Newark, NJ

Newark ( NEW-ərk, locally [nʊəɹk]) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and part of the New York metropolitan area. The city had a population of 311,549 as of the 2020 United States census, making it the nation’s 62nd-most populous municipality, after being ranked 73rd in the nation in 2010. It is one of the nation’s major air, shipping, and rail hubs.

Settled in 1666 by Puritans from New Haven Colony, Newark is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Its location at the mouth of the Passaic River (where it flows into Newark Bay) has made the city’s waterfront an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Today, Port Newark–Elizabeth is the primary container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the U.S. East Coast. Newark Liberty International Airport was the first municipal commercial airport in the United States, and today is one of its busiest.

Several companies have their headquarters in Newark, including Prudential, PSEG, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Audible.com, IDT Corporation, Manischewitz and AeroFarms.

A number of higher education institutions are also in the city, including the Newark campus of Rutgers University (which includes law and medical schools and the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies); University Hospital (formerly the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey which included the schools of medicine and dentistry now under Rutgers University); the New Jersey Institute of Technology; and Seton Hall University’s law school. The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey is also located in the city.