List of counties in New Jersey.html |
| | | ca | | | de | | | en | | | es | | | fr | | | it | | | nl | | | no | | | pl | | | pt | | | ru | | | ro | | | fi | | | sv | | | tr | | | vo | | |
| |  |
The U.S. state of New Jersey has 21 counties. New Jersey was governed by two separate groups of proprietors as two distinct provinces, East Jersey and West Jersey, for the 28 years between 1674 and 1702. New Jersey's first counties were created as administrative districts within each province, with East Jersey split in 1675 into Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth counties, while West Jersey's initial counties of Burlington and Salem date to 1681. The most recent county created in New Jersey was Union County, created in 1857 and named after the union of the United States at a time when the question of slavery was on the verge of breaking the country apart. New Jersey's county names derive from a number of sources, though the majority of the counties are named after place names in England and prominent leaders in the colonial and revolutionary periods.
The FIPS county code is the five-digit Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which uniquely identifies counties and county equivalents in the United States. The three-digit number is unique to each individual county within a state, but to be unique within the entire United States, it must be prefixed by the state code. This means, for example, that Atlantic County, New Jersey, Addison County, Vermont and Alachua County, Florida all share the county code 001. To uniquely identify Atlantic County, New Jersey, one must use the state code of 34 plus the county code of 001; therefore, the unique nationwide identifier for Atlantic County, New Jersey is 34001. The links in the column FIPS County Code are to the U.S. Census Bureau information page for that county.1
Contents |
List of counties in New Jersey
| County |
FIPS Code 1 | County Seat 2 | Created 2 | Formed from 3 | Named for 4 | Population (2005) 2 | Area 2 | Map |
| Atlantic County | 001 | Mays Landing | 1837 | Gloucester County | The Atlantic Ocean, which forms the county's eastern border | 271,015 | 671 sq mi (1,738 km²) |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bergen County | 003 | Hackensack | 1675 | One of four original counties created in East Jersey | The town of Bergen op Zoom, Holland or Bergen, Norway | 904,037 | 247 sq mi (640 km²) |
 |
| Burlington County | 005 | Mount Holly Township | 1681 | One of two original counties created in West Jersey | The old name for the ancient market town a mile from shore in Bridlington, England | 450,743 | 819 sq mi (2,121 km²) |
 |
| Camden County | 007 | Camden | 1844 | Gloucester County | Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (1714–1794), an English supporter of the colonial cause during the American Revolution5 | 517,001 | 228 sq mi (591 km²) |
 |
| Cape May County | 009 | Cape May Court House | 1685 | Burlington County | The 17th-century Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen Mey (?–16??), who explored and surveyed the Delaware Bay to the south of the county | 99,286 | 365 sq mi (945 km²) |
 |
| Cumberland County | 011 | Bridgeton | 1748 | Salem County | Prince William, Duke of Cumberland (1721–1765), second son of George II of England and military victor at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 | 154,823 | 677 sq mi (1,753 km²) |
 |
| Essex County | 013 | Newark | 1675 | One of four original counties created in East Jersey | The county of Essex in England | 786,147 | 130 sq mi (337 km²) |
 |
| Gloucester County | 015 | Woodbury | 1686 | Burlington County | The city of Gloucester, England | 276,910 | 337 sq mi (873 km²) |
 |
| Hudson County | 017 | Jersey City | 1840 | Bergen County | The English explorer Henry Hudson (1570–1611), who explored portions of New Jersey's coastline | 601,146 | 62 sq mi (161 km²) |
 |
| Hunterdon County | 019 | Flemington | 1714 | Burlington County | Robert Hunter (1664–1734), the Colonial Governor of New Jersey from 1710 to 1720 | 130,404 | 438 sq mi (1,134 km²) |
 |
| Mercer County | 021 | Trenton | 1838 | Burlington County, Hunterdon County, Middlesex County, and Somerset County | The Continental Army General Hugh Mercer (1726–1777), who died at the Battle of Princeton6 | 367,605 | 229 sq mi (593 km²) |
 |
| Middlesex County | 023 | New Brunswick | 1675 | One of four original counties created in East Jersey | The former county of Middlesex in England | 789,516 | 323 sq mi (837 km²) |
 |
| Monmouth County | 025 | Freehold Borough | 1675 | One of four original counties created in East Jersey | The Rhode Island Monmouth Society or the historic county of Monmouthshire in Wales | 635,285 | 665 sq mi (1,722 km²) |
 |
| Morris County | 027 | Morristown | 1739 | Hunterdon County | Colonel Lewis Morris (1671–1746), colonial governor of New Jersey at the time of the county's formation.78 | 493,160 | 481 sq mi (1,246 km²) |
 |
| Ocean County | 029 | Toms River | 1850 | Monmouth County | The Atlantic Ocean, which forms the eastern border of New Jersey | 562,335 | 916 sq mi (2,372 km²) |
 |
| Passaic County | 031 | Paterson | 1837 | Bergen County and Essex County | "Pasaeck", a Lenape word meaning "valley" | 499,060 | 197 sq mi (510 km²) |
 |
| Salem County | 033 | Salem | 1681 | One of two original counties created in West Jersey | A Hebrew word meaning "peace" | 66,595 | 373 sq mi (966 km²) |
 |
| Somerset County | 035 | Somerville | 1688 | Middlesex County | The county of Somerset in England | 319,900 | 305 sq mi (790 km²) |
 |
| Sussex County | 037 | Newton | 1753 | Morris County | The county of Sussex in England | 153,384 | 536 sq mi (1,388 km²) |
 |
| Union County | 039 | Elizabeth | 1857 | Essex County | The union of the United States threatened by dispute between North and South over slavery | 531,088 | 105 sq mi (272 km²) |
 |
| Warren County | 041 | Belvidere | 1824 | Sussex County | The American Revolutionary War General Joseph Warren (1741–1775), killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill | 110,376 | 363 sq mi (940 km²) |
 |
See also
- Metropolitan Statistical Areas of New Jersey — each New Jersey county is included in a Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget
References
- ^ a b "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
- ^ a b c d "NACo - Find a county". National Association of Counties. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ^ "New Jersey Formation Maps". Genealogy, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ^ "The Origin of New Jersey Place Names" (PDF). New Jersey State Library Commission. Federal Writers' Program (1938). Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
- ^ Greenberg, Gail. A Brief History of Camden County, Camden County, New Jersey. Accessed June 26, 2007.
- ^ Mercer County History, State of New Jersey. Accessed June 26, 2007.
- ^ The Land Past and Present, Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
- ^ How did our county get its name?, Morris County Library website (accessed February 13, 2008)
External links
|
|||||