital".
The final scenes of the 2014 adaptation ofAnnie were shot at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.[407]
The 2018Netflix seriesSeven Seconds, starringRegina King, is set in Jersey City and the bicycle accident at the center of the plot of Season 1 occurs at Liberty State Park.[408]
The 2022 biopicThe Greatest Beer Run Ever, produced by Jersey City residentAndrew Muscato, was shot throughout the city, with Van Vorst Park serving as the site of Vietnam War protests and an argument between the main character, Chickie, and his sister.[411]
The 2024Bob Dylan biopic,A Complete Unknown, was extensively shot at multiple locations and businesses in Jersey City with the Van Vorst Park neighborhood around Jersey Avenue portraying Manhattan'sWest Village.[414][415]
Jersey City is governed under theFaulkner Act (mayor–council) form of municipal government. The city is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government.[416] The governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the nine-member City Council. The city council has six members elected fromwards[417] and three electedat-large, all elected to concurrent four-year terms on anon-partisan basis as part of the November general election.[17][167][418][419] Ward boundaries were redrawn based on the results of the 2020 United States census to rebalance wards based on population changes.[420] The redistricting led to controversy.[421]
As of 2025[update], themayor isSteven Fulop, whose term of office ends December 31, 2025.[12] FormerNew Jersey governorJim McGreevy announced his candidacy for Jersey City mayor in November 2023. Following a scrutinized public image after admitting to extramarital affairs, McGreevy planned to re-enter politics and work towards providing clean and safe streets and controlled property taxes for working families.[1] 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.[422][423][424][425]
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.[426]
The Business Administrator is John J. Metro;[15] the City Clerk is Sean J. Gallagher.[16]
Jersey City is split between the 8th and 10th Congressional Districts[427] and is part of New Jersey's 31st and 32nd state legislative districts.[428]
Prior to the2011 reapportionment following the2010 census, Jersey City had been in the31st,32nd and the33rd state legislative districts.[429] Prior to the 2010 census, Jersey City had been split between the9th Congressional District, 10th Congressional District and the13th Congressional District, a change made by theNew Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.[429] The split, which 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.[427][430]
Hudson County's constitutional officers are County Clerk E. Junior Maldonado (D, Jersey City, 2027),[459][460]Register Jeffrey Dublin (D, Jersey City, 2026)[461][462][463]Sheriff Frank X. Schillari (D, Jersey City, 2025)[464][465] and Surrogate Tilo E. Rivas (D, Jersey City, 2029)[466][467][468]
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 asDemocrats, 7,655 (6.4%) were registered asRepublicans, and 54,293 (45.2%) were registered asUnaffiliated. There were 87 voters registered to other parties.[469]
In the2012 presidential election, DemocratBarack Obama received 85.5% of the vote (64,052 cast), ahead of RepublicanMitt Romney 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 werespoiled), for a turnout of 56.7%.[470][471] In the2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 81.8% of the vote (65,780 cast), ahead of RepublicanJohn McCain 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%.[472] In the2004 presidential election, DemocratJohn Kerry received 74.5% of the vote (52,979 ballots cast), out polling RepublicanGeorge W. Bush 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.[473]
In the2013 gubernatorial election, DemocratBarbara Buono received 66.5% of the vote (20,421 cast), ahead of RepublicanChris 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%.[480][481] In the2009 gubernatorial election, DemocratJon Corzine received 76.2% of the vote (29,817 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 18.7% (7,336 votes), IndependentChris Daggett 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.[482]
TheJersey City Fire Department has 667 uniformed firefighters and is the state's largest municipal fire department.[483][484] Established as a volunteer department in 1829, the department became a paid professional organization in 1871.[485] Jersey City is a member of the Metro USAR Strike Team, which consists of nine north Jersey fire departments.[486] Jersey City also has the only High-Rise Firefighting Unit in New Jersey, known as "Squad 1".[487]
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.[488]
Hepburn Hall at New Jersey City University TheYanitelli Center on the campus of Saint Peter's University
Jersey City is home to several institutions of higher education.
New Jersey City University is a statepublic university on theWest Side of the city. Chartered in 1927 as "New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City", it originally specialized in teacher education and first awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in education.[489]
Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School was the first-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, inNew Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked second in 2008 out of 316 schools.[512] and was selected as 41st best high school in the United States inNewsweek magazine's national 2011 survey.[513] 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-storyBeaux-Arts building located on a hilltop facing the Hudson River.[514]
Among Jersey City's elementary and middle schools isAcademy 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.[515]
Jersey City also has 12charter schools, which are run under a special charter granted by the Commissioner of theNew Jersey Department of Education, 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.[517] BelovED Community Charter School opened in 2012.[518]
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.[530] 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.[531]
Other private high schools in Jersey City include First Christian Pentecostal Academy andStevens Cooperative School.[532][533]Kenmare High School 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.[534] 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.[535] 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.[536] The Jersey City Art School is a private art school located in downtown Jersey City for all ages.[537]
Of all Jersey City commuters, 8.17% walk to work, and 46.62% takepublic transit.[538] This is the second highest percentage ofpublic transit riders of any city with a population of 100,000+ in the United States, behind only New York City and ahead ofWashington, D.C. 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.[538]
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.[541]
Also serving Jersey City are various lines operated byAcademy Bus. Increased use of jitneys, locally known asdollar vans, has greatly affected travel patterns inHudson 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 aJournal Square-Bayonne bus rapid transit system should be investigated. In 2012, the Board of Chosen Freeholders authorized the identification of possible BRT corridors.[547][548][549][550][551]
A&C Bus Corporation, an independentbus company established in 1927 and headquartered in Jersey City had operated the 30, 31, 32 and 33 bus routes, using a fleet of buses leased fromNJ Transit. In July 2023, A&C announced that it would discontinue operations.[552] In October 2023, the four routes that had been operated by A&C were taken over byNJ Transit bus operations.[553]
In February 2020, the city launched its on-demand transit system in partnership withVia Transportation.[556][557] The city-runmicrotransit 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.[558][559] 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.[560][561]
I-78, the New Jersey Turnpike Newark Bay Extension, westbound at Exit 14B in Jersey CityEntrance to theHolland Tunnel, which carries high amounts of vehicular traffic from New Jersey toLower Manhattan
In April 2012, the city initiated the Morris Canal Greenway Plan to investigate the establishment of agreenway, including abicycle path, that would follow the route of theMorris Canal to the greatest extent possible.[570][571][572] 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 54 miles (87 km) of both dedicated and shared bike lanes.[573]
In 2013, the city simplified the application and reduced the cost for business and residences to installbike racks as well as making them obligatory for certain new construction projects.[577]
Also in 2013, Hudson County had initiated exploration of abike-share program.[578] Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken intended to operate the program starting in 2014[579] but delayed the launch due to lack of sponsorship. The revamped program officially launched on September 21, 2015, asCiti Bike with membership working in Jersey City and New York City.[580] On May 3, 2021, Citi Bike eventually expanded to neighboring Hoboken with 15 stations and about 200 bikes.[581]
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.[582]
Jersey City is home to two hospitals.Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC) is a 352-bed, Level II Regional Trauma Center andteaching hospital that is located on a 15-acre campus inDowntown Jersey City that includes Wilzig Hospital, theProvident Bank Ambulatory Center, theCristie Kerr Women's Health Center and the Abercrombie Guild Pediatric Emergency Department (ED), the onlypediatric ED in Hudson County. It is part ofRWJBarnabas Health, New Jersey's largest network of independent hospitals andhealthcare facilities. The medical center is Jersey City's largest medical center and oldest hospital dating back to 1868 and was the first medical center in New Jersey and one of the first in the United States. By the 1940s, it had grown to become the third-largesthealthcare center in the world. From 1956 to 1968, the medical center was the original home of theSeton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry, the predecessor to theUniversity of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) inNewark.[583][81][584]
Christ Hospital is a 376-bed, privatefor-profit hospital in theJersey City Heights. Established in 1872, the hospital was originally affiliated with theEpiscopal Diocese of Newark and is the second oldest and second largest hospital in Jersey City. The hospital is currently part of the CarePoint Health system. Since 1890, it has been home to the Christ Hospital School of Nursing which merged with theBayonne Medical Center nursing school 2014.[585]
Jersey City Medical Center at Greenville is anoutpatient medical center andurgent care operated by JCMC in theGreenville section of Jersey City that opened in 2015 in the former Greenville Hospital. Originally opened in 1898 as the "German Hospital and Dispensary of Hudson County" and Jersey City's third hospital, the facility grew over the years with the current building opening in 1964 and a west wing added in 1971. Greenville Hospital closed in 2008 due to cuts in the state budget and was later used as the home of Jersey City Medical Center'sEMS from 2009 to 2011.[586][587][588]
Englewood Health ZT Systems Outpatient Center is an outpatient medical center and urgent care operated byEnglewood Hospital and Medical Center inJournal Square that opened in 2022. The facility occupies over 73,000 square feet (6,800 m2) across three-floors at 2 Journal Square.[589]
Saint Francis Hospital was founded in 1864 by theSociety of the Sisters of St. Francis and constructed the first hospital building in 1870 across fromHamilton Park in Downtown Jersey City. In 2005, the hospital closed and was sold by the Bon Secours Health System and converted into a residential complex.[80]
^Hortillosa, Summer Dawn."Is Jersey City New York City's 'Sixth Borough'?",The Jersey Journal, May 6, 2014. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Is Jersey City really the 'Sixth Borough?' The city picked up the nickname for its proximity to New York City and its close relationship with its sister city."
^Jersey City: America's Golden DoorArchived February 1, 2023, at theWayback Machine, Jersey City Online. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Today, America is still the land of opportunity, and Jersey City represents the 'golden door' to that opportunity."
^"Jersey City: Wall Street West",Bloomberg Businessweek, October 29, 2011. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The nickname 'America's Golden Door' never really caught on. So Jersey City officials tried to tag their town 'Silicon Valley East'--then the Internet Revolution petered out. But the latest monicker for Manhattan's neighbor across the Hudson--'Wall Street West'--just might stick."
^Staff."Topics of the Week",The New York Times, August 7, 1909. Accessed December 21, 2011. "The seal of the city with the popular motto, 'Let Jersey Prosper,' appears on the cover."
^Elliott, Stuart."A New Effort From a 'New' Jersey City Urges, 'Make It Yours'",The New York Times, October 6, 2014. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The campaign carries the theme 'Make it yours', with the word 'yours' tilted for emphasis as if it was italicized. The theme is accompanied by a new logo that presents the 'C,' 't' and 'y' of 'City' in bold capital letters and the word "Jersey" on its side, taking the place of the 'i.'"
^Greenfield, Douglas J.; and Hsu, Naomi.Sandy Recovery Strategic Planning Report; A Strategic Plan for ResilienceArchived December 16, 2016, at theWayback Machine, City of Jersey City, August 2014. Accessed November 14, 2016. "Jersey City was inundated by Hurricane Sandy all along its 30.7 miles of waterfront of rivers and bays. Flood waters came in from the Hackensack River and Newark Bay to the west and from the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay to the east."
^Kaysen, Ronda."Moving to Jersey City? Join the Club",The New York Times, February 12, 2016. Accessed January 16, 2024. "That conversation usually begins with how quickly one can get from Jersey City to Manhattan by train. From the Grove Street PATH station downtown, it takes fewer than 10 minutes to get to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and 20 minutes to get to West 33rd Street."
^Jersey City, New Jersey (U.S.), CRW Flags. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The three stripes of blue, white, and yellow are supposed to commemorate the colors of the Dutch, as Jersey City was located in the province of New Netherlands. However, the color yellow would more appropriately be orange, as blue, white, and orange were the colors in the Dutch national flag and its trading companies in the early 1600s. The sailing ship is the Half Moon, in which the explorer Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609."
^Karnoutsos, Carmela.Summit House / Newkirk HouseArchived June 2, 2019, at theWayback Machine, Jersey City Past and Present,New Jersey City University. 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."
^History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Charles Hardenburg Winfield, pg. 243-246, Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Company, 1874
^Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand, by, Raymond J. Baxter, Arthur G. Adams, pg. 64 ,1999, Fordham University Press, 978-0823219544
^Cudahy, Brian J. (1990).Over and Back: The History of Ferryboats in New York Harbor. New York: Fordham University Press. pp. 20–24, 360, 362.ISBN0-8232-1245-9.
^Municipal Incorporations of the State of New Jersey (according to Counties) prepared by the Division of Local Government, Department of the Treasury (New Jersey); December 1, 1958, p. 78 – Extinct List.
^Leal, John L. (1909). "The Sterilization Plant of the Jersey City Water Supply Company at Boonton, N.J."Proceedings American Water Works Association. pp. 100–9.
^Strunsky, Steve."Cities; Bright Lights, Big Retail",The New York Times, December 9, 2001. Accessed April 1, 2015. "Macy's has arrived on this former industrial shoreline. And with it, at least in retail terms, so has Jersey City.... While hardly Saks Fifth Avenue or even Neiman Marcus, Macy's is certainly the most upscale department store in this city, whose status as virtually a sixth borough of New York has become increasingly obvious as jobs jump across the Hudson, rents rise like skyscrapers and trendier residents look around for places to lighten their wallets."
^Holusha, John."Commercial Property / The Jersey Riverfront; On the Hudson's West Bank, Optimistic Developers",The New York Times, October 11, 1998. Accessed August 22, 2018. "'That simply is out of the question in midtown,' he said, adding that some formerly fringe areas in Midtown South that had previously been available were filled up as well. Given that the buildings on the New Jersey waterfront are new and equipped with the latest technology and just a few stops on the PATH trains from Manhattan, they become an attractive alternative. 'It's the sixth borough', he said."
^ab"JC Ward map". Jerseycityindependent.com. January 6, 2009. Archived fromthe original on June 2, 2010. RetrievedJune 10, 2010.
^Hampson, Rick."Model of urban future: Jersey City?",USA Today, April 16, 2007. Accessed December 21, 2011. "This was the former Jersey City Medical Center, a cluster of Art Deco buildings on a rise in the center of the city, far from the booming waterfront. Now the medical center was becoming The Beacon condominium complex, one of the nation's largest historic renovation projects."
^Ojutiku, Mak."Jersey City opens new $38M Berry Lane Park", NJ Advance Media forNJ.com, June 27, 2016, updated January 16, 2019. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Mayor Steve Fulop and city officials held a grand opening ceremony Saturday for the city's first new municipal park in decades, Berry Lane Park, the largest open park owned by the city. To further commemorate the opening of the $38 million, 17.5-acre recreational area, the Bergen-Lafayette park between Garfield Avenue and Woodward Street was the location of a family day festival, which was attended by hundreds of residents on Saturday."
^McDonald, Terrence T."Jersey City development boom reaching new heights",The Jersey Journal, March 13, 2015. Accessed March 16, 2016. "Later in the year, 70 Columbus – which features 545 rental units, 20,000 square feet of commercial space adjacent to the Grove Street PATH station – is expected to be completed, while construction on its sister tower, 90 Columbus, which will have 630 units in 50 stories, should begin by December."
^Haddon, Heather."Embankment Deal Stalls",The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2016. "A deal to turn an abandoned elevated railway in Jersey City into a park in the spirit of Manhattan's High Line has hit a roadblock, with one of the parties involved balking on a settlement proposed to resolve the decadelong dispute."
^The Heights, Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. Accessed December 21, 2011.
^Berger, Joseph."Uneasy Welcome as Ultra-Orthodox Jews Extend Beyond New York",The New York Times, August 2, 2017. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Jersey City – To the gentrifying stew of bankers, artists and college graduates who are transforming this once blue-collar city across the Hudson River from Manhattan, add an unexpected flavor. In a heavily African-American neighborhood, 62 families from a number of Hasidic sects based in Brooklyn and rarely seen here have bought a scattering of faded but roomy wood-frame rowhouses whose prices are less than half what homes of similar size would cost in New York – roughly $300,000 compared with $800,000."
^Gold, Michael; and Watkins, Ali."Suspect in Jersey City Linked to Black Hebrew Israelite Group; The Black Hebrew Israelites have been labeled a hate group. The suspect wrote anti-Semitic and anti-police posts, an official said.",The New York Times, December 11, 2019. Accessed May 5, 2020. "An assailant involved in the prolonged firefight in Jersey City, N.J., that left six people dead, including one police officer, was linked on Wednesday to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, and had published anti-Semitic posts online, a law enforcement official said. The violent rampage on Tuesday took place largely at a kosher supermarket where three bystanders were killed.... The shootout and police siege overtook the Greenville neighborhood of gentrifying Jersey City — the second most-populous city in New Jersey, with about a quarter of a million residents."
^Raum, John O.The History of New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Volume 1, p. 278, J. E. Potter and company, 1877. Accessed July 27, 2013. "Jersey City is divided into sixteen wards and contained in 1850 a population of 6,856; in 1860, 29,226; and in 1870, 82,546. The population of this city has increased with wonderful rapidity having more than trebled within the last decade."
^McDonald, Terrence T."Jersey City paying consultant $25,000 to challenge Census count",The Jersey Journal, June 16, 2011. Accessed July 8, 2015. "Jersey City is spending $25,000 to hire an outside consultant to help it challenge recent U.S. Census figures that city officials believe underestimate the city's total population.... The city feels it has been undercounted by as many as 30,000 residents, said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill."
^Speiser, Matthew."Cuban festival takes over Exchange Place on Jersey City waterfront",The Jersey Journal, May 31, 2015. Accessed March 16, 2016. "The salsa music was so loud they probably could have heard it across the river in Manhattan. Such was the atmosphere at the 15th annual Cuban festival at Exchange Place this afternoon on the Jersey City waterfront."
^abWirstiuk, Laryssa."Neighborhood Spotlight: Journal Square"Archived June 30, 2018, at theWayback Machine,Jersey City Independent, April 21, 2014. Accessed July 3, 2018. "India Square, for example, is situated between John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Tonnelle Avenue on Newark Ave., and is home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere."
^Rogoza, Rafal."Thousands of colorful revelers partake in 21st Annual Phagwah Parade in Jersey City",The Jersey Journal, March 30, 2013, updated March 31, 2013. Accessed July 6, 2015. "The 29-year-old Princeton Avenue resident was one of the thousands of people who descended on Lincoln Park in Jersey City this afternoon for the 21st Annual Phagwah Parade and Holi Hai Day festivities, a colorful Hindu spring harvest tradition that is celebrated by revelers who playfully shower each other with various colors of organic powder."
^Timeline, Filipino-Americans in Jersey City. Accessed June 28, 2017.
^Silvestre, Edmund M."Phil-Am Food's future is now"[usurped],Filipino Reporter, March 2, 2014. Accessed November 14, 2016. "For four decades now, Phil-Am Food, the largest Filipino-owned grocery store on the U.S. East Coast, has served as a bastion of vibrant Filipino community here as it consistently provides patrons a sense of being 'back home' with its extensive array of Philippine food products no other Pinoy store in this coast can match."
^Nash, Margo."Jersey Footlights",The New York Times, May 1, 2005. Accessed August 22, 2018. "The Knights made an agreement five years ago with Bret Schundler, who was mayor then, allowing them to lease a street corner at Columbus Drive and Brunswick Street for 20 years at $1 a year to build tiny Rizal Park with a statue of Rizal (1861–1896). The city paid for the upkeep, the Knights paid for the monument and insurance. Each year since then the Knights have held ceremonies at the park on June 19 to mark Rizal's birth."
^Stirling, Stephen."The 44 N.J. towns where English is not the dominant language", NJ Advance Media forNJ.com, November 14, 2016. Accessed November 14, 2016. "When divided up by language, rather than region, a clearer picture emerges of the patchwork of immigrant communities represented in Jersey City. While English and Spanish are the two main languages spoken here, Tagalog, a Filipino dialect, is third."
^Bradsher, Keith; Tang, Ailin; and Drucker, Jesse."Trump Looms as Kushner Companies Courts Investors in China",The New York Times, May 7, 2017. Accessed June 28, 2017. "At the event in Beijing, Mr. Kushner's sister, Nicole Meyer, cited her brother's service to the company, which he led as chief executive until January. She said the project in Jersey City 'means a lot to me and my entire family.'"
^Staff."Where do gay couples live in New Jersey?", Out in Jersey, March 16, 2014. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Essex County leads with the most same-sex couples households at 2,819 with Hudson County close behind at 2,726."
^abSandy Recovery Strategic Planning Report A Strategic Plan for ResilienceArchived July 12, 2017, at theWayback Machine, 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."
^Urban Enterprise Zone Tax Questions and Answers,New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, May 2009. Accessed October 28, 2019. "The Urban Enterprise Zone Program (UEZ) was enacted in 1983. It authorized the designation of ten zones by the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority: Camden, Newark, Bridgeton, Trenton, Plainfield, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Kearny, Orange and Millville/Vineland (joint zone)."
^Urban Enterprise ZoneArchived October 24, 2017, at theWayback Machine, Jersey City Economic Development Corporation. Accessed January 9, 2018. "One-third of Jersey City is designated as Urban Enterprise Zone. The Jersey City Urban Enterprise Zone is the largest and most productive UEZ in New Jersey."
^Morley, Hugh R."Goya Foods opens new HQ-warehouse in Jersey City",The Record, April 29, 2015, backed up by theInternet Archive 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."
^Conte, Michaelangelo."Global Container Terminals in Jersey City unveils $325M expansion project",The Jersey Journal, June 19, 2014. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Global Container Terminals in Jersey City held a grand opening yesterday for the completion of a $325 million expansion project which officials say will increase safety, efficiency, environmental friendliness and double the number of containers passing through the terminal."
^Berger, Paul."Mega-ship's arrival in Bayonne a sign of the future",The Record, July 8, 2016, backed up by theInternet Archive as of July 10, 2016. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The largest ship ever to call at the Port of New York and New Jersey docked this week after sailing from China through the newly widened Panama Canal. The arrival of the MOL Benefactor at Bayonne's Global Container Terminals marks the beginning of what promises to be a succession of progressively larger ships calling at the busiest port on the East Coast."
^Bagli, Charles V."Reebok Founder Proposes 95-Story Tower With Casino for Jersey City",The New York Times, July 10, 2014. Accessed June 1, 2015. "Mr. Fireman, the founder and former chairman of Reebok International, is proposing a $4.6 billion project, including a 95-story skyscraper, adjoining his 160-acre golf course on the Hudson River, at the south end of Jersey City."
^Liberty Science Center, Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development. Accessed January 21, 2025. "Jersey City is home to one of the area's most impressive and enriching museums: the 300,000-square-foot Liberty Science Center in Liberty State Park."
^Dougherty, Michael Brendan."America Needs a Katyn Memorial",National Review, May 9, 2018. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Fulop should be reminded that, whatever his opinions on the Law and Justice in Poland, the Katyn memorial in Jersey City commemorates all those who suffered at that massacre, and current estimates suggest that 600 to 800 of the more than 21,000 killed were Polish Jews. Memorializing the Katyn massacre is in no way an anti-Semitic act or a capitulation to the sentiments of anti-Semites."
^Lincoln Statue,Syracuse University. Accessed February 18, 2025. "This statue is the second bronze cast of Fraser’s original 1930 plaster mold. The first cast, Lincoln the Mystic, is located at the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway in Jersey City, New Jersey."
^Lyons, Richard D."Jersey City Landmark; Now It's Time to Move the Colgate Clock",The New York Times, July 9, 1989. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The clock has an area of almost 2,000 square feet, a 26-foot-long minute hand that extends just off the clock's face, and an hour hand that is almost 20 feet long. When it began operation in 1924, it replaced a smaller clock that still survives at a Colgate plant in Jeffersonville, Ind."
^Staff."Grant to restore Loew's balcony"Archived March 13, 2014, at theWayback Machine,The Jersey Journal, July 6, 2009. Accessed February 11, 2012. "The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre in Jersey City is taking another step toward returning to its former glory, thanks to a grant from The Provident Bank Foundation.... The historic theater is only one of five 'Wonder Theatres' built by movie baron Marcus Lewis outside New York City."
^Testa, Jim."Historic White Eagle Hall to officially re-open with first concert",The Jersey Journal, May 3, 2017. Accessed January 27, 2018. "The renovated White Eagle Hall in Downtown Jersey City opens on Friday, May 5, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Mayor Steven Fulop, followed by a performance by Jersey City favorite musician sons Rye Coalition.... The historic structure was built by Polish immigrants in 1910 and for much of the 20th century hosted events and programs under the aegis of St. Anthony's Church and High School. For years, the famous St. Anthony's High School basketball team under Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley practiced at White Eagle Hall, and the wooden boards from that gym floor have been repurposed in modernizing the facility."
^Carroll, Brendan."Artists React to Jersey City's Designation as 10th Most Artistic US City"Archived January 18, 2017, at theWayback Machine,Jersey City Independent, December 21, 2011. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Jersey City is the tenth most artistic city in the United States, according to a recent ranking byThe Atlantic magazine.... Richard Florida, the senior editor ofThe Atlantic, used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey to rank cities based on the number of artists who live there compared to the overall population."
^Home Page, Statue Cruises. Accessed August 1, 2013.
^Staff."Unofficial Soviet Art On View in Jersey City",The New York Times, October 27, 1981. Accessed April 1, 2015. "The 25th anniversary of nonconformist art in the Soviet Union is being observed by the Museum of Soviet Unofficial Art in Jersey City with an exhibition of 200 works by 70 artists."
^"WSNR AM 620". RadioStation.Info.Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. RetrievedOctober 27, 2023.
^About,WFMU. Accessed November 14, 2016. "WFMU-FM is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station broadcasting at 91.1 Mhz FM in Jersey City, NJ, right across the Hudson from lower Manhattan. It is currently the longest running freeform radio station in the United States. The station also broadcasts to the Hudson Valley and Lower Catskills in New York, Western New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania via its 90.1 signal at WMFU in Mount Hope, NY."
^City Ward Redistricting, City of Jersey City. Accessed June 26, 2022. "After every Federal Census, the boundaries of legislative districts at all levels, federal, state and local, must be reviewed using new census data - and if need be, redrawn to ensure fair and equal representation.... The Governor approved the census results on September 16, 2021. The Ward Commission convened for the first time on December 15, 2021 and determined that the current distribution of the City's population across its six wards required that the ward boundaries be re-drawn."
^City Council, City of Jersey City. Accessed February 13, 2025. "The City Council in Jersey City consists of nine members: one council member for each of the City's six wards, plus three at-large council members who represent the entire City. Every two years, the members of the City Council vote among themselves to select one member to serve as the City Council President. Council members serve for a term of four years, which coincides with that of the Mayor."
^Baer, Marilyn."Yousef J. Saleh sworn in as Jersey City councilman; Protests raised over a 'rushed' process",The Hudson Reporter, May 1, 2020. Accessed September 23, 2020. "Mayor Steven Fulop swore in Yousef J. Saleh on Friday, May 1 after the Jersey City council appointed him to represent Ward D in a 6–2 vote during a special council meeting on April 30. Council President Joyce Watterman nominated the first-generation American, who was born and raised in the Jersey City's Heights neighborhood, to the position left vacant by the death of Councilman Michael Yun due to COVID-19."
^Biography, Hudson County Clerk. Accessed January 31, 2025.
^Members List: Clerks, Constitutional Officers Association of New Jersey. Accessed January 31, 2025.
^Register Dublin's Bio, Hudson County Register of Deeds and Mortgages. Accessed October 13, 2024.
^About Us, Hudson County Register of Deeds & Mortgages. Accessed January 31, 2025. "The Hudson County Register is elected by the people of Hudson County for a five-year term. The Office of the Register is responsible for the recording of all formal written documents which affect real property throughout the 12 municipalities that make up the County."
^Members List: Registers, Constitutional Officers Association of New Jersey. Accessed January 31, 2025.
^Home, Hudson County Sheriff. Accessed January 31, 2025
^Members List: Sheriffs, Constitutional Officers Association of New Jersey. Accessed January 31, 2025.
^Division of Fire, City of Jersey City. Accessed April 5, 2022. "Presently, the Jersey City Division of Fire consists of 50 civilian employees and over 650 uniformed members, its largest size in a decade, and now the largest of the over 600 municipal departments throughout New Jersey!"
^Steadman, Andrew."Bayonne firefighters participate in mock disaster drills in Newark",The Jersey Journal, May 1, 2012. Accessed August 22, 2018. "According to the press release, the Metro USAR Strike Team is made up of nine fire departments from Bayonne, Elizabeth, Hackensack, Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, Morristown as well as the five-municipality North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Agency."
^Division of Police, City of Jersey City. Accessed April 5, 2022. "The history of the Jersey City Police Department dates back to 1829, and today consists of nearly 975 uniformed officers, 200 crossing guards, and 200+ civilian employees dedicated to the safety of Jersey City's residents and visitors."
^About,New Jersey City University. Accessed April 28, 2023. "Located in Jersey City, NJ, one of the most diverse cities in the nation, and just minutes from New York City, NJCU's College of Arts and Sciences, Education, Professional Studies, and School of Business offer 50 undergraduate degree programs and 30 graduate programs, including emerging and interdisciplinary fields."
^Explore HCCCArchived March 29, 2020, at theWayback Machine,Hudson County Community College. Accessed January 25, 2020. "Our beautiful urban Journal Square campus (our main campus) is conveniently located in the heart of Hudson County, less than 20 minutes from New York City and the Newark Liberty International Airport, and is easily accessible via PATH, train or bus."
^"Jersey City Directions".Rutgers University. Accessed June 28, 2017. "The Rutgers Part-Time MBA satellite location at Harborside in Jersey City brings the Rutgers MBA experience to your doorstep."
^What We Do: History,New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022. "In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in theAbbott v. Burke case that the State must provide 100 percent funding for all school renovation and construction projects in special-needs school districts. According to the Court, aging, unsafe and overcrowded buildings prevented children from receiving the "thorough and efficient" education required under the New Jersey Constitution.... Full funding for approved projects was authorized for the 31 special-needs districts, known as 'Abbott Districts'."
^Goodnough, Abby."Once Upon a Time, When High Schools Were Palaces",The New York Times, October 6, 1996. Accessed December 21, 2011. "NINETY years ago, an enormous Beaux Arts building went up on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. It had Corinthian columns, terrazzo floors and a vestibule lined with English marble. It could have passed for a palace, or at least a palatial estate. But it was neither. It was, in fact, William L. Dickinson High School, the first public secondary school in Jersey City.... When it opened in 1906, Dickinson had a 2,000-seat auditorium used not just for school functions but for political debates, plays and concerts."
^Persaud, Vishal."Announcement St. Mary High School in Jersey City will close in June has some parents, students and staff stunned"Archived November 12, 2011, at theWayback Machine,The Jersey Journal, February 9, 2011. Accessed September 2, 2011. "Parents, students and staff at St. Mary High School in Jersey City remained stunned yesterday by Monday's news that the school is closing at the end of June.... St. Mary will graduate 72 seniors in June, which would have put the school's enrollment at 93 among the remaining classes. Ten years ago, St. Mary had 381 students, Lalicato said. At its peak in the mid-1980s, the school had more than 450 students."
^Mueller, Mark."Which N.J. schools were named National Blue Ribbon schools?", NJ Advance Media forNJ.com, September 29, 2015. Accessed November 14, 2016. "Fifteen New Jersey schools have been recognized by the federal government as National Blue Ribbon Schools, a designation that celebrates excellence in academics or progress in closing the achievement gap among groups of students.... Each of the 15 New Jersey schools was chosen for the 'exemplary high performing' category, which weighs state or national tests, high school graduation rates and the performance of subgroups of students, such as those who are economically disadvantaged."
^Conte, Michaelangelo."Jersey City losing another Catholic elementary school in June: Our Lady of Mercy Academy",The Jersey Journal, April 13, 2013. Accessed November 14, 2016. "Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Jersey City will close at the end of the 2012–2013 school year. The pre-K through eighth grade school on Bartholdi Avenue opened its doors in 1964. The closures of OLM and Resurrection School at the end of the school year will leave Jersey City with just five Catholic grammar schools."
^Scrivner, Michael."St. Anne's School in Jersey City Heights graduates its last class, will close on Thursday",The Jersey Journal, June 12, 2012. Accessed November 14, 2016. "The 112-year-old school at Kennedy Boulevard and Congress Street will close its doors for good on Thursday due to rising debt and declining enrollment, school officials said. At its peak in 1976, the school had more than 700 students. This school year, there were 188 students, down from 240 last year."
^Our HistoryArchived April 26, 2012, at theWayback Machine, First Pentecostal Church of God. Accessed January 3, 2012. "First Christian Pentecostal Academy spans from grades K4 through 8th. It is a ministry that God has used and continues to use to serve children and their families."
^Sussman, Spencer."End of the line: Nearly century-old Jersey City bus company shutting down",The Jersey Journal, July 25, 2023. Accessed December 8, 2023. "The independent Jersey City bus company was founded in 1927 and is known for its distinctive solid red line across the side of the bus.... A&C currently operates four bus routes in Jersey City: the No. 30 from Society Hill to Journal Square, the No. 31 from Danforth Avenue to the Newport Mall, the No. 32 from Journal Square to the Hudson Mall, and the No. 33 from 53rd street in Bayonne to Journal Square."
Core cities are metropolitan core cities of at least a million people. The other areas are urban areas of cities that have an urban area of 150,000+ or of a metropolitan area of at least 250,000+. Satellite cities are in italics.
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