Central Jersey

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This is about a region in the United States. For the island of Jersey, see Jersey.

Metropolitan statistical areas and divisions of New Jersey; counties shaded in blue hues are in the New York City metro; counties shaded in green hues are in the Philadelphia metro. It should be noted that Mercer County and Warren County are located in the 'Greater' New York Metropolitan Area and that Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland Counties are in the 'Greater' Philadelphia Metropolitan Area

Central Jersey is the central region of New Jersey. Because of New Jersey's rapid urbanization, sprawl, and population growth over the past half century, the always fuzzy lines between "North Jersey" and "South Jersey" blurred, as the spheres of influence of the New York metropolitan area and Philadelphia metropolitan area have both rapidly expanded. Within the past few decades, northern New Jersey's formerly rural counties, such as Hunterdon and Middlesex, have quickly become urbanized. Similarly, southern counties around Philadelphia, Camden, Atlantic City, and Vineland, which were formerly farmland and shoreland, grew with Philadelphia.

Due to some counties' now being present in both the New York and the Philadelphia metropolitan areas, the need arose for the term "Central Jersey". These counties are all about equidistant between the two cities, and are seen as the area of the state that connects the two distinct metropolitan area, though lines are always becoming more blurry as both areas continue to grow and New Jersey's population (as well as the population of New York City and Philadelphia) tend to relocate and migrate to different parts of the state.

The counties of Central Jersey are typically now included as part of North Jersey, and often are not considered to be part of South Jersey, as they have come to more closely resemble New York culturally than Philadelphia. This is likely because the New York metro area is the largest in the country, far larger than the Philadelphia area (Philadelphia is the 4th largest metro in the country), so its influence on New Jersey has been larger than that of Philadelphia. Many Northern New Jerseyans, as well as New York City residents, also have migrated within the past three decades to the Central Jersey counties, ironically to escape urbanization, which has also caused these newly urban counties to generally be more often grouped as Northern Jersey. This leads many North and South Jersey residents to claim that Central Jersey simply does not exist. However, Central Jersey residents will disagree.

[edit] Central Jersey Counties

While the boundaries of Central Jersey are not defined in any formal way, the following counties are often considered to be part of the area:

[edit] Famous Central Jerseyans

	State of New Jersey Trenton (capital)
Regions	Central Jersey \| Delaware Valley \| Jersey Shore \| Meadowlands \| North Jersey \| Pine Barrens \| Shore Region \| Skylands Region \| South Jersey \| New York metro area \| Tri‑State Region
Cities	Atlantic City \| Bayonne \| Camden \| Cherry Hill \| Clifton \| East Orange \| Edison \| Elizabeth \| Hackensack \| Hoboken \| Jersey City \| Linden \| Long Branch \| New Brunswick \| Newark \| Passaic \| Paterson \| Perth Amboy \| Plainfield \| Princeton \| Toms River \| Trenton \| Union City \| Vineland
Counties	Atlantic \| Bergen \| Burlington \| Camden \| Cape May \| Cumberland \| Essex \| Gloucester \| Hudson \| Hunterdon \| Mercer \| Middlesex \| Monmouth \| Morris \| Ocean \| Passaic \| Salem \| Somerset \| Sussex \| Union \| Warren