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State Facts

History | Symbols | Interesting Facts | Famous People

Demographics
Statehood:  December 18, 1787, the 3rd state

Capital:  Trenton

Total Area:  46th among states, 21,277 sq km (8,215 sq mi)

Water Area:  2,062 sq km (796 sq mi)

Highest Point:  High Point, 550 m (1,803 ft)

Total Population:   10th among states
2000 census -  8,685,166
2005 estimate -  8,717,925

Population Density in 1998:  408 people per sq km (1,057 per sq mi)

Distribution in 1990:  89% Urban, 11% Rural

Economy:  
 Gross State Product - $416 billion (2004)
Personal income per Capita - $41,636 (2004)

Largest cities in 2000: 
 Newark:  273,246
Jersey City:  239,079
Paterson:  154,463

  • New Jersey firsts include the first professional basketball games in 1896 and the first college football game in 1869.
     

  • The first drive-in movie theater opened in 1933 outside of Camden.
     

  • The first dinosaur skeleton discovered in North America was found in Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1858.
     

  • About one-sixth of all drugs manufactured in the United States come from New Jersey.
     

  • No other state has as dense a system of highways and railroads as New Jersey.
     

  • New Jersey is the nation's most densely populated state.

  • Modern paleontology, the science of studying dinosaur fossils, began in 1858 with the discovery of the first nearly-complete skeleton of a dinosaur in Haddonfield, New Jersey. The Hadrosaurus is the official New Jersey state dinosaur.

  • The state seashell is the knobbed whelk, (Busycon carica gmelin) because it is found on all beaches and bays of New Jersey.

  • The light bulb, phonograph (record player), motion picture projector were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park laboratory.

  • New Jersey is a leading industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation.

  • New Jersey has over 50 resort cities and towns, some of the nations most famous, Asbury park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside heights, Cape May.

  • New Jersey is home to the Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City.