How Wide Is New Jersey? Total Distance from East to West

Let’s talk about New Jersey. Famous for its Jersey City boardwalk, a plethora of astounding horticultural features, and its Atlantic City gambling, the state has a whole lot of history and recreation to offer. New Jersey is one of the earliest states to have joined the United States. On December 18th, 1787, New Jersey became the 3rd state in the Union. That means that New Jersey was one of the original 13 states in the Union, so we know the area must be rich with recorded colonist history! In this article, we’ll go over some of that history and take a look at the state of New Jersey now. Most importantly, we’ll figure out just how wide the state is while exploring the wonders it contains. So, how wide is New Jersey? Read on to find out.

How Wide is New Jersey?

At its widest point, New Jersey is about 70 miles wide (east to west). This is in contrast to the 150 miles of north-to-south distance the state boasts. The overall area of New Jersey is 8,723 square miles. There seems to be some contention about the overall area of the state, with some sources listing it as significantly larger or smaller than this number. We sourced our overall size from the Official Site of the State of New Jersey to avoid quoting misinformation. The site states that 7,354 of these square miles are land and the remaining 1,368 square miles are water.

How does this compare to other states? Well, New Jersey is one of the smallest states by size in the United States, so it doesn’t have many similarly-sized states to compete with. To be exact, New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state of the 50 United States. Here’s a table of the five smallest states by area in the United States. We have included the total east-to-west distance of each state (at their maximum width) to get a good width comparison, as well.

As you can see, none of these states have a very similar width to New Jersey. How does this small state stack up against larger states? Alaska is the largest state in the United States. According to Alaska.org, you could fit New Jersey into it 75 times. Alaska is 31.3 times wider than New Jersey and 8.1 times taller than it. It has 239 times as much inland water and 51 times the amount of coastline (Alaska’s coastline (all 6,640 miles of it) claims more than 50 percent of the total coastline of the United States while the coastline of New Jersey only spans 127 miles.

Where is New Jersey on a Map?

New Jersey exists in both the northeastern and mid-Atlantic portions of the United States. It is close to New England and takes up its own spot on the Atlantic coastline. Its location is a part of the reason it became one of the first in the United States, and its long history under colonial rule has helped to shape it today.

New Jersey doesn’t just share a border with the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, this small but fine state shares a border with Pennsylvania and New York. It also shares Delaware Bay with Delaware and connects the two states via this impressive body of water. The longest shared border is the western one, where the Delaware River defines the shape of the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

A Short History of New Jersey

Its pretty difficult to sum up the long history of this state in just a couple of short paragraphs. Before Europeans found and settled the land, the state has well over 10,000 years of Indigenous history. This history is incredibly important for everyone – many Native tribes knew how to live peacefully with the land and preserved rich traditions and culture surrounding a love, appreciation, and gratitude for the lands that feed and nurture us. New Jersey is the ancestral territory of the Lenape and Delaware people, most of whom were killed or displaced from New Jersey.

European history in the Americas is bound heavily to the slaughter and displacement of tens of thousands of people. The world’s greatest genocide is the systemic theft of life and culture from every Indigenous tribe in the Americas. Many historic tribes who loved and tended the lands of the United States are completely gone now as a result of European settlement. This tradition of displacement and death continues today. Outside of stolen land and broken treaties, we’ve included a short list-form timeline of New Jersey.

• 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano is the first-known European to explore the Jersey coast.
• 1660 – First permanent town in New Jersey is erected.
• 1664 – The British take New Jersey from the Dutch.
• 1776 – New Jersey adopts first state constitution.
• 1787 – New Jersey becomes a state.
• 1790 – New Jersey becomes the first state to sign the Bill of Rights.
• 1824 – First United States Ferry service opens in New Jersey.
• 1883 – Roselle, New Jersey becomes first town in the United States to be lit by electricity.
• 1933 – Camden opens the first drive-in movie theater in the United States.
• 2001 – New Jersey becomes the home to more engineers and scientists per square mile than anywhere else in the world.
• 2006 – New Jersey legalizes gay marriage.
• 2007 – The death penalty is eliminated in New Jersey.

Obvious, this is a short list that is missing a lot of key history. There are a ton of resources for the complete recorded history of the state, including this short guide provided by the state of New Jersey.

Population and Cost of Living

The state of New Jersey is made up of 21 counties and 565 municipalities. The total population of the state is 9,289,021. Of this population, about 71 percent is white, while the next largest populations are Hispanic or Latino and Black or African-American. Compared to many other states, New Jersey has a much more diverse population. For example, Maine is the whitest state in the nation with a population that is 93 percent white. Wisconsin and Minnesota also fall behind New Jersey, with white population percentages being 86.6 percent and 82.6 percent, respectively. However, states like California and Georgia have a much more diverse population. California only has a 35 percent white population, while Georgia sits at 57.8 percent white.

The average income in New Jersey for individuals in $39,814. Keep in mind that average income is not reflective of individual experience. New Jersey is home to some of the world’s richest people, and this changes the average income quite a bit. According to a handy living wage calculator, the average individual needs to make at least $38,910 annually (pre-tax) to live comfortably in the state. This means that the average person in New Jersey has to make at least $18.71 an hour to lead a comfortable life.

Major Cities

According to World Population Review, there are only four cities in New Jersey with a population above 100,000. There are 13 cities with a population over 50,000 and under 100,000 and 30 cities with a population above 20,000 and below 50,000. We’ve created a table of the four largest cities in New Jersey and some helpful information about each of them.

We must clearly state the average income and average cost of living are both based on the averages of several factors and do not reflect the actual experiences of individuals living in New Jersey. Similarly, the United States Census Bureau estimates that less than 10 percent of New Jersey is living in poverty. This is based on a national average. In fact, research done by the Poverty Research Institute reflects much more dismal numbers. The true cost of living in New Jersey is, on average, 2.48 times higher than the federal poverty line. In 2019, approximately three million people were living in poverty in New Jersey – that’s about one third of the entire population of the state.

Wildlife in New Jersey

Let’s talk about wildlife in New Jersey. The small state still boasts a mighty wildlife population, which includes common North American animals such as raccoons, squirrels, white-tailed deer, opossums, and mice. Rabbits, hawks, skunks, and eagles are also native animals in New Jersey. Large mammals in the state include bobcats, coyotes, and black bears.

There are several varieties of fish in New Jersey, including the endangered Atlantic sturgeon. Many other fish also occupy the waterways and marine habitats of the state. In fact, 90 species of freshwater fish inhabit the state, 60 of which are native to the area. This list includes hogchokers, shortnose sturgeon, bowfins, warmouths, white crappies, and the alewife. Some freshwater fish species, such as the Northern snakehead, the green sunfish, and Oriental weatherfish, are invasive to the state. Saltwater fish in New Jersey include Atlantic herring, gizzard shads, oyster toadfish, and white perch.

Several different species of birds also live in New Jersey. The coastal nature of one part of the state plays a role in the number of birds that reside here. Several seabirds, both native and migratory live in New Jersey, and inland birds also make the state their home. Birdwatchers might catch a glimpse of piping plovers, bald eagles, short-eared owls, common yellowthroats, and Kentucky warblers. The Cooper’s Hawk is one of the most rare birds in the state.

What about reptiles and amphibians? Plenty of those, including the endangered timber rattlesnake. This snake is the most venomous snake in New Jersey, and faces threats to its life from human intervention and habitat destruction. Other snakes include milk snakes, northern water snakes, and pine snakes. The Eastern fence lizard makes its home in New Jersey, along with the incredibly rare – and very tiny – bog turtle. This turtle is one of the most rare turtles in all of North America. It has been listed as endangered since 1997.

Fun Facts about New Jersey

New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the entirety of the United States. There are approximately 1,300 people per square mile in New Jersey, making the state feel very compact. Let’s check out some more interesting facts about this brimming state.

• The Atlantic City Boardwalk is the world’s oldest and longest boardwalk.
• Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in New Jersey.
• New Jersey holds the title of “Diner Capital of the world” with over 500 separate diners across the state.
• Despite its small size, the state has five distinct climate regions – Southwest, Coastal, Pine Barrens, Northern, and Central.
• New Jersey is one of the top five richest states in the United States.
• New Jersey has its own volcano – Rutan Hill. This volcano has been dormant for over 300 million years.
• New Jersey is home to the Hindenburg Disaster.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © National Atlas of the United States / Public domain – License / Original