Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City is the second-most populous<ref name=Largest2020>Table1. New Jersey Counties and Most Populous Cities and Townships: 2020 and 2010 Censuses, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Accessed December 1, 2022.</ref> city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.<ref name=Census2010XLS>The Counties and Most Populous Cities and Townships in 2010 in New Jersey: 2000 and 2010 Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau. Accessed November 7, 2011.</ref> It is the county seat of Hudson County,<ref name=CountyMap>New Jersey County Map, New Jersey Department of State. Accessed December 29, 2022.</ref> the county's most populous city<ref name=LWD2020/> and its largest by area.<ref name=CensusArea/> As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 292,449,<ref name=Census2020/><ref name=LWD2020/> an increase of 44,852 (+18.1%) from the 2010 census count of 247,597.<ref name=Census2010/><ref name=LWD2010/> (The Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 302,284 for 2024.<ref name=ANNRNK>Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 20,000 or More, Ranked by July 1, 2024 Population: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024, United States Census Bureau, released May 2025. Accessed May 15, 2025.</ref>) With more than 40 languages spoken in more than 52% of homes and as of 2020, 42.5% of residents born outside the United States, it is the most ethnically diverse city in the United States.<ref name="Most Diverse"/>

The third most-populous city in the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City is bounded on the east by the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay and on the west by the Hackensack River and Newark Bay. A port of entry, with Template:Convert of waterfront and extensive rail infrastructure and connectivity,<ref>Greenfield, Douglas J.; and Hsu, Naomi.Sandy Recovery Strategic Planning Report; A Strategic Plan for Resilience Template:Webarchive, City of Jersey City, August 2014. Accessed November 14, 2016. "Jersey City was inundated by Hurricane Sandy all along its 30.7 miles of waterfront of rivers and bays. Flood waters came in from the Hackensack River and Newark Bay to the west and from the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay to the east."</ref> the city is an important transportation terminus and distribution and manufacturing center for the Port of New York and New Jersey with Port Jersey as the city's intermodal freight transport facility and container shipping terminal. The Holland Tunnel, PATH rapid transit system, NJ Transit bus and NY Waterway ferry service connect across the Hudson River with Manhattan.<ref>Kaysen, Ronda. "Moving to Jersey City? Join the Club",The New York Times, February 12, 2016. Accessed January 16, 2024. "That conversation usually begins with how quickly one can get from Jersey City to Manhattan by train. From the Grove Street PATH station downtown, it takes fewer than 10 minutes to get to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and 20 minutes to get to West 33rd Street."</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The area was settled by the Dutch in the 17th century as Pavonia and later established as Bergen; the first permanent settlement, local civil government and oldest municipality in what became the state of New Jersey. The area came under English control in 1664. Jersey City was incorporated in 1838 and annexed Van Vorst Township in 1851. On May 3, 1870, following a special election in 1869 with a majority of county support, Jersey City annexed Bergen City and Hudson City to form "Greater Jersey City" with Greenville Township joining in 1873.<ref>Staff. "Consolidation in New Jersey; A Proposition to Consolidate Jersey City, Hoboken, Hudson City, Bergen, &c., into One City", The New York Times, August 14, 1869. Accessed February 5, 2025.</ref> Jersey City grew into a busy port city on New York Harbor by the late 19th and early 20th century. Jersey City's official motto, displayed on the city seal and flag, is "Let Jersey Prosper" referencing its 19th century border dispute with New York City.

Jersey City is home to several institutions of higher education such as New Jersey City University, Saint Peter's University and Hudson County Community College. As the county seat, Jersey City is home to the Hudson County Courthouse and Frank J. Guarini Justice Complex. Cultural venues throughout the city include the Loew's Jersey Theatre, White Eagle Hall, the Liberty Science Center, Ellis Island, Mana Contemporary and the Museum of Jersey City History. Large parks in Jersey City are Liberty State Park, Lincoln Park and Berry Lane Park. Redevelopment of the Jersey City waterfront has made the city one of the largest hubs for banking and finance in the United States and has led to the district and city being nicknamed Wall Street West.<ref>A Vision for Smart Transit in Jersey City Template:Webarchive, United States Department of Transportation, February 4, 2016. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Development along the Hudson River waterfront led to the development of the 'Wall Street West' financial district, one of the largest centers of banking and finance in the nation."</ref> Since the 1990s, Jersey City has been a destination for artists and hipsters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With the city's proximity and connections to Manhattan, its growing arts, culture, culinary and nightlife scene and its own finance and tech based economy, apartment rents in the city have grown to become some of the highest in the United States.<ref name=JerseyCityExpensiveRents1>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In response, Jersey City has instituted zoning and legislation to require developers to include affordable housing units in their developments.<ref name=Affordable>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023 and 2025, Travel + Leisure ranked Jersey City as the best place to live in New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Lenape and New Netherland

The land that is now Jersey City was part of Lenapehoking and inhabited by the Lenape, a collection of Native American tribes (later called the Delaware Indian) that were part of the Algonquian nation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1609, Henry Hudson, seeking an alternate route to East Asia on behalf of the Dutch East India Company, anchored his small vessel Halve Maen (English: Half Moon) at Sandy Hook, Harsimus Cove and Weehawken Cove, and elsewhere along what was later named the North River. After spending nine days surveying the area and meeting its inhabitants, he sailed as far north as Albany and later claimed the region for the Netherlands. The contemporary flag of the city is a variation on the Prince's Flag from the Netherlands. The stripes are blue, white and yellow, with the center of the flag showing the city seal, depicting Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, and other modern vessels.<ref>Jersey City, New Jersey (U.S.), CRW Flags. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The three stripes of blue, white, and yellow are supposed to commemorate the colors of the Dutch, as Jersey City was located in the province of New Netherlands. However, the color yellow would more appropriately be orange, as blue, white, and orange were the colors in the Dutch national flag and its trading companies in the early 1600s. The sailing ship is the Half Moon, in which the explorer Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609."</ref>

By 1621, the Dutch West India Company was organized to manage this new territory and in June 1623, New Netherland became a Dutch province, with headquarters in New Amsterdam. Michael Reyniersz Pauw received a land grant as patroon on the condition that he would establish a settlement of not fewer than fifty persons within four years. He chose the west bank of the Hudson River and purchased the land from the Lenape for 80 fathoms (146 m) of wampum, 20 fathoms (37 m) of cloth, 12 kettles, six guns, two blankets, one double kettle, and half a barrel of beer. This grant is dated November 22, 1630, and is the earliest known conveyance for what are now Hoboken and Jersey City. Pauw, however, was an absentee landlord who neglected to populate the area and was obliged to sell his holdings back to the Company in 1633.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That year, a house was built at Communipaw for Jan Evertsen Bout, superintendent of the colony, which had been named Pavonia (the Latinized form of Pauw's name means "peacock" and Pavonia means "land of the peacock").<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Usurped, New Netherland Institute. Accessed May 10, 2006.</ref> Shortly after, another house was built at Harsimus Cove in 1634 and became the home of Cornelius Henrick Van Vorst, who had succeeded Bout as superintendent, and whose family would become influential in the development of the city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

By the 1640s, relations with the Lenape deteriorated, in part because Director-General Willem Kieft attempted to drive out the Lenape through intimidation and taxation. During Kieft's War, approximately 120 Lenape were killed by the Dutch, including women and children, in a massacre ordered by Kieft at Pavonia on the night of February 25, 1643. The attack was ordered without the approval of his advisory council, against the wishes of the colonists and led to a series of raids and reprisals by the Lenape and the virtual destruction of the settlement on the west bank.<ref>Ellis, Edward Robb. The Epic of New York City, p. 38. Old Town Books, 1966. Template:ISBN.</ref> On May 11, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to replace Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland. On September 15, 1655, Pavonia was attacked as part of a Munsee occupation of New Amsterdam called the Peach War that saw 40 colonists killed and over 100, mostly women and children, taken captive and held at Paulus Hook. They were later ransomed to New Amsterdam.

On January 10, 1658, Stuyvesant "re-purchased" the scattered communities of farmsteads that characterized the Dutch settlements of Pavonia: Communipaw, Harsimus, Paulus Hook, Hoebuck, Awiehaken, Pamrapo, and other lands "behind Kill van Kull". The village of Bergen (located inside a palisaded garrison) was established by the settlers who wished to return to the west bank of the Hudson on what is now Bergen Square in 1660, the first town square in North America, and officially chartered by Stuyvesant on September 5, 1661, as the state's first local civil government. The village was designed by Jacques Cortelyou, the first surveyor of New Amsterdam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The word berg taken from the Dutch means "hill", while bergen means "place of safety."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The charter partially removed Bergen from the jurisdiction of New Amsterdam and put the surrounding settlements under its authority. As a result, it is regarded as the first permanent settlement and oldest municipality in what would become the state of New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Jersey City's Oldest House, Jersey City History. Accessed September 11, 2007.</ref> It is also the home of Public School No. 11, the nation's longest-continuous school site and the site of the first free public school building in New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Furthermore, Old Bergen Church is the oldest continuous congregation in New Jersey. In addition, the oldest surviving houses in Jersey City are of Dutch origin including the Newkirk House (1690),<ref name=NJCU>Karnoutsos, Carmela. Summit House / Newkirk House Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Past and Present, New Jersey City University. Accessed November 13, 2019. "At a high point with a view of the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, the Summit House, previously owned by the Newkirk family, is considered one of Jersey City's oldest buildings. It stands on the east side of Summit Avenue north of Sip Avenue outside of the original boundaries of the historic village of Bergen which was once populated by Dutch settlers.... The date of purchase is not known, but the date for construction of the building is about 1690, and it is known that Newkirk died in 1705."</ref> the Van Vorst Farmhouse (1740),<ref>Karnoutsos, Carmela. Van Vorst House 531 Palisade Avenue Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Past and Present, New Jersey City University. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref><ref>Jersey City Heights/Van Vorst House, Forgotten New York, February 28, 2008. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref><ref>Olszewski, Anthony. From Before the Revolutionary War! Jersey City's Oldest House, Jersey City History, 2002. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref> and the Van Wagenen House (1740).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1661, Communipaw Ferry began operation as the first ferry service between the village of Communipaw (Jersey City) and New Amsterdam (Manhattan) shortly after the village of Bergen was established.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Province of New Jersey

On August 27, 1664, four English frigates sailed into New York Harbor and captured Fort Amsterdam, and by extension, all of New Netherland, a prelude to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, and renamed it New York. Under the Articles of Capitulation, the Dutch residents of Bergen were allowed to continue their way of life and worship. Later in 1664, the Duke of York (later James II), granted his new land between the Hudson River and Delaware River to Sir George Carteret in recognition of his loyalty to the Crown through the English Civil War. Carteret named the land New Jersey after his homeland, the Channel Island of Jersey. The Concession and Agreement was issued soon after providing religious freedom and recognition of private property in the colony.<ref name=autogenerated7>Template:Cite web</ref> In exchange, residents were required to pledge loyalty to their new government and pay annual fees known as quit-rents.<ref>The New York Times; October 7, 1910. The history of Bergen Village</ref>

Following the Treaty of Westminster, New Jersey split into East Jersey and West Jersey. From 1674 to 1702, Bergen was part of East Jersey and became a town in Bergen County on March 7, 1683, one of the four newly independent counties in East Jersey. In 1702, New Jersey was reunified and became a royal colony. In 1710, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain, Bergen County was enlarged to include land that had been a part of Essex County. As a result, the village of Hackensack (in the newly formed New Barbados Township) was considered more accessible by the majority of the county's new inhabitants and became the new county seat. Bergen was later re-established by royal charter on January 4, 1714.<ref name="Story"/>

18th century

By the 1760s, Paulus Hook was known for its convenient stagecoach and ferry services. In 1764, Cornelius Van Vorst (1728–1818) established the Paulus Hook Ferry (later called "Jersey City Ferry")<ref>History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Charles Hardenburg Winfield, pg. 243-246, Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Company, 1874</ref> and operated the service from Paulus Hook to Cortlandt Street.<ref>Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand, by, Raymond J. Baxter, Arthur G. Adams, pg. 64 ,1999, Fordham University Press, 978-0823219544</ref> To further attract patrons to his ferry landing, Van Vorst created a mile-long circular horse racing track that attracted tourists from both sides of the Hudson and built the Van Vorst Tavern near Grand and Hudson Streets as a one-story building with a Dutch roof and eaves and an overhanging porch that faced the river. To further ensure the profitability of his business ventures on the small island of Paulus Hook, he created an embankment road above the tidal marshes to the mainland. Ahead of the Revolutionary War, Van Vorst declared himself a patriot and in 1774 was appointed to one of the committees of correspondence, representing Bergen County and attended a meeting in New Brunswick to elect delegates to the Second Continental Congress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

American Revolution

Battle of Paulus Hook Monument

Template:Further In 1776, even before the war, General George Washington ordered American patriots to construct several forts to defend the western banks of the Hudson River, one of which was located at Paulus Hook. The fort was a naturally defensible position that guarded New York from British attack, guarded the Hudson River channel and the gateway to New Jersey. After suffering defeats in New York City, on September 23, 1776, the American patriots abandoned Paulus Hook, leaving the fort to become the first New Jersey territory invaded and occupied by the British.

In mid-summer 1779, a 23-year-old Princeton University graduate, Major Henry Lee, recommended to General Washington a daring plan for the Continental Army to attack the fort, in what became known as the Battle of Paulus Hook. The assault was planned to begin shortly after midnight on August 19, 1779. Lee led a force of about 300 men, some of whom got lost during the march through the swampy, marshy land. The attack was late to start but the main contingent of the force was able to reach the fort's gate without being challenged. It is believed that the British mistook the approaching force for allied Hessians returning from patrol, though this has not been definitively documented.

The attacking Patriots succeeded in damaging the fort and took 158 British prisoners, but were unable to destroy the fort and spike its cannons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As daytime approached, Lee decided the prudent action was to have his Patriots withdraw before British forces from New York could cross the river. Paulus Hook remained in British hands until after the war but the battle was a small strategic victory for the forces of independence as it forced the British to abandon their plans for taking additional rebel positions in the New York area.

Later that August, General Washington met with the Marquis de Lafayette in the village of Bergen to discuss war strategy over lunch and to bait the British into attacking Bergen from New York. The meeting purportedly took place under an apple tree at the Van Wagenen House on Academy Street. Additionally, a nearby "point of rocks" at the east end of the street provided an ideal vantage point for military surveillance of the Hudson River.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

One day in September 1780, a local Bergen farmer, Jane Tuers, was selling her goods in British-occupied Manhattan when she stopped in Fraunces Tavern and spoke with the owner, Samuel Fraunces. He informed Tuers that British soldiers were in his tavern toasting General Benedict Arnold, who was to deliver West Point to the British. Tuers returned to Bergen later that day and informed her brother Daniel Van Reypen about the conspiracy. Van Reypen, a staunch patriot, rode to Hackensack to meet with General Anthony Wayne who then sent Van Reypen to inform General Washington of the conspiracy. The information provided by Tuers confirmed what Washington had suspected of Arnold and led to the arrest, trial, conviction and hanging of co-conspirator John André for treason and stopped the plot to surrender West Point. Arnold would later defect to the British to escape prosecution.<ref name="Tuers">Template:Cite web</ref>

On November 22, 1783, the British evacuated Paulus Hook and sailed home three days before they left New York on Evacuation Day.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These events have been commemorated throughout the city. In the mid-1800s, Bergen named Lafayette Park in honor of Marquis de Lafayette, whose name is now synonymous with Communipaw. In 1903, an obelisk was erected at Paulus Hook Park at the intersection of Washington and Grand Streets, the site of the fort, to memorialize the Battle of Paulus Hook. In 1925, a plaque honoring Jane Tuer's heroism was installed at the site of her former home now Hudson Catholic Regional High School. In 2021, the restored Van Wagenen House was re-opened as the Museum of Jersey City History.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Tuers"/>

On February 21, 1798, Bergen became a township by the New Jersey Legislature's Township Act of 1798 as the first group of 104 townships in New Jersey.<ref name="Story"/>

19th century

Urbanization

In 1804, Alexander Hamilton, now a private citizen, was focused on increasing manufacturing in the greater New York City area. To that end, he helped to create the "Associates of the Jersey Company" which would lay the groundwork for modern Jersey City through private development. While envisioning the future of Jersey City, Hamilton said: "One day, a great city shall rise on the western banks of the Hudson River."<ref name="Great City">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The consortium of 35 investors behind the company were predominantly Federalists who, like Hamilton, had been swept out of power in the election of 1800 by Thomas Jefferson and other Democratic-Republicans. Large tracts of land in Paulus Hook were purchased by the company with the titles owned by Anthony Dey, who was from a prominent old Dutch family, and his two cousins, Colonel Richard Varick, the former mayor of New York City (1789–1801), and Jacob Radcliff, a Justice of the New York Supreme Court who would later become mayor of New York City from 1810 to 1811 and again from 1815 to 1818. They laid out the city squares and streets that still characterize the neighborhood, giving them names also seen in Lower Manhattan or after war heroes (Grove, Varick, Mercer, Wayne, Monmouth and Montgomery among them).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> John B. Coles, a former New York State senator (1799–1802), purchased the area north of Paulus Hook known as Harsimus and laid out a grid plan centered around a park. Following Hamilton's death, Coles proposed naming the park in his honor as "Hamilton Park."<ref name="Hamilton Park">Template:Cite web</ref>

Despite Hamilton's untimely death in July 1804, the Association carried on with the New Jersey Legislature approving Hamilton's charter of incorporation on November 10, 1804. However, the enterprise was mired in a legal boundary dispute between New York City and the state of New Jersey over who owned the waterfront. This along with the associated press coverage discouraged investors who wanted lots on the waterfront for commercial purposes. The unresolved dispute would continue until the Treaty of 1834 where New York City formally ceded control of the Jersey City waterfront to New Jersey. Over that time though, the Jersey Company opened the city's first medical facility, known as the "pest house", in 1808<ref name="Medical Center">Template:Cite web</ref> and applied to the New Jersey Legislature to incorporate the "Town of Jersey" in 1819. The legislature enacted "An Act to incorporate the City of Jersey, in the County of Bergen" on January 28, 1820. Under the provision, five freeholders (including Varick, Dey, and Radcliff) were to be chosen as "the Board of Selectmen of Jersey City", thereby establishing the first governing body of the emerging municipality. The city was reincorporated on January 23, 1829, and again on February 22, 1838, at which time it became completely independent of Bergen and was given its present name. On February 22, 1840, Jersey City became part of the newly created Hudson County which separated from Bergen County and annexed the former Essex County land of New Barbadoes Neck.<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. pp. 146–147. Accessed May 29, 2024.</ref>

1847 map of Paulus Hook and the Jersey City Ferry's route. Note the historic name of Pavonia.

In 1812, Robert Fulton began steam ferry service via The Jersey between Paulus Hook and Manhattan, eight years after building a shipyard at Greene and Morgan Streets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1834, the New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company opened the city's first rail line from Jersey City Ferry to Newark. From 1834 to 1836, the Morris Canal was extended from Newark to Jersey City and New York Harbor linking the Delaware River with the Hudson River. This extension connected Jersey City to Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley and New Jersey's interior providing a steady and easy supply of coal and anthracite pig iron for the growing iron industry and other developing industries adopting steam power in Jersey City and the region. The city's location on the Hudson River also allowed it to benefit from the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825.

In 1839, Provident Savings Institution was charted by the state as the first mutual savings bank in New Jersey and the first bank in Jersey City and Hudson County. Co-founded by the city's first mayor, Dudley S. Gregory (1838–1840), in the wake of the Panic of 1837, there was a general mistrust of banks by the public. In response, the bank's charter established it as a "mutual savings bank" to assist the city's immigrant poor. In 1891, the bank headquarters became the temporary home of the first branch of the Jersey City Free Public Library until the Main Library branch opened in 1901.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On April 12, 1841, the New Jersey Legislature incorporated Van Vorst Township from portions of Bergen. Land was donated by the Van Vorst family for a town square style park that became Van Vorst Park. The township was later annexed by Jersey City on March 18, 1851.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 1854 to 1874, the kitchen step of the Van Vorst Mansion, home of former mayor Cornelius Van Vorst (1860–1862), was known to be the slab of marble that was originally the base of the statue of King George III that was toppled by the Sons of Liberty at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan in 1776.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Van Vorst also constructed the neighboring Barrow Mansion where his sister Eliza lived.

By mid century, Jersey City's rapidly urbanizing population began to encounter significant challenges gaining access to freshwater. In 1850, Jersey City Water Works engineer William S. Whitwell, proposed a three-reservoir complex in the Jersey City Heights (then part of North Bergen) connected to a pumping station near the Passaic River in Belleville by a massive underground aqueduct to deliver freshwater to the city. Reservoir No. 1 was built between 1851 and 1854 and Reservoir No. 3 was built between 1871 and 1874 under the direction of engineer John Culver. Reservoir No. 2 was never constructed and later became Pershing Field.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On May 2, 1867, The Evening Journal, was first published. The newspaper was founded by U.S. Army Civil War veterans William Dunning and Z. K. Pangborn at Exchange Place where it would grow and expand into additional buildings. Pangborn went on to serve as the chairman of the 1870 City Charter Commission and was active in city politics. In 1909, editor Joseph A. Dear renamed the paper The Jersey Journal and in 1911 the paper moved to the neighborhood that would later take its name, Journal Square.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1868, the Jersey City Board of Alderman took over the pest house and renamed it "Jersey City Charity Hospital" and operated it as a public medical facility, the first in the city and state, where physicians provided free medical care to city residents. In 1885, the hospital expanded to a new 200-bed facility on Bergen Hill to remove the hospital from the increasing industrial development at Paulus Hook.<ref name="Medical Center"/>

The Underground Railroad

Panorama of Jersey City in 1854

During the 19th century and into the Civil War, former slaves reached Jersey City on one of the four main routes of the Underground Railroad through New Jersey that all converged in the city. On Bergen Hill, the Hilton-Holden House, named after noted abolitionist, astronomer and U.S. Army colonel David Le Cain Holden, was the last "station" for fugitive slaves to stop over and seek refuge before New York and is the last remaining in the city.<ref>Zinsli, Christopher. "Jersey City's Underground Railroad history: Thousands of former slaves sought freedom by passing through Jersey City" Template:Webarchive, The Hudson Reporter, March 23, 2007. Accessed April 1, 2015. "New Jersey alone had as many as four main routes, all of which converged in Jersey City.... As the last stop in New Jersey before fugitive slaves reached New York, Jersey City played an integral role – by some estimates, more than 60,000 escaped slaves traveled through Jersey City."</ref> They would then be hidden in wagons en route to the Jersey City waterfront and Morris Canal Basin where abolitionists would hire ferry and coal boats to transport former slaves up to Canada or New England to freedom. Its estimated that more than 60,000 former slaves traveled through Jersey City including some that decided to stay and make the city their home.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1831, brothers Thomas and John Vreeland Jackson, who were former slaves freed by the Vreeland family, bought land in what is now Greenville. In 1857, they laid out Jackson Lane (now Winfield Avenue) between their houses, where during the Civil War, their property became an important station on the Underground Railroad. The city's Jackson Hill neighborhood and Jackson Square are named in their honor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Consolidation of Jersey City

1860 map of Jersey City, Bergen City with Communipaw/Lafayette, and Greenville before consolidation (with each other and Hudson City)

Soon after the Civil War, the idea arose of uniting all of the towns of Hudson County east of the Hackensack River into one municipality. In 1868, a bill for submitting the question of consolidation of all of Hudson County to the voters was presented to the Board of Chosen Freeholders (now known as the Board of County Commissioners). The bill was approved by the state legislature on April 2, 1869, with a special election to be held on October 5, 1869. An element of the bill provided that only contiguous towns could be consolidated. While a majority of the voters across the county approved the merger, the only municipalities that had approved the consolidation plan and that adjoined Jersey City were Hudson City and Bergen City.<ref name="Merger">Winfield, Charles Hardenburg. "History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time", p. 289. Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Co., 1874. Accessed December 21, 2011.</ref> The consolidation began on March 17, 1870, taking effect on May 3, 1870.<ref>Staff. "The New Government of Jersey City – The Subordinate Offices", The New York Times, April 25, 1870. Accessed December 21, 2011. "The new City Government of Jersey City goes into operation on the first Tuesday in May."</ref> Three years later on February 4, 1873, the present outline of Jersey City was completed when Greenville Township agreed to merge into the Greater Jersey City.<ref name="Story" /><ref>Municipal Incorporations of the State of New Jersey (according to Counties) prepared by the Division of Local Government, Department of the Treasury (New Jersey); December 1, 1958, p. 78 – Extinct List.</ref>

Following consolidation, the city's first university, Saint Peter's College, was charted in 1872 and classes began on September 2, 1878, in Paulus Hook. Decades later, it would adopt the peacock as its mascot in partial reference to the original settling of the Jersey City area as "Pavonia", land of the peacock.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland just off the city's shores at Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor. In the coming decades, the statue would welcome millions of immigrants as they arrived by ship at Ellis Island, which opened in 1892.

By the late 1880s, three passenger railroad terminals opened in Jersey City along the Hudson River (Pavonia Terminal,<ref>"A Handsome Building: The Erie Railway's New Station at Jersey City.", The New York Times, December 4, 1887. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref> Exchange Place and Communipaw) making Jersey City a terminus for the nation's rail network.<ref name="CRRNJ">Liberty State Park: CRRNJ, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Great City"/> Tens of millions, roughly two-thirds, of immigrants that were processed at Ellis Island entered the United States through Communipaw Terminal to then settle in Jersey City and its neighboring municipalities or make their way westward.<ref name="CRRNJ" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The railroads transformed the city's geography by building several tunnels and cuts, such as the Bergen Arches, through the city and filling in the coves at Harsimus and Communipaw for the construction of several large freight rail yards along the waterfront.<ref>"Finish Erie Tunnel in Jersey Heights", The New York Times, June 13, 1910. Accessed July 18, 2017.</ref><ref name="jclandmarks">The Bergen Arches of the Erie Railroad Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy. Accessed April 1, 2015.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jersey City became an important port, railroad and manufacturing city during the 19th and 20th centuries. Much like New York City, Jersey City has always been a destination for new immigrants to the United States. German, Russian, Polish, Scottish, Irish and Italian immigrants settled in local tenements and found work at the local docks, railroads and adjacent companies such as American Can, American Sugar, A&P, Colgate, Clorox Co., Lorillard Tobacoo and Dixon Ticonderoga.<ref name="Remaking"/> During this time, concern grew for the social issues of the city's immigrant poor. Cornelia Foster Bradford founded Whittier House in Paulus Hook in 1894 as the first "settlement house" in New Jersey. Whittier House led to several social reforms and city "firsts" such as free kindergarten, a dental clinic, a visiting nurse service, a milk and medical dispensary, diet kitchen for mothers and babies and a playground. Mary Buell Sayles, a settlement resident, wrote The Housing Conditions of Jersey City in 1902 about the lives of immigrants in and around Paulus Hook. In response, mayor Mark M. Fagan (1902–1907, 1913–1917) created the Municipal Sanitary League and opened the city's first public bath house on Coles Street in 1904. That same year, Jersey City native, governor Franklin Murphy (1902–1905), created the first "State Tenement House Commission" and the New Jersey Legislature passed the "Tenement House Act" to mandate statewide housing reform.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

20th century

View of Exchange Place from the Hudson, 1920s

By the turn of the 20th century, the City Beautiful movement had spread throughout cities in the United States. Part of its mission was to preserve public space for recreational activities in urban industrial communities. The Hudson County Parks Commission was created in 1892 to plan and develop a county wide park and boulevard system similar to those found in other cities. From 1892 to 1897, Hudson Boulevard (now John F. Kennedy Boulevard) was built to connect the future park system from Bayonne to North Bergen through Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1905, Lincoln Park opened on the city's West Side as the largest park in Jersey City and the first and largest park in the county system. Designed by Daniel W. Langton and Charles N. Lowrie, the Template:Convert park was mostly built on undeveloped wetlands and woodlands known as "Glendale Woods", stretching from the Boulevard to the Hackensack River.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Jersey City government was also inspired by the City Beautiful movement to build more open space creating Dr. Leonard J. Gordon Park in the Heights along Hudson Boulevard, Mary Benson Park in Downtown and Bayside Park in Greenville.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The movement also inspired the construction of grand civic buildings in the city such as City Hall and the Hudson County Courthouse.<ref name="Great City"/>

In 1908, the city's water supply was the first permanent chlorinated disinfection system for drinking water in the United States. Devised by John L. Leal and designed by George W. Fuller, the system was installed at the city's new Boonton Reservoir, which replaced the Passaic River as the city's freshwater source in 1904.<ref>Leal, John L. (1909). "The Sterilization Plant of the Jersey City Water Supply Company at Boonton, N.J." Proceedings American Water Works Association. pp. 100–9.</ref> The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad (now the PATH system) opened between 1908 and 1913 as New Jersey's first underground rapid transit system. For the first time, Jersey City and the rail terminals at Hoboken, Pavonia and Exchange Place were directly linked with Midtown and Lower Manhattan under the Hudson River, providing an alternative to transferring to the extensive ferry system.

In 1910, William L. Dickinson High School opened as the first purpose-built high school in Jersey City. The design of the school, built during the City Beautiful movement, is thought to have been inspired by that of the Louvre Colonnade and Buckingham Palace. The prominent hilltop location of the school has been an important location throughout the city's history. During the Revolutionary War, it was used as a lookout by General Washington and Marquis de Lafayette to observe British movements at the forts at Paulus Hook and in Lower Manhattan. After the start of the War of 1812, the site assisted in defending New York Harbor with an arsenal built on the property's west side and with the east side serving as a troop campground. During the Civil War, the arsenal served as barracks for Union soldiers and a hospital. The school was used as an army training facility during World War I and World War II.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On July 30, 1916, the Black Tom explosion occurred killing 7 people, damaging the Statue of Liberty and causing millions of dollars in damage in Jersey City and throughout the New York metropolitan area. The blast was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Maryland. The explosion was an act of sabotage on American munitions by German spies of the Office of Naval Intelligence to prevent the ammunition from being shipped to the Allies for use during World War I. This event, coupled with the torpedoing of the RMS Lusitania, which killed 136 Americans in 1915, pushed the United States into entering the War in 1917.<ref>"A Byte Out of FBI History; 1916 'Black Tom' Bombing Propels Bureau Into National Security Arena", Federal Bureau of Investigation, July 30, 2004. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref><ref name="Great City"/>

Mayor "Boss" Hague

Water bond of the City of Jersey City, issued 1 September 1922, signed by Mayor Frank Hague

From 1917 to 1947, Jersey City was governed by mayor Frank Hague. Originally elected as a candidate supporting reform in governance, his name is "synonymous with the early twentieth century urban American blend of political favoritism and social welfare known as bossism".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hague ran the city with an iron fist while, at the same time, molding governors, United States senators, and judges to his whims while also being a close political ally to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Boss Hague was known to be loud and vulgar, but dressed in a stylish manner, earning him the nickname "King Hanky-Panky".<ref>Alexander, Jack. "Boss Hague:King Hanky-Panky of Jersey", copy of article from The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1940, available at the City of Jersey City website. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref> In his later years in office, Hague would often dismiss his enemies as "reds" or "commies". Hague lived like a millionaire, despite having an annual salary that never exceeded $8,500. He was able to maintain a fourteen-room duplex apartment in Jersey City, a suite at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, and a palatial summer home in the Jersey Shore community of Deal, and travel to Europe yearly in the royal suites of the best ocean liners.<ref name="time1">Staff. "Hague's End", Time, May 23, 1949. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref><ref name=Hague>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hague's time as mayor was also marked by his direct influence in the construction of several important infrastructure, educational, open space, healthcare and public works projects that became functional civic landmarks that define the city to this day. Some of these projects are the construction of Journal Square and its theaters, the Holland Tunnel, the Wittpenn Bridge, the design of New Jersey Route 139, the Pulaski Skyway, Lincoln High School, Snyder High School, A. Harry Moore School, New Jersey City University, the Heights, Miller and Greenville branches of the library system, Pershing Field, Audubon Park, five public housing complexes, Harborside Terminal, the Seventh Police Precinct and Criminal Court, the expansion of Jersey City Hospital to Jersey City Medical Center, the Jersey City Armory and Roosevelt Stadium.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hague financed several of these projects with WPA funds secured by congresswoman Mary Teresa Norton (1925–1951), the first woman elected to represent New Jersey or any state in the Northeast.<ref name="Hague"/>

After Hague's retirement from politics, a series of mayors including John V. Kenny (1949–1953), Thomas J. Whelan (1963–1971) and Thomas F. X. Smith (1977–1981) attempted to take control of Hague's organization, usually under the mantle of political reform. None were able to duplicate the level of power held by Hague,<ref name="Grundy" /> but the city and Hudson County remained notorious for political corruption for decades to come.<ref>"Hudson County's Degradation. Where Official Corruption Runs Riot is Not Concealed." The New York Times, October 22, 1893</ref><ref>Strum, Charles. "Another Milepost on the Long Trail of Corruption in Hudson County", The New York Times, December 19, 1991. Accessed April 1, 2015.</ref><ref name="AnyRespect">Strunsky, Steve. "Why Can't Hudson County Get Any Respect?; Despite Soaring Towers, Rising Property Values and Even a Light Rail, the Region Struggles to Polish Its Image", The New York Times, January 14, 2001. Accessed April 1, 2015.</ref>

Post-World War II: 1950s–1970s

Following World War II, returning veterans created a post-war economic boom and were beginning to buy homes in the suburbs with the assistance of the G.I. Bill. During the Great Depression and the war years, not much new housing was constructed, leaving cities with older and overcrowded housing stock. In response, Jersey City looked to build new housing on undeveloped tracts around the city. College Towers was built on the West Side as the first middle-income housing cooperative apartment complex in New Jersey in 1956. Country Village was built in the 1960s as a middle-income "suburbia-in-the-city" planned community in the Greenville/West Side area to offer the "out of town" experience without leaving the city. The city had hoped that new residential neighborhoods and housing stock would keep the city's population stable.<ref name="Towers">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1951, Seton Hall University School of Law opened on the site of the former John Marshall Law School at 40 Journal Square and would relocate to Newark by the end of the year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 1956 to 1968, Jersey City Medical Center was the home of the Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry, the predecessor to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), which would relocate to Newark in 1969.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Landfill adjacent to Greenville Yards in 1974 that would become part of Port Jersey

In 1956, the Newark Bay (Hudson County) Extension Interstate 78 of the New Jersey Turnpike opened. As the first limited-access section of Interstate 78 to be built in the state, the extension connected Jersey City and the Holland Tunnel to the mainline of the Turnpike in Newark via the Newark Bay Bridge and at an estimated cost of $2,765 per foot, it was deemed the "world's most expensive road".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, the standard shipping container debuted along with the maiden voyage of the container ship SS Ideal X from Port Newark to the Port of Houston. These innovations changed forever the way the maritime industry shipped goods by sea and led to the transformation of Port Newark into the leading container port in New York Harbor. As a result, the Jersey City waterfront, along with the other traditional waterfront port facilities in the harbor at Hoboken, Manhattan and Brooklyn, quickly became antiquated and fell into a steep decline. Additionally, by the late 1960s, the rail terminals and associated ferry service that were so vital to the city's economic health had closed and were later abandoned after the host railroads declared bankruptcy.<ref name="Great City"/> In response to adapt to this economic shift, Port Jersey was created on Upper New York Bay adjacent to Greenville Yard between 1972 and 1976 as the city's own modern intermodal freight transport facility and container shipping terminal.

In 1964, the Hudson County Boulevard Commission planned to apply for federal funds to upgrade Kennedy Boulevard that would require the Boulevard be converted into a major highway by widening the roadway, cutting down trees and removing sidewalks. The Jersey City Junior Woman’s Club, led by future New Jersey assemblywoman, Joan M. Quigley, protested daily and formed the "Save Our Boulevard" committee. The protests culminated in 30 Club members playing cards in the middle of the Boulevard blocking traffic resulting in the arrests of four members. The fallout from the protests and arrests forced county officials to abandon the pursuit of federal funds, disband the Commission and led to a ban on truck traffic from the Boulevard.<ref>Quigley, Joan. "The Jersey Journal helped save the Brennan Courthouse, Kennedy Boulevard", The Jersey Journal, February 1, 2025. Accessed September 26, 2025.</ref>

From August 2 to 5 1964, race riots occurred in the predominantly African American neighborhood of Lafayette in the Bergen-Lafaytte section of the city. The riots began on August 2 when a young black woman, Delores Shannon, was arrested for disorderly conduct and Arthur Mays, brother of future Olympian, city councilman and state assemblyman, Charles Mays, was arrested for intervening at the Lafayette Gardens public housing complex. Clashes between police and black residents occurred over the next three days. On August 3, mayor Thomas J. Whelan met with local leaders and clergymen and the leadership of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the NAACP to discuss how to address the inequities in the African American community and how to end the civil unrest. By the end of the riots on August 5, at least 46 people had been injured, 52 people were arrested and 71 stores and businesses were damaged.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

World Trade Center from the intersection of Grove St. and Grand St. in 1978

By the 1970s, Jersey City was in a period of urban decline spurred on by deindustrialization. Many of its former industrial anchors relocated or declared bankruptcy which led many of the city's wealthy residents to leave for the suburbs due to rising crime, civil unrest, political corruption, and economic hardship. From 1950 to 1980, Jersey City lost 75,000 residents, and from 1975 to 1982, the city lost 5,000 jobs, or 9% of its workforce.<ref name="Remaking">Jacobs, Andrew. "A City Whose Time Has Come Again; After Years of Deprivation, Jersey City, an Old Industrial Powerhouse, Is Remaking Itself", The New York Times, April 30, 2000. Accessed April 1, 2015.</ref>

In 1974, Hudson County Community College was established in Journal Square as one of two "contract" colleges in the United States and the first contract college in New Jersey to grant students occupational and career-oriented certificates and Associates in Applied Science degrees. Since then, the college has grown throughout the Journal Square and Bergen Square neighborhoods.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On Feb. 19, 1974, the city council voted 8–1 to repeal a 40-year-old law that banned women from drinking at bars and working as bartenders. It was signed into law in 1934 by mayor Frank Hague when the end of Prohibition led to new alcohol regulations. The law stated that "no women to be served in a barroom" and "no female bartenders." Jersey City councilwoman Lois Shaw launched the movement for repeal when she and a group of women ordered a round of drinks to "liberate" the Majestic Tavern across the street from City Hall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On Flag Day 1976, Liberty State Park opened on New York Harbor to coincide with the nation's bicentennial. At Template:Convert with a two-mile waterfront walkway, it is the largest park in Jersey City and the largest urban park in New Jersey. The park was built on the site of the former railyards of the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley Railroad. The idea for the park dated back to the late 1950s and its creation was advocated for and spearheaded by several Jersey City residents: Audrey Zapp, Theodore Conrad, Morris Pesin and J. Owen Grundy. Jersey City donated Template:Convert of land to the development of the park through their advocacy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Liberty Science Center opened in the park in 1993.

Late 20th and early 21st centuries

Newport section of the Jersey City skyline along the Hudson River

Beginning in the 1980s, the restoration of brownstones in neighborhoods such as Paulus Hook, Van Vorst Park, Hamilton Park, Harsimus Cove and Bergen Hill, along with artists moving into former warehouses in the Powerhouse Arts District and the development of the waterfront previously occupied by railyards, factories and warehouses helped to stir the beginnings of an economic renaissance for Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 1995 to 2003, Jersey City led the 100 largest cities in the United States in job growth and poverty reduction.<ref name=Economies>State of the Inner City Economies: New Learning Template:Webarchive</ref> The rapid construction of numerous high-rise buildings, such as the mixed-use community of Newport, increased the population and led to the development of the Exchange Place financial district, also known as "Wall Street West", one of the largest financial centers in the United States. Financial institutions such as UBS, Goldman Sachs, Chase Bank, Citibank, and Merrill Lynch occupy prominent buildings on the Jersey City waterfront, some of which are among the tallest buildings in New Jersey. With Template:Convert of office space as of 2011, Jersey City has the nation's 12th-largest downtown and the state's largest office market.<ref name=Renaissance>Healy, Jerramiah. "Renaissance on the Waterfront and Beyond: Jersey City's Reach for the Stars" Template:Webarchive. New Jersey State League of Municipalities.</ref>

Since 1988, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has mandated by law that developers building along the waterfront in Hudson County preserve and develop the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway to provide the public with access and recreation by creating a linear park along the Hudson River.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The walkway through Jersey City is substantially complete and runs from Hoboken Terminal through Liberty State Park to Port Liberté.

Simultaneous to this building boom, new transit projects were prioritized. By the late 1980s, trans-Hudson ferry service was restored along the waterfront by NY Waterway with ferry terminals now at Paulus Hook, Liberty Harbor and Port Liberté. From 1996 to 2011, NJ Transit constructed the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail as one of the largest public works projects in state history. The system was developed and extended throughout the city and its Downtown utilizing the former right-of-ways of the railroads that defined the city and county during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The system links Jersey City with its neighboring cities while connecting to several NJ Transit bus lines, PATH stations and ferry terminals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

September 11, 2001

Panel S-29 on the South Pool of the National 9/11 Memorial honors the JCFD.

Jersey City was directly affected by the September 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center where 38 city residents lost their lives. One of the 38 victims was Joseph Lovero, a Jersey City Fire Department dispatcher, who was killed by a piece of falling debris while responding.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Jersey City Fire Department was the only New Jersey fire department to receive an official call for assistance from the FDNY.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the attacks, the Jersey City waterfront became the largest triage center in the area for survivors escaping Lower Manhattan by ferry during the "9/11 Boatlift". In the days and weeks after, Jersey City became a staging area for rescue and aid workers headed to "Ground Zero" for rescue and recovery efforts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The collapse of the Twin Towers destroyed the World Trade Center PATH station and the firefighting efforts flooded the Downtown Hudson River tunnels and the Exchange Place PATH station severing the rail connection between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan until 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Over the years several memorials have been erected along the waterfront including the Jersey City 9/11 Memorial and the official New Jersey state memorial Empty Sky.

On November 19, 2015, while campaigning for president in Birmingham, Alabama, Donald Trump falsely claimed a conspiracy theory that he witnessed "thousands of people" celebrating the attacks in Jersey City on television. Trump continued to repeat the conspiracy theory to multiple news outlets for weeks, later adding that the people were Muslims, despite no confirmed reports, evidence or footage from that time being found to confirm his repeated falsehood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In response, the Jersey City council proposed a measure to persuade the condo association at Trump Plaza Jersey City to remove Trump's name off of the building marquee. Both Trump Plaza and Trump Bay Street were later renamed in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, it was discovered that one of the bombing planners, Abdul Rahman Yasin, lived in an apartment in the Greenville neighborhood of Jersey City, which is also where the bomb was built with the other co-conspirators including Ramzi Yousef. The Ryder rental van used in the attack was rented from a Jersey City facility and the chemicals used for the bomb were stored in a local self-storage unit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2010s–present

In August 2011, several areas of Downtown Jersey City and the waterfront were affected by Hurricane Irene causing severe flooding from the associated storm surge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Over a year later, Jersey City was heavily impacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 with extended power outages for multiple days, severe wind damage in several neighborhoods and extensive storm surge flooding throughout the city especially in Downtown, the Country Village neighborhood, the West Side and Liberty State Park. The flooding damaged the city's utility infrastructure and led to a days long shutdown of the PATH system, both of its Hudson River tunnels and the Holland Tunnel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For weeks after, the Jersey City Armory served as an emergency shelter for hundreds of displaced city residents. Prior to the storm, homeless individuals went to the armory for refuge. The 108th Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst provided services such as sleeping cots, shower locations, food and security.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2013, City Ordinance 13.097 passed requiring employers with ten or more employees to offer up to five paid sick days a year. The bill impacts an estimated 30,000 workers at all businesses who employ workers who work at least 80 hours a calendar year in Jersey City.<ref>Murphy, Meredith R. "Jersey City Passes Paid Sick Leave Law", The National Law Review, October 16, 2013. Accessed April 1, 2015.</ref> The passage of the ordinance made Jersey City the first municipality in New Jersey and the sixth in the United States to guarantee paid sick leave.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2014, Jersey City's Census-estimated population was 262,146,<ref>PEPANNRES—Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2014—2014 Population Estimates for New Jersey municipalities Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 21, 2015.</ref> with the largest population increase of any municipality in New Jersey since 2010,<ref name="JC2014Est">Stirling, Stephen. "What are N.J.'s fastest growing and shrinking towns?" Template:Webarchive, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, May 21, 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2015. "Jersey City has gained nearly 15,000 residents since 2010, making it the fastest growing municipality in the state and a symbol of the Garden State's reinvigorated urban core."</ref> representing an increase of 5.9% from the 2010 U.S. census, when the city's population was 247,597.<ref>DP-1—Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for Jersey City city, Hudson County, New Jersey Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 1, 2016.</ref><ref>Table DP-1. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2010 for Jersey City Template:Webarchive, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Retrieved February 1, 2016.</ref>

In 2016, Jersey City raised the minimum wage for its municipal employees to US$15 per hour, double the previous rate, becoming the first municipality in New Jersey to do so. The city's new minimum wage made it several dollars higher than the State ($12 per hour) and Federal ($11 per hour) minimum wages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, the city raised the minimum wage further to $17 per hour and again in 2022 to $20 per hour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 2018 to 2023, Jersey City built a new municipal complex called Jackson Square in the Jackson Hill section of the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood. Planned since 2014, the city had previously rented office space throughout the city for its multiple agencies. The complex is made up of a City Hall Annex for several agencies, parking garage and public safety headquarters for the Jersey City Police and Fire Departments.<ref name="Annex"/><ref name="PSHQ"/>

On December 10, 2019, two individuals shot and killed 4 people, including a Jersey City Police Department detective, and injured 3 as part of a domestic terrorist attack at a kosher grocery store in the city's Greenville neighborhood.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The shooting was part of a wave of violent attacks against Jews in the United States in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

COVID-19 pandemic

Template:Main On March 13, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The day before, Jersey City was the first city in the state to implement mandatory restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. These restrictions included a nightly curfew on city bars and restaurants and the cancellation of all public meetings, non-essential city-sponsored events and private events held on city property.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With its population density and connections to New York City, by early April, Jersey City became the state epicenter for the virus having more cases than any other municipality in New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Through March 2023, Jersey City recorded 320 deaths, or 120.5 people for every 100,000 residents, from COVID-19 related complications.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2023, the Jersey City Medical Center dedicated a public serenity garden and stained glass artwork titled Healing and Hope to honor the hospital's COVID-19 emergency response, front line workers and those who died from the pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

Satellite view of Jersey City

Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County and the second-most-populous city in New Jersey.<ref name="Census2010XLS"/> According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 21.13 square miles (54.74 km²), including 14.74 square miles (38.19 km²) of land and 6.39 square miles (16.55 km²) of water (30.24%).<ref name=CensusArea/><ref name=GR1/> As of the 1990 census, it had the smallest land area of the 100 most populous cities in the United States.<ref>Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1990, United States Census Bureau, June 15, 1998. Accessed November 27, 2011.</ref>

The city is bordered to the east across the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay by Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York State, to the north by Secaucus, North Bergen, Union City and Hoboken, to the west across the Hackensack River and Newark Bay by Kearny and Newark, and to the south by Bayonne.<ref>Areas touching Jersey City, MapIt. Accessed February 24, 2020.</ref><ref>Municipalities Template:Webarchive, Register of Hudson County. Accessed July 28, 2023.</ref><ref>New Jersey Municipal Boundaries, New Jersey Department of Transportation. Accessed November 15, 2019.</ref>

Jersey City includes most of Ellis Island (the parts awarded to New Jersey by the 1998 U.S. Supreme Court in the case of New Jersey v. New York). Liberty Island is surrounded by Jersey City waters in the Upper New York Bay. Given its proximity and various mass transit connections to Manhattan, Jersey City (along with Hudson County as a whole) is sometimes referred to as New York City's sixth borough.<ref>Strunsky, Steve. "Cities; Bright Lights, Big Retail", The New York Times, December 9, 2001. Accessed April 1, 2015. "Macy's has arrived on this former industrial shoreline. And with it, at least in retail terms, so has Jersey City.... While hardly Saks Fifth Avenue or even Neiman Marcus, Macy's is certainly the most upscale department store in this city, whose status as virtually a sixth borough of New York has become increasingly obvious as jobs jump across the Hudson, rents rise like skyscrapers and trendier residents look around for places to lighten their wallets."</ref><ref>Holusha, John. "Commercial Property / The Jersey Riverfront; On the Hudson's West Bank, Optimistic Developers", The New York Times, October 11, 1998. Accessed August 22, 2018. "'That simply is out of the question in midtown,' he said, adding that some formerly fringe areas in Midtown South that had previously been available were filled up as well. Given that the buildings on the New Jersey waterfront are new and equipped with the latest technology and just a few stops on the PATH trains from Manhattan, they become an attractive alternative. 'It's the sixth borough', he said."</ref><ref>Belson, Ken. "In Stamford, a Plan to Rebuild an Area and Build an Advantage", The New York Times, May 21, 2007. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref>

Map of Jersey City area, from United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Jersey City (and most of Hudson County) is located on the peninsula known as Bergen Neck, with a waterfront on the east at the Hudson River and New York Bay and on the west at the Hackensack River and Newark Bay. Its north–south axis corresponds with the ridge of Bergen Hill, the emergence of the Hudson Palisades.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The city is the site of some of the earliest European settlements in North America, which grew into each other rather than expanding from a central point.<ref>Lynch, Kevin. Images of the City, p. 26. MIT Press, 1960. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This growth and the topography greatly influenced the development of the sections of the city and its various neighborhoods.<ref name="Grundy">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Lagorio, Christine. "Close-Up on the Jersey City Waterfront" Template:Webarchive, The Village Voice, January 11, 2005. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref><ref>Staff. "The New Jersey Suburbs How New York is Extending on the West Side of the Hudson", The New York Times, April 22, 1872. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref>

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Jersey City has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) closely bordering on a humid continental climate (Dfa) similar to its parallel cities like Newark and New York City. With partial shielding from the Appalachian Mountains and moderating influences from the Atlantic Ocean, the climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally cool to cold winters with moderate snowfall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jersey City lies in the USDA plant hardiness zone 7b.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Neighborhoods

The city is divided into six wards.<ref name="JCwards" />

Bergen-Lafayette

Liberty Island and Liberty State Park

Astor Place on Bergen Hill

Bergen-Lafayette, formerly Bergen City, New Jersey, lies between Greenville to the south and McGinley Square to the north, while bordering Liberty State Park and Downtown to the east and the West Side neighborhood to the west. Communipaw Avenue, Bergen Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive, and Ocean Avenue are main thoroughfares. Library Hall, built in 1866, served as the town hall for Bergen Township, then later as Bergen City, before its annexation. Library Hall has been preserved and is now a residential building.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The former Jersey City Medical Center complex, a cluster of Art Deco buildings on a rise in the center of the city, has been converted into residential complexes called The Beacon.<ref>Hampson, Rick. "Model of urban future: Jersey City?", USA Today, April 16, 2007. Accessed December 21, 2011. "This was the former Jersey City Medical Center, a cluster of Art Deco buildings on a rise in the center of the city, far from the booming waterfront. Now the medical center was becoming The Beacon condominium complex, one of the nation's largest historic renovation projects."</ref> Completed in 2016 at a cost of $38 million, (~$Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year) Berry Lane Park is located along Garfield Avenue in the northern section of Bergen-Lafayette; covering Template:Convert, it is the largest municipal park in Jersey City.<ref>Ojutiku, Mak. "Jersey City opens new $38M Berry Lane Park", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, June 27, 2016, updated January 16, 2019. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Mayor Steve Fulop and city officials held a grand opening ceremony Saturday for the city's first new municipal park in decades, Berry Lane Park, the largest open park owned by the city. To further commemorate the opening of the $38 million, 17.5-acre recreational area, the Bergen-Lafayette park between Garfield Avenue and Woodward Street was the location of a family day festival, which was attended by hundreds of residents on Saturday."</ref> The Jersey City Municipal Complex opened in phases at Jackson Square in the Jackson Hill neighborhood from 2018 to 2023.<ref name=Annex>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=PSHQ>Template:Cite web</ref>

Downtown Jersey City

Downtown Jersey City is the area from the Hudson River westward to the Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 78) and the New Jersey Palisades; it is also bounded by Hoboken to the north and Liberty State Park to the south.

Brownstones in Van Vorst Park neighborhood

Historic Downtown is an area of mostly low-rise buildings to the west of the waterfront that is highly desirable due to its proximity to local amenities and Manhattan. It includes the neighborhoods of Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park, which are both square parks surrounded by brownstones. This historic downtown also includes Paulus Hook, the Village and Harsimus Cove neighborhoods. Newark Avenue & Grove Street, are the main thoroughfares in Downtown Jersey City, both have seen a lot of development and the surrounding neighborhoods have many stores and restaurants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Grove Street PATH station has been renovated and made fully ADA compliant.<ref>McDonald, Terrence T. "Construction to begin on $4M Grove Street PATH station elevator", The Jersey Journal, April 21, 2015. Accessed March 16, 2016. "Jersey City – Construction is set to begin on a $4.04 million project to add a handicapped-accessible entrance to the Grove Street PATH station."</ref> and a number of new residential buildings are being built around the stop, including a 50-story building at 90 Columbus.<ref>McDonald, Terrence T. "Jersey City development boom reaching new heights", The Jersey Journal, March 13, 2015. Accessed March 16, 2016. "Later in the year, 70 Columbus – which features 545 rental units, 20,000 square feet of commercial space adjacent to the Grove Street PATH station – is expected to be completed, while construction on its sister tower, 90 Columbus, which will have 630 units in 50 stories, should begin by December."</ref> Historic Downtown is home to many cultural attractions including the Jersey City Museum, the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse (planned to become a museum and artist housing), which gives its name to the Powerhouse Arts Warehouse District, and the Harsimus Stem Embankment along Sixth Street, which a citizens' movement is working to turn into public parkland that would be modeled after the High Line in Manhattan.<ref>Haddon, Heather. "Embankment Deal Stalls", The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2016. "A deal to turn an abandoned elevated railway in Jersey City into a park in the spirit of Manhattan's High Line has hit a roadblock, with one of the parties involved balking on a settlement proposed to resolve the decadelong dispute."</ref>

Newport and Exchange Place are redeveloped waterfront areas consisting mostly of residential towers, hotels and office buildings that are among the tallest buildings in the city. Newport is a planned mixed-use community, built on the old Erie Lackawanna Railway yards, made up of residential rental towers, condominiums, office buildings, a marina, schools, restaurants, hotels, Newport Centre Mall, a waterfront walkway, transportation facilities, and on-site parking for more than 15,000 vehicles. Newport had a hand in the renaissance of Jersey City although, before ground was broken, much of the downtown area had already begun a steady climb (much like Hoboken).

The Heights

Pershing Field entrance in The Heights

The Heights or Jersey City Heights is a district in the north end of Jersey City atop the New Jersey Palisades overlooking Hoboken to the east and Croxton in the Meadowlands to the west. Previously the city of Hudson City, The Heights was incorporated into Jersey City in 1869.<ref name="Merger"/> The southern border of The Heights is generally considered to be north of Bergen Arches and the Covered Roadway, while Paterson Plank Road in Washington Park is its main northern boundary. Transfer Station is just over the city line. Its postal area ZIP Code is 07307. The Heights mostly contains two- and three-family houses and low rise apartment buildings, and is similar to North Hudson architectural style and neighborhood character.<ref>The Heights, Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. Accessed December 21, 2011.</ref>

Journal Square

Journal Square residential towers in 2024

Journal Square is a mixed-use central business district. The square was created in 1923, creating a broad intersection with Hudson Boulevard which itself had been widened in 1908.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other major squares in the neighborhood are Bergen Square, India Square and Five Corners. McGinley Square is located in close proximity to Journal Square, and is considered an extension of it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Journal Square Transportation Center is a major multi-modal transportation hub with a NJ Transit bus terminal and PATH station. It also houses the PATH Operations Center and a multilevel retail plaza. Hudson County Community College is located throughout the neighborhood. Journal Square is currently undergoing a massive wave of economic growth and development not seen since the neighborhood was first established with more than 4,400 residential units under construction.<ref name=JSQ>Template:Cite web</ref>

Greenville

Greenville is on the south end of Jersey City. In the 2010s, the neighborhood underwent a revitalization.<ref>"GSECDC's Home Ownership Initiative Is Revitalizing Greenville One Home at a Time",. Jersey Digs, July 5, 2017.</ref> Considered an affordable neighborhood in the New York City area, a number of Ultra-Orthodox Jews and young families purchased homes and built a substantial community there, attracted by housing that costs less than half of comparable homes in New York City.<ref>Berger, Joseph. "Uneasy Welcome as Ultra-Orthodox Jews Extend Beyond New York", The New York Times, August 2, 2017. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Jersey City – To the gentrifying stew of bankers, artists and college graduates who are transforming this once blue-collar city across the Hudson River from Manhattan, add an unexpected flavor. In a heavily African-American neighborhood, 62 families from a number of Hasidic sects based in Brooklyn and rarely seen here have bought a scattering of faded but roomy wood-frame rowhouses whose prices are less than half what homes of similar size would cost in New York – roughly $300,000 compared with $800,000."</ref> In a December 2019 shooting incident, three bystanders were killed in a kosher market in Greenville. The two assailants, who had earlier killed a police detective, were also shot and killed.<ref>Gold, Michael; and Watkins, Ali. "Suspect in Jersey City Linked to Black Hebrew Israelite Group; The Black Hebrew Israelites have been labeled a hate group. The suspect wrote anti-Semitic and anti-police posts, an official said.", The New York Times, December 11, 2019. Accessed May 5, 2020. "An assailant involved in the prolonged firefight in Jersey City, N.J., that left six people dead, including one police officer, was linked on Wednesday to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, and had published anti-Semitic posts online, a law enforcement official said. The violent rampage on Tuesday took place largely at a kosher supermarket where three bystanders were killed.... The shootout and police siege overtook the Greenville neighborhood of gentrifying Jersey City — the second most-populous city in New Jersey, with about a quarter of a million residents."</ref>

West Side

The West Side borders Greenville to the south and the Hackensack River to the west; it is also bounded to the east and north by Bergen-Lafayette and the broader Journal Square area, including McGinley Square. It consists of various diverse areas on both sides of West Side Avenue, one of Jersey City's leading shopping streets.<ref name="shop districts">Jersey City Shopping Districts Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Online. Accessed May 21, 2023.</ref> The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail's West Side Avenue station serves the shopping district and surrounding neighborhood. The West Side is the home of New Jersey City University and Saint Peter's University.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census, Jersey City had a population of 292,449, and a population density of Template:Convert<ref name=Census2020/> an increase of 44,852 residents (18.1%) from its 2010 census population of 247,597.<ref name=Census2010/> Since it was believed the earlier population was under-counted, the 2010 census was anticipated with the possibility that Jersey City might become the state's most populated city, surpassing Newark.<ref name="JJ2010">Hayes, Melissa. "2010 Census road tour stops in Jersey City", The Jersey Journal, January 5, 2010. Accessed July 8, 2015.</ref> The city hired an outside firm to contest the results, citing the fact that development in the city between 2000 and 2010 substantially increased the number of housing units and that new populations may have been under-counted by as many as 30,000 residents based on the city's calculations.<ref>Hunger, Matt. "Jersey City Hires Outside Firm to Help Challenge 2010 Census Count"Template:Dead link, Jersey City Independent, June 16, 2011. Accessed July 8, 2015.</ref><ref>McDonald, Terrence T. "Jersey City paying consultant $25,000 to challenge Census count", The Jersey Journal, June 16, 2011. Accessed July 8, 2015. "Jersey City is spending $25,000 to hire an outside consultant to help it challenge recent U.S. Census figures that city officials believe underestimate the city's total population.... The city feels it has been undercounted by as many as 30,000 residents, said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill."</ref> Preliminary findings indicated that 19,000 housing units went uncounted.<ref>Hunger, Matt. "Firm's Preliminary Findings Say 2010 Census Count Missed 19,000 Housing Units in Jersey City" Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Independent, September 1, 2011. Accessed July 8, 2015.</ref>

Per the American Community Survey's 2014–2018 estimates, Jersey City's age distribution was 7.7% of the population under 5, 13.2% between 6–18, 69% – from 19 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age 34.2 years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Females made up 50.8% of the population and there were 100.1 males per 100 females. 86.5% of the population graduated from high school, while 44.9% of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher. 7.1% of residents under 65 were disabled, while 15.9% of residents live without health insurance.<ref name=":0" />

Housing

There were 110,801 housing units and 102,353 households in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The average household size was 2.57. The average per capita income was $36,453, and the median household income was $62,739. 18.7% of residents lived below the poverty line. 67.9% of residents 16+ were within the civilian labor force. The mean travel time to work for residents was 36.8 minutes. 28.6% of housing units are owner-occupied, with the median value of the homes being $344,200. The median gross rent in the city was $1,271.<ref name=":0" /> The Jersey City Housing Authority (JCHA) is the second largest public housing agency in the state and provides approximately 7,100 housing units for over 15,000 residents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 2005 to 2023, Jersey City led New Jersey and the Northeastern United States in housing construction with a 43% increase producing twice as much housing as the rest of the state and 16.7% more than the United States average. Additionally, the city's population increased by 18% with a 20% increase in housing units resulting in housing development surpassing population growth. During this time, the median household income in Jersey City grew by 133%, the fourth-highest increase in the United States with the median home price increasing by 86%. Over this time, Jersey City has matched or surpassed the number of housing units created in Manhattan in a given year. In 2024, Jersey City ranked third in the New York metropolitan area for new apartment construction behind only Brooklyn and Manhattan and ahead of Queens with Jersey City building twice as many units at a rate of 13 units per 1,000 residents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In January 2025, the addition of new rental units to the city's market led to a median rent of $3,050 for one-bedroom units, a decrease of 2.9% year-over-year and a median rent of $3,340 for two-bedroom units, a decrease of 12.1% year-over-year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The trend continued into mid 2025 with rents decreasing for one-bedroom units at about 12% and 16.7% for two-bedroom units year-over-year bringing the city's median rent to $2,920.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 2021, Jersey City has enacted several ordinances to expand affordable housing and protect renters. These include an inclusionary zoning ordinance (IZO) requiring developers of large projects seeking a variance or zoning amendment to set aside 10% to 15% of units as affordable housing, an affordable housing overlay (AHO) that allows more density in exchange for the same commitment<ref name=Affordable/> and a tenant right to counsel (TRTC) law providing free legal aid to renters facing eviction who earn less than 80% of the current area annual median income (AMI).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally in 2025, an ordinance passed prohibiting landlords from using AI-driven software to set rental prices resulting in collective rate hikes that eliminate market competition. With the passage of the ordinance, Jersey City became the first municipality in New Jersey to limit rental market manipulation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Race and ethnicity

Historical Racial composition	2020<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>	2010<ref name=JCQuickFacts>State & County QuickFacts – Jersey City (city), New Jersey Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref>	1990<ref name="pop">Gibson, Campbell; and Jung, Kay. "Historical Census Statistics On Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For Large Cities And Other Urban Places In The United States" Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau, February 2005. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref>	1970<ref name="pop"/>	1940<ref name="pop"/>
White	27.3%	32.7%	48.2%	77.8%	95.5%
—Non-Hispanic	23.8%	21.5%	36.6%	69.5%<ref name="fifteen">From 15% sample</ref>	n/a
Black or African American	19.9%	25.8%	29.7%	21.0%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	24.9%	27.6%	24.2%	9.1%<ref name="fifteen"/>	n/a
Asian	28.0%	23.7%	11.4%	0.5%	−
Two or more races	9.7%	4.4%	-	-	-

Ethnic origins in Jersey City

Jersey City has been called "one of the most diverse cities in the world" and for several years has been ranked as the most ethnically diverse city in the United States.<ref name="Jersey CityEthnicallyDiverse1">"A major port of entry for immigration to the United States, Jersey City is one of the most diverse cities in the world.", Sustainable Jersey, January 2022. Accessed April 26, 2024.</ref> The city is a major port of entry for immigration to the United States and a major employment center at the approximate core of the New York City metropolitan area; and given its proximity to Manhattan, Jersey City has evolved a globally cosmopolitan ambiance of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity concerning metrics including "nationality, religion, race, and domiciliary partnership."<ref name=DiverseJC1>Hortillosa, Summer Dawn. "A major port of entry for immigration to the United States, Jersey City is one of the most diverse cities in the world.", Sustainable Jersey, January 2022. Accessed April 26, 2024.</ref><ref name="Most Diverse">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jersey City has undertaken several measures to engage its different immigrant communities. In 2017, Jersey City designated itself a "sanctuary city."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, Jersey City established the Division of Immigrant Affairs within its Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support immigrant communities. The division works with nonprofit organizations to expand access to health and human services, immigration legal aid, education and English-language programs, job training, public benefits, and civic engagement opportunities.

In 2020, Jersey City became the first municipality in the United States accredited for offering free legal services to immigrants as part of the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) Recognition and Accreditation Program. Additionally, The New American Economy (NAE) Research Award selected Jersey City to receive NAE research to further address socioeconomic disparities within immigrant populations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2025, the Trump Administration sued Jersey City and its elected officials for the policies associated with the city's status as a sanctuary city. The policies substantially reduce deportations of undocumented immigrants who do not have criminal records, but do not prevent the deportation of those who have violent criminal records. Mayor Steven Fulop responded to the lawsuit by saying he would not be "bullied" and vowed to fight the federal government.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jersey City, New Jersey – Racial and ethnic composition
Template:Nobold

Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 1990<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref>	Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Partial<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	% 1990	% 2000	% 2010	Template:Partial
White alone (NH)	83,601	56,736	53,236	69,624	36.58%	23.63%	21.50%	23.81%
Black or African American alone (NH)	63,290	64,389	59,060	54,199	27.69%	26.82%	23.85%	18.53%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	638	544	586	638	0.28%	0.23%	0.24%	0.22%
Asian alone (NH)	24,895	38,623	58,106	81,425	10.89%	16.09%	23.47%	27.84%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	N/A	117	95	101	N/A	0.05%	0.04%	0.03%
Other race alone (NH)	718	2,218	2,423	4,204	0.31%	0.92%	0.98%	1.44%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	N/A	9,476	5,835	9,481	N/A	3.95%	2.36%	3.24%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	55,395	67,952	68,256	72,777	24.24%	28.31%	27.57%	24.89%
Total	228,537	240,055	247,597	292,449	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

The U.S. Census accounts for race by two methodologies. "Race alone" and "Race alone less Hispanics" where Hispanics are delineated separately as if a separate race.

According to the 2020 U.S. census, the racial makeup (including Hispanics in the racial counts) was 27.32% (79,905) White alone, 19.87% (58,103) Black alone, 0.66% (1,916) Native American alone, 28.01% (81,903) Asian alone, 0.06% (178) Pacific Islander alone, 14.35% (41,970) Other Race alone, and 9.74% (28,474) Multiracial or Mixed Race.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to the 2020 U.S. census, the racial and ethnic makeup (where Hispanics are excluded from the racial counts and placed in their own category) was 23.81% (69,624) White alone (non-Hispanic), 18.53% (54,199) Black alone (non-Hispanic), 0.22% (638) Native American alone (non-Hispanic), 27.84% (81,425) Asian alone (non-Hispanic), 0.03% (101) Pacific Islander alone (non-Hispanic), 1.44% (4,204) Other Race alone (non-Hispanic), 3.24% (9,481) Multiracial or Mixed Race (non-Hispanic), and 24.89% (72,777) Hispanic or Latino.<ref name=2020CensusP2/>

There were an estimated 55,493 non-Hispanic whites in Jersey City, according to the 2013–2017 American Community Survey,<ref name="2017est"/> representing a 4.2% increase from 53,236 non-Hispanic whites enumerated in the 2010 United States census.<ref name="2010Census"/>

An estimated 63,788 African Americans resided in Jersey City, or 24.0% of the city's population in 2017,<ref name="2017est"/> representing a slight decrease from 64,002 African Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.<ref name="2010Census"/> This is in contrast with Hudson County overall, where there were an estimated 84,114 African Americans, according to the 2013–2017 American Community Survey,<ref name="2017EstHudson">ACS Demographic And Housing Estimates 2013–2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Hudson County, New Jersey Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> representing a 2.3% increase from 83,925 African Americans enumerated in the county in the 2010 United States census.<ref>DP-1 – Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 from 2010 Demographic Profile Data Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref> However, modest growth in the African immigrant population, most notably the growing Nigerian American and Kenyan American populations<ref>Schmidt, Margaret. "Kenyan immigrants in Jersey City celebrate Obama", The Jersey Journal, February 15, 2009. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref><ref>Duffy, Peter. "Kenyan Unrest, Jersey Style" Template:Webarchive, The Village Voice, February 5, 2008. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref> in Jersey City, is partially offsetting the decline in the city's American-born black population, which as a whole has been experiencing an exodus from northern New Jersey to the Southern United States.<ref>Sheingold, Dave. "North Jersey black families leaving for lure of new South", The Record, February 20, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref>

Approximately 76,637 Latino and Hispanic Americans lived in Jersey City, composing 28.8% of the population in 2017,<ref name="2017est" /> representing a 12.3% increase from 68,256 Latino or Hispanic Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.<ref name="2010Census">DP-1: Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 – Demographic Profile Data – Jersey City city, New Jersey Template:Webarchive, United States Census Bureau. Accessed March 16, 2016.</ref><ref name="DiverseJC1" /> Stateside Puerto Ricans, making up a third of the city's Latin American or Hispanic population, constituted the largest Hispanic group in Jersey City.<ref name="2017est" /> Since 1961, Jersey City has hosted its annual Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival which has grown to be the largest in the state.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While Cuban Americans are not as highly concentrated in Jersey City as they are in northern Hudson County, Jersey City has hosted the annual Cuban Parade and Festival of New Jersey at Exchange Place on its downtown waterfront since it was established in 2001.<ref>Speiser, Matthew. "Cuban festival takes over Exchange Place on Jersey City waterfront", The Jersey Journal, May 31, 2015. Accessed March 16, 2016. "The salsa music was so loud they probably could have heard it across the river in Manhattan. Such was the atmosphere at the 15th annual Cuban festival at Exchange Place this afternoon on the Jersey City waterfront."</ref>

An estimated 67,526 Asian Americans live in Jersey City, constituting 25.4% of the city's population,<ref name="2017est">DP05: ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates from the 2013–2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Jersey City city, New Jersey Template:Webarchive Accessed January 25, 2019.</ref> representing a 15.2% increase from 58,595 Asian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.<ref name="2010Census" />

India Square, in the Bombay neighborhood of Jersey City, is home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere.<ref name="JCI2014">Wirstiuk, Laryssa. "Neighborhood Spotlight: Journal Square" Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Independent, April 21, 2014. Accessed July 3, 2018. "India Square, for example, is situated between John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Tonnelle Avenue on Newark Ave., and is home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere."</ref>

India Square, also known as "Little India", "Little Bombay",<ref name="Kiniry, Laura 2006. pg. 34">Kiniry, Laura. Moon Handbooks New Jersey, Avalon Travel Publishing, 2006. pg. 34 Template:ISBN</ref> or "Little Gujarat",<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere,<ref name="JCI2014" /> is a rapidly growing Indian American ethnic enclave in Jersey City. Indian Americans constituted 10.9% of the overall population of Jersey City in 2010,<ref name="Census2010" /> the highest proportion of any major U.S. city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> India Square has been home to the largest outdoor Navratri festivities in New Jersey as well as several Hindu temples;<ref>"India Square" Template:Webarchive, accessed July 26, 2006</ref> while an annual, color-filled spring Holi festival has taken place in Jersey City since 1992, centered upon India Square and attracting significant participation and international media attention.<ref>Rogoza, Rafal. "Thousands of colorful revelers partake in 21st Annual Phagwah Parade in Jersey City", The Jersey Journal, March 30, 2013, updated March 31, 2013. Accessed July 6, 2015. "The 29-year-old Princeton Avenue resident was one of the thousands of people who descended on Lincoln Park in Jersey City this afternoon for the 21st Annual Phagwah Parade and Holi Hai Day festivities, a colorful Hindu spring harvest tradition that is celebrated by revelers who playfully shower each other with various colors of organic powder."</ref><ref>Speiser, Matthew. "Colorful Holi Hai festival in Jersey City celebrates rites of spring", The Jersey Journal, March 29, 2015. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref> In 2017 there were an estimated 31,578 Indian Americans in Jersey City,<ref name="2017est" /> representing a 16.5% increase from 27,111 Indian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.<ref name="2010Census" />

File:PhilAmJC.JPG

Filipino grocery store in Jersey City

Filipino Americans, numbering 16,610 residents, made up 6.2% of Jersey City's population in 2017.<ref name="2017est" /><ref>Timeline, Filipino-Americans in Jersey City. Accessed June 28, 2017.</ref> The Five Corners district serves as a prominent Little Manila of Jersey City, being home to a thriving Filipino community that forms the second-largest Asian-American subgroup in the city.<ref name="Census2010" /> A variety of Filipino restaurants, shippers and freighters, doctors' offices, bakeries, stores, and even an office of The Filipino Channel have made Newark Avenue their home in recent decades. The largest Filipino-owned grocery store on the East Coast, Phil-Am Food, has been established on the avenue since 1973.<ref>Silvestre, Edmund M. Template:Usurped, Filipino Reporter, March 2, 2014. Accessed November 14, 2016. "For four decades now, Phil-Am Food, the largest Filipino-owned grocery store on the U.S. East Coast, has served as a bastion of vibrant Filipino community here as it consistently provides patrons a sense of being 'back home' with its extensive array of Philippine food products no other Pinoy store in this coast can match."</ref> An array of Filipino-owned businesses can also be found in the West Side section of the city, where many residents are of Filipino descent. In 2006, Red Ribbon Bakeshop, one of the Philippines' most famous food chains, opened its first branch on the East Coast: a new pastry outlet in Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Manila Avenue in Downtown Jersey City was named for the Philippine capital city because of the many Filipinos who built their homes on the street during the 1970s. A memorial dedicated to the Filipino-American veterans of the Vietnam War was built in a small square on Manila Avenue. A park and statue dedicated to Jose P. Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines, are also located in Downtown Jersey City.<ref>Nash, Margo. "Jersey Footlights", The New York Times, May 1, 2005. Accessed August 22, 2018. "The Knights made an agreement five years ago with Bret Schundler, who was mayor then, allowing them to lease a street corner at Columbus Drive and Brunswick Street for 20 years at $1 a year to build tiny Rizal Park with a statue of Rizal (1861–1896). The city paid for the upkeep, the Knights paid for the monument and insurance. Each year since then the Knights have held ceremonies at the park on June 19 to mark Rizal's birth."</ref> Furthermore, Jersey City hosts the annual Philippine–American Friendship Day Parade along West Side Avenue ending at Lincoln Park with a day long festival, an event that occurs yearly on the last Sunday in June.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The City Hall of Jersey City raises the Philippine flag in correlation with this event and as a tribute to the contributions of the local Filipino community. The city's annual Santacruzan procession has taken place since 1977 along Manila Avenue.<ref>Kowsh, Kate. "Amid Delays, 33rd Annual Santacruzan procession circles downtown neighborhood", The Jersey Journal, May 29, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref>

Behind English and Spanish, Tagalog is the third-most-common language spoken in Jersey City.<ref>Stirling, Stephen. "The 44 N.J. towns where English is not the dominant language", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 14, 2016. Accessed November 14, 2016. "When divided up by language, rather than region, a clearer picture emerges of the patchwork of immigrant communities represented in Jersey City. While English and Spanish are the two main languages spoken here, Tagalog, a Filipino dialect, is third."</ref>

Jersey City was home to an estimated 9,379 Chinese Americans in 2017,<ref name=2017est/> representing a notably rapid growth of 66.2% from the 5,643 Chinese Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.<ref name=2010Census/> Chinese nationals have also been obtaining EB-5 immigrant visas by investing US$500,000 apiece in new Downtown Jersey City residential skyscrapers.<ref>Bradsher, Keith; Tang, Ailin; and Drucker, Jesse. "Trump Looms as Kushner Companies Courts Investors in China", The New York Times, May 7, 2017. Accessed June 28, 2017. "At the event in Beijing, Mr. Kushner's sister, Nicole Meyer, cited her brother's service to the company, which he led as chief executive until January. She said the project in Jersey City 'means a lot to me and my entire family.Template:' "</ref>

New Jersey's largest Vietnamese American population resides in Jersey City. There were an estimated 1,813 Vietnamese Americans in Jersey City, according to the 2013–2017 American Community Survey,<ref name=2017est/> representing a 12.8% increase from 1,607 Vietnamese Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States census.<ref name=2010Census/>

Arab Americans numbered an estimated 18,628 individuals in Hudson County per the 2013–2017 American Community Survey, representing 2.8% of the county's total population.<ref>Hudson County Population and Races, USA.com. Accessed June 28, 2017.</ref> Arab Americans are the second- highest percentage in New Jersey after Passaic County.<ref>New Jersey Arab as First Ancestry Population Percentage County Rank, USA.com. Accessed June 28, 2017.</ref> Arab Americans are most concentrated in Jersey City, led by Egyptian Americans, including the largest population of Coptic Christians in the United States.<ref name="DiverseJC1"/> Since 1979, the city along with the Arab American community hosts the Milad Parade celebrating the birth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Egyptian American community hosts the annual Egyptian Festival in Journal Square every October since 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sexual orientation and gender identity

Template:Main In 2010, there were 2,726 same-sex couples in Hudson County, with Jersey City being the hub,<ref>Staff. "Where do gay couples live in New Jersey?", Out in Jersey, March 16, 2014. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Essex County leads with the most same-sex couples households at 2,819 with Hudson County close behind at 2,726."</ref> prior to the commencement of same-sex marriages in New Jersey on October 21, 2013.<ref name="DroppedAppeal">Hayes, Melissa; Markos, Kibret; and Fallon, Scott "Christie drops appeal of ruling allowing gay marriage in NJ", The Record, October 21, 2013, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 9, 2014. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> Following the ruling, Jersey City was one of the first municipalities in New Jersey to issue marriage licenses and officiate ceremonies for same-sex couples. Jersey City is considered one of the most LGBT-friendly communities in New Jersey and has achieved a perfect score from the Municipal Equality Index (MEI) for LGBTQ+ equality in municipal law, policies, and services for 12 consecutive years.<ref name=LGBTFriendlyNJ>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Founded in 1993, the Hudson Pride Connections Center, located in Journal Square, is the largest LGBTQ+ social services center in New Jersey, advocating for the physical, mental, social, and political well-being of the diverse LGBTQ+ community and its supporters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Every August since 2000, Jersey City hosts the Jersey City LBGTQ+ Pride Festival (JC Pride), which has grown to become one of the largest pride festivals in New Jersey, attracting over 25,000 attendees. The celebrations begin on the first of the month with a Progress Pride Flag raising ceremony at City Hall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Religion

Nearly 59.6% of Jersey City's inhabitants are religious adherents, of which 46.2% are Catholic Christians and 7.3% are Protestant Christians.<ref name="stats">Jersey City, New Jersey Religion. from bestplaces.net Accessed 17 February 2022.</ref> Muslims constituted 3.4% of religious adherents in Jersey City. Dharmic religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism, make up 1.5% of the city's religious demographic, with Judaism at 0.6%.<ref name="stats"/> Jersey City has a growing Orthodox Jewish population, centered in the Greenville neighborhood.<ref>Uneasy Welcome as Ultra-Orthodox Jews Extend Beyond New York by Joseph Berger, New York Times, 2 August 2017. Accessed 22 February 2022.</ref>

Economy

Jersey City is a regional employment center and one of the largest in the state with over 100,000 private and public sector jobs, creating a daytime swell in population. Many jobs are in the financial and service sectors, as well as in shipping, logistics, and retail.<ref name=2014recovery>Sandy Recovery Strategic Planning Report A Strategic Plan for Resilience Template:Webarchive, City of Jersey City, August 2014. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Jersey City is home to a waterfront regional employment center known as 'Wall Street West,' with 13.3 million square feet of Class A office space located in flood zones. It also has a major shipping port, and sizable manufacturing, wholesale, retail and service sectors. It is an economic engine for the state, and its daytime population swells with visitors and jobs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 108,914 public and private sector jobs in Jersey City at the beginning of the second quarter in 2011."</ref> From 1995 to 2003, Jersey City led the 100 largest cities in the United States in job growth and poverty reduction with a 4.7% increase in inner city wage growth.<ref name=Economies/> From 2020 to 2021, the city's employment rate increased by 8.12% from 140,000 to 151,000 employees. Tech and IT jobs made up 15.5% of all jobs created during that span.<ref name="Top Tech">Template:Cite web</ref>

Jersey City's tax base grew by US$136 million in 2017, giving Jersey City the largest municipal tax base in the State of New Jersey.<ref>"Mayor Fulop to Introduce 2017 Budget With No Tax Increase; Fourth Consecutive Year With No Municipal Tax Increase as Fulop Administration Brings Long-Term Fiscal Stability to Jersey City" Template:Webarchive, City of Jersey City, March 22, 2017. Accessed July 18, 2017. "In 2017, the tax base, or ratable base, grew in Jersey City by $136 million (~$Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year) due to Fulop Administration policies encouraging economic investment throughout the city. In four years, the tax base has grown by $415 million, with Jersey City having the largest municipal tax base in the state."</ref> As part of a 2017 revaluation, the city's property tax base is expected to increase from $6.2 billion to $26 billion.<ref>McDonald, Terrence T. "Jersey City homeowners uneasy as long-delayed revaluation begins", The Jersey Journal, April 21, 2017. Accessed July 18, 2017. "When the reval is complete, city officials expect the city's taxable property base to rise in value to about $26 billion from its current $6.2 billion."</ref>

Wall Street West

File:Jersey City skyline, Exchange Place waterfront at sunset (cropped).jpg

Wall Street West as seen from One World Trade Center in 2023

Jersey City's Hudson River waterfront, from Exchange Place to Newport, is known as Wall Street West and has over Template:Convert of Class A office space<ref name =2014recovery/> and over Template:Convert of total office space for the nation's 12th-largest downtown and the state's largest office market.<ref name=Renaissance/> One-third of the private sector jobs in the city are in the financial services sector: more than 60% are in the securities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% in insurance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jersey City is the headquarters of the National Stock Exchange. Jersey City is also home to the headquarters of Verisk Analytics and Lord Abbett,<ref name=StarLedger>Todd, Susan. "Verisk Analytics of Jersey City raises $1.9B in stock offering", The Star-Ledger, October 8, 2009. Accessed October 8, 2009.</ref> a privately held money management firm.<ref>Lord Abbett: Contact Us, accessed April 2, 2011.</ref> Companies such as Computershare, ADP, IPC Systems, and Fidelity Investments also conduct operations in the city.<ref>Major Employer's List Template:Webarchive, Hudson County Economic Development Corporation, accessed March 18, 2011.</ref> Fintech firms such as Revenued also have a large presence to service the financial sector in Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, Forbes magazine moved its headquarters to the district, having been awarded a $27 million tax grant in exchange for bringing 350 jobs to the city over ten years.<ref>Staff. 'Forbes moving into Jersey City offices on Monday, report says", The Jersey Journal, December 12, 2014. Accessed June 1, 2015. "Forbes has committed to spending 10 years in Jersey City, for which it will receive a $27 million Grow New Jersey tax grant because of its pledge to bring at least 350 jobs to the state."</ref> Also in 2014, RBC Bank announced it was moving 900 jobs to Template:Convert of office space at 30 Hudson Street at Exchange Place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, JPMorgan Chase expanded their presence in Jersey City by relocating 2,150 jobs from Manhattan to a company owned office building in Newport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2020, American International Group (AIG) announced it was leasing Template:Convert of office space at 30 Hudson St. starting in 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Bank of Montreal renewed its lease of Template:Convert office space in 2024 at Harborside.<ref name="3 Second St.">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024, Bank of America announced that they leased approximately Template:Convert of office space over 21 floors at Newport Tower in the Newport neighborhood. It represents the largest New Jersey office space lease in the last decade.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Life science and technology industry

The life science and technology industry is a rapidly growing and expanding sector for Jersey City. In 2024, Jersey City was ranked as the 5th top tech city in the United States and now houses 394 different Tech and IT firms with 15.5% of all jobs in Jersey City being created in that sector from 2020 to 2021.<ref name="Top Tech"/>

In 2020, Merck & Co spin-off Organon International leased Template:Convert of office space and located its headquarters at the Goldman Sachs Tower via WeWork.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021, the Liberty Science Center broke ground on SciTech Scity, a Template:Convert campus across the street from the science center that will serve as a hub for life sciences, health care and technology. The $450 million campus will include Edge Works, an eight-story facility that will feature laboratories, research and development spaces, office suites, co-working spaces for startups, a tech exhibition hall and a state-of-the-art conference center. Sheba Medical Center is an anchor tenant and will develop a "hospital of the future" simulation space that will be known as "Liberty Science ARC HealthSpace 2030". Other anchor tenants are RWJBarnabas Health, Bristol Myers Squibb, EY and Nokia Bell Labs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, the campus will include Liberty Science Center High School, a new STEM public high school that will be administered by the Hudson County Schools of Technology and Scholars Village, a 500-unit residential project that will marketed toward families and individuals in tech related industries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Another life science and innovation hub called "The Cove" was announced in 2022. The Template:Convert campus site is near SciTech Scity and will be a mixed-use development with Template:Convert of life science office and research space, Template:Convert of residential space and feature a Template:Convert public waterfront park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2023, the biotechnology firm EpiBone, a company that grows bone and cartilage for skeletal reconstruction, announced it would move from Brooklyn to Jersey City and lease Template:Convert of lab space at 95 Greene Street, a purpose built life science facility at Exchange Place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following year in 2024, RegenLab USA, which manufactures devices for the production of regenerative cell therapy, announced that they would also move from Brooklyn to Jersey City and lease Template:Convert of lab space in the same facility.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, biopharmaceutical company Eikon Therapeutics moved into Template:Convert of office space at Harborside.<ref name="3 Second St."/>

In 2025, AI and IT company Hexaware Technologies leased the entire the 24th floor of Harborside 5 for their global headquarters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, cloud-native IT consultancy firm Zoi North America Inc. opened its United States headquarters in Downtown Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sports betting

Jersey City has quickly grown to be a leader in the sports betting industry and the sports betting epicenter of the United States. BetMGM and Caesars Sports Book have established their headquarters at Exchange Place along the Hudson River Waterfront and several other sports book such as FanDuel, Draft Kings and Fanatics have offices in Jersey City. FanDuel expanded their operations with a new Template:Convert office at Newport in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With New Jersey having a long history of legalized gambling and also being a hub for tech employees, Jersey City has become an extension of the gaming industry in Atlantic City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Retail

File:Journal Square Jersey City November 2021 004.jpg

The Journal Square district in 2021

File:9.28.06NewportMallByLuigiNovi3.jpg

Newport Centre Mall in 2006

Jersey City has several shopping districts, some of which are traditional main streets for their respective neighborhoods, such as Central, Danforth, Newark and West Side Avenues. Lower Newark Avenue in Downtown Jersey City was converted to a permanent three-block long pedestrian plaza in 2022 becoming a hub for the city's dining, nightlife and cultural arts scene.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Journal Square is a major historic commercial and central business district that includes neighborhoods in the broader area such as Bergen Square, McGinley Square, India Square, the Five Corners and portions of the Marion Section. Jersey City has two malls, Newport Centre Mall, a regional indoor shopping mall in Downtown Jersey City, and Hudson Mall, a "non traditional" indoor shopping mall on the city's West Side.<ref name="shop districts"/>

Portions of the city are part of an Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ). Jersey City was selected in 1983 to be part of the initial group of 10 zones chosen to participate in the program.<ref>Urban Enterprise Zone Tax Questions and Answers, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, May 2009. Accessed October 28, 2019. "The Urban Enterprise Zone Program (UEZ) was enacted in 1983. It authorized the designation of ten zones by the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority: Camden, Newark, Bridgeton, Trenton, Plainfield, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Kearny, Orange and Millville/Vineland (joint zone)."</ref> In addition to other benefits to encourage employment and investment within the Zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125% sales tax rate (half of the 6.625% rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants.<ref>Urban Enterprise Zone Program, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Accessed October 27, 2019. "Businesses participating in the UEZ Program can charge half the standard sales tax rate on certain purchases, currently 3.3125% effective 1/1/2018"</ref> Established in November 1992, the city's Urban Enterprise Zone status was set to expire in November 2023 but was extended by the state in 2021 for 10 additional years.<ref>Urban Enterprise Zone Effective and Expiration Dates, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Accessed January 8, 2018.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jersey City is the state's largest and most productive Urban Enterprise Zone encompassing one-third of the city.<ref>Urban Enterprise Zone Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Economic Development Corporation. Accessed January 9, 2018. "One-third of Jersey City is designated as Urban Enterprise Zone. The Jersey City Urban Enterprise Zone is the largest and most productive UEZ in New Jersey."</ref><ref>Jersey City, New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Boundary Changes for 2011 Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Economic Development Corporation, May 2011. Accessed January 9, 2018.</ref>

E-commerce and distribution

Jersey City's central location in the New York metropolitan area along with its extensive rail and road infrastructure and connectivity has made the city an important distribution center with companies such as Sysco having their distribution operations based in the city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Tropicana opened a Template:Convert packaging and sales facility at Greenville Yard in 1991. The facility is supplied by the "Juice Train" from Bradenton, Florida and features an automatic storage and retrieval system in a refrigerated warehouse, juice packing machines and an administrative sales office. The center supplies the entire Northeast and all of Canada with orange juice.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2000, Summit Import Corporation relocated their headquarters and logistics facility from New York City to Jersey City with the opening of a Template:Convert office building and distribution facility at Greenville Yard.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Evergreen Marine Corporation moved its U.S. headquarters back to Jersey City to the Harborside neighborhood in 2003 from Morristown along with 200 jobs. Evergreen's headquarters had previously been in Jersey City from 1989 to 1999.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2011 DeBragga & Spitler, formerly the largest meat purveyor in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, moved their base of operations to a Template:Convert purpose built facility in an industrial area of the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2013, Imperial Dade opened its Template:Convert distribution center and headquarters on U.S. Route 1/9 Truck in the Marion neighborhood on the city's West Side.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

East Coast Warehouse and Distribution expanded its warehouse operations by Template:Convert in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Goya Foods, which had been headquartered in adjacent Secaucus, opened a new headquarters including a Template:Convert warehouse and distribution center in Jersey City in April 2015.<ref name=GoyaHQ>Morley, Hugh R. "Goya Foods opens new HQ-warehouse in Jersey City", The Record, April 29, 2015, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 21, 2015. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The state-of-the-art facility in Jersey City, which includes a 600,000-square-foot warehouse along with the headquarters, is the largest piece of what the company – generally considered to be the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the nation – says is a more than $500 million investment that will help Goya expand for years to come."</ref>

In 2019, Nuts.com moved its headquarters to Template:Convert of office space at Exchange Place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, CVS Health leased Template:Convert of space at the newly constructed Template:Convert HRP Hudson Logistics Park in the Croxton section of Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2025, Daylight Transport opened a Template:Convert shipping terminal on Tonnelle Avenue (U.S Route 1/9) in The Heights. The project included a modernized sanitary pump station and new public sidewalks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later that year, Furniture of America opened a Template:Convert distribution center, known as FOA East, at Greenville Yard.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Port Jersey

File:Port Jersey container ship sunset 2018.jpg

Container ship docked at Port Jersey

Port Jersey is an intermodal freight transport facility that includes a container terminal located on the Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The municipal border of the cities of Jersey City and Bayonne runs along the long pier extending into the bay.

The north end of the facility houses the Greenville Yard, a rail yard located on a manmade peninsula that was built in the early 1900s by the Pennsylvania Railroad.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> New York New Jersey Rail is a switching and terminal railroad headquartered in Greenville Yard that operates the only car float in New York Harbor between Jersey City and Brooklyn. Operations were expanded in 2017 with a new barge, NYNJR100, that features four tracks that can carry up to 18 rail cars of Template:Convert length, with up to 2,298 long tons (2,335 tonne) of cargo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A second barge of the same capacity, NYNJR200, was delivered in 2018 with an older 14-car barge, the 278, still in service.<ref name=workboat119>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2019, the $600 million expansion was completed with the construction of an Express Rail facility that features Template:Convert of track over eight tracks serviced by two rail mounted gantry cranes with a yearly capacity of 250,000 container lifts.

The central area of the facility contains Port Liberty Bayonne, a major post-panamax shipping facility operated by CMA CGM that underwent a major expansion in June 2014.<ref>Conte, Michaelangelo. "Global Container Terminals in Jersey City unveils $325M expansion project", The Jersey Journal, June 19, 2014. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Global Container Terminals in Jersey City held a grand opening yesterday for the completion of a $325 million expansion project which officials say will increase safety, efficiency, environmental friendliness and double the number of containers passing through the terminal."</ref><ref>Sullivan, Al. "JC hosts high tech container port; Global unveils most modern facility in the nation", Hudson Reporter, June 22, 2014. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> The largest ship ever to call at the Port of New York-New Jersey, the MOL Benefactor, docked at Port Jersey in July 2016 after sailing from China through the newly widened Panama Canal.<ref>Berger, Paul. "Mega-ship's arrival in Bayonne a sign of the future", The Record, July 8, 2016, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 10, 2016. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The largest ship ever to call at the Port of New York and New Jersey docked this week after sailing from China through the newly widened Panama Canal. The arrival of the MOL Benefactor at Bayonne's Global Container Terminals marks the beginning of what promises to be a succession of progressively larger ships calling at the busiest port on the East Coast."</ref> In 2024, Port Jersey received four new super post panamax cranes capable of serving 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels raising the number of cranes at the port from eight to twelve. Additionally, work is ongoing to create a third berth for vessels with a depth of Template:Convert.<ref name=Cranes>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other

Iron Mountain opened its Template:Convert flagship Secure Shredding facility in Jersey City to serve the New York metropolitan area in 2006. The facility can shred 200 tons of paper per day and up to 48,000 tons per year along with other physical media.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 2008 to 2013, Jersey City was one of nine cities in New Jersey designated as eligible for Urban Transit Hub Tax Credits by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). Developers who invested a minimum of $50 million within Template:Convert of a train station were eligible for a pro-rated tax credit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2014, the apparel and foot ware company, VF Corporation, moved 145 workers from Manhattan to Template:Convert of office space in Newport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2015, tax preparation company Jackson Hewitt moved its national headquarters from Parsippany to Exchange Place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

IT Cosmetics has been headquartered in the Newport neighborhood since 2008. In 2017, the company expanded its headquarters to Template:Convert a year after it was acquired by L'Oréal. That same year, luxury fashion label Tory Burch relocated several offices from Manhattan to Template:Convert of office space at Newport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021, LifeCap farms opened an organic mushroom farm in a Template:Convert warehouse featuring a laboratory, incubation room and grow rooms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2022, Oishii, a vertical farming company that grows strawberries, moved its headquarters to Jersey City and opened a Template:Convert vertical farm.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2022, the sports memorabilia company, Collectors Holdings, owned by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, leased Template:Convert of space for its authentication and grading services at Harborside 3 along the Hudson River Waterfront.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2023, Whole Foods Market moved its Northeast headquarters from Englewood Cliffs to Template:Convert of office space at Harborside along with the opening of a Template:Convert store.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, sports and leisure equipment manufacturer Technogym open an Template:Convert office at Exchange Place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following year, the company moved its U.S. headquarters from Fairfield, Connecticut to Jersey City along with opening a new Template:Convert distribution facility in New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2025, electronics company Casio America Inc. leased Template:Convert at Harborside 5 for their new sales and marketing headquarters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Casino proposal

In 2014, Paul Fireman proposed a 95-story tower for Jersey City that would have included a casino next to Liberty National Golf Club. The project, which was endorsed by mayor Steven Fulop, would cost an estimated $4.6 billion (~$Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year).<ref>Bagli, Charles V. "Reebok Founder Proposes 95-Story Tower With Casino for Jersey City", The New York Times, July 10, 2014. Accessed June 1, 2015. "Mr. Fireman, the founder and former chairman of Reebok International, is proposing a $4.6 billion project, including a 95-story skyscraper, adjoining his 160-acre golf course on the Hudson River, at the south end of Jersey City."</ref> In February 2014, President of the New Jersey Senate Stephen Sweeney argued that Jersey City, among other distressed cities, could benefit from a casino—were construction of one outside of Atlantic City eventually permitted by New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2016, the New Jersey Casino Expansion Amendment (2016) ballot question was put before New Jersey voters asking them if they would allow the expansion of casino gambling outside Atlantic City via a constitutional amendment. Voters rejected the ballot question by a margin of 77% to 23% effectively ending the casino proposal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable landmarks

File:Lady Liberty under a blue sky (cropped).jpg

Statue of Liberty

• Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island (Liberty Island and part of Ellis Island are located in New York, but both islands are closer to the New Jersey shoreline.)<ref>Bichao, Sergio. "Is the Statue of Liberty in New York or New Jersey? Cool facts, weird theories Read More: Is the Statue of Liberty in New York or New Jersey? Cool facts, weird theories", NJ 101.5, July 4, 2016. Accessed January 26, 2022. "New York or New Jersey? While Liberty Island is closer to the Garden State, the National Park Service says it is "located within the territorial jurisdiction of the State of New York" as per a pact between the two states and ratified by Congress in 1834."</ref>
• The Liberty Science Center, is a Template:Convert science museum and learning center located in Liberty State Park.<ref>Liberty Science Center, Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development. Accessed January 21, 2025. "Jersey City is home to one of the area's most impressive and enriching museums: the 300,000-square-foot Liberty Science Center in Liberty State Park."</ref>
• The Peter Stuyvesant Monument by J. Massey Rhind is a memorial to Peter Stuyvesant and the establishment of settlement of Bergen, New Netherlands in 1660. Erected in 1910 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the establishment of Bergen.
• The Katyń Memorial by Polish-American artist Andrzej Pitynski on Exchange Place is the first memorial of its kind to be raised on American soil to honor the dead of the Katyń Forest Massacre.<ref>Dougherty, Michael Brendan. "America Needs a Katyn Memorial", National Review, May 9, 2018. Accessed November 13, 2019. "Fulop should be reminded that, whatever his opinions on the Law and Justice in Poland, the Katyn memorial in Jersey City commemorates all those who suffered at that massacre, and current estimates suggest that 600 to 800 of the more than 21,000 killed were Polish Jews. Memorializing the Katyn massacre is in no way an anti-Semitic act or a capitulation to the sentiments of anti-Semites."</ref>
• The Lincoln the Mystic is a memorial honoring Abraham Lincoln by James Earle Fraser at the entrance to Lincoln Park.<ref>Lincoln Statue, Syracuse University. Accessed February 18, 2025. "This statue is the second bronze cast of Fraser's original 1930 plaster mold. The first cast, Lincoln the Mystic, is located at the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway in Jersey City, New Jersey."</ref>

File:Colgate Clock Jersey City (1 of 2) (3157735699).jpg

Colgate Clock in 2009

• The Colgate Clock, promoted by Colgate-Palmolive as the largest in the world, sits in Jersey City and faces Lower New York Bay and Lower Manhattan (it is clearly visible from Battery Park in lower Manhattan). The clock, which is Template:Convert in diameter with a minute hand weighing Template:Convert, was erected in 1924 to replace a smaller one that was relocated to a plant in Jeffersonville, Indiana.<ref>Lyons, Richard D. "Jersey City Landmark; Now It's Time to Move the Colgate Clock", The New York Times, July 9, 1989. Accessed November 13, 2019. "The clock has an area of almost 2,000 square feet, a 26-foot-long minute hand that extends just off the clock's face, and an hour hand that is almost 20 feet long. When it began operation in 1924, it replaced a smaller clock that still survives at a Colgate plant in Jeffersonville, Ind."</ref>
• The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre, one of the five Loew's Wonder Theatres constructed in the 1920s and the only one located outside of New York City, is located in Journal Square. Currently presenting classic films, live performances, and events while the theatre undergoes restoration by volunteers.<ref>Staff. "Grant to restore Loew's balcony" Template:Webarchive, The Jersey Journal, July 6, 2009. Accessed February 11, 2012. "The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre in Jersey City is taking another step toward returning to its former glory, thanks to a grant from The Provident Bank Foundation.... The historic theater is only one of five 'Wonder Theatres' built by movie baron Marcus Lewis outside New York City."</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• The Van Wagenen House, also known as the "Apple Tree House". Built in 1740, it is one of the oldest structures in Jersey City and is the purported site of a meeting between George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette in 1779 during the Revolutionary War. It is now home to the Museum of Jersey City History.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The White Eagle Hall is a renovated and re-opened historic theater.<ref>West, Teri. "Jersey City's White Eagle Hall settling into a niche as a regional music powerhouse", The Jersey Journal, February 2, 2024. Accessed February 18, 2025.</ref> Constructed in 1910, it had served as the practice gym for the Saint Anthony High School Friars basketball program.<ref>Testa, Jim. "Historic White Eagle Hall to officially re-open with first concert", The Jersey Journal, May 3, 2017. Accessed January 27, 2018. "The renovated White Eagle Hall in Downtown Jersey City opens on Friday, May 5, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Mayor Steven Fulop, followed by a performance by Jersey City favorite musician sons Rye Coalition.... The historic structure was built by Polish immigrants in 1910 and for much of the 20th century hosted events and programs under the aegis of St. Anthony's Church and High School. For years, the famous St. Anthony's High School basketball team under Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley practiced at White Eagle Hall, and the wooden boards from that gym floor have been repurposed in modernizing the facility."</ref>
• The Jersey City 9/11 Memorial erected to memorialize the 38 Jersey City residents that were killed during the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. The site of the memorial was a triage set up during the '9/11 boatlift' operation and afterwards became a staging area for rescue operations.<ref>New Jersey's 9/11 Memorial in Liberty State Park, New Jersey Department of Treasury. Accessed February 18, 2025.</ref>
• The Empty Sky memorial, designed by Jessica Jamroz and Frederic Schwartz, is located in Liberty State Park and honors the 746 New Jerseyans that were killed during the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and September 11 attacks.<ref>"Empty Sky: New Jersey's September 11th Memorial", University at Buffalo. Accessed February 18, 2025.</ref>
• The Statue of Mary McLeod Bethune designed by Alvin Petit who said "As a broader significance, this also plays a role in linking our City with a national movement to erect monuments that symbolize diversity and inclusiveness. This will be the first statue in Jersey City to honor the legacy of an African American woman."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Art and culture

Based upon a 2011 survey of census data on the number of artists as a percentages of the population, The Atlantic magazine called Jersey City the 10th-most-artistic city in the United States.<ref>Carroll, Brendan. "Artists React to Jersey City's Designation as 10th Most Artistic US City" Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Independent, December 21, 2011. Accessed July 18, 2017. "Jersey City is the tenth most artistic city in the United States, according to a recent ranking by The Atlantic magazine.... Richard Florida, the senior editor of The Atlantic, used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey to rank cities based on the number of artists who live there compared to the overall population."</ref><ref>Florida, Richard. "The Most Artistic Cities in America", CityLab, November 30, 2011. Accessed July 18, 2017.</ref> On November 3, 2020, Jersey City residents voted to create the Arts and Culture Trust Fund to provide funding for local arts organizations and artists and increased opportunities for youth arts education. The city became the first municipality in New Jersey to create a dedicated tax to support the arts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, Americans for the Arts released the Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) study on the nation's non-profit arts and culture sector. The study found that in 2022, Jersey City's arts and culture sector generated $46 million in economic activity while supporting 532 jobs, providing $28.2 million in personal income to residents and generating $7.1 million in local, state and federal tax revenue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Museums, libraries and galleries

File:Greenville Library n museum 1841 JFKB jeh.jpg

Morgan Branch Library, home of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society Museum

The Jersey City Free Public Library is the largest municipal library system in New Jersey. It has a Main Library, bookmobile and ten branches with the newest branch, the Communipaw Branch, opening in 2024 in the Communipaw-Lafayette neighborhood as a public innovation hub for Jersey City and a hub for STEAM learning, equipped with a makerspace that includes a range of tools from 3D printers to a recording studio.<ref>Library Locations, Jersey City Public Library. accessed April 26, 2021.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Main Library Branch features the New Jersey Room, a wing dedicated to historical documents about New Jersey, with a focus on Hudson County and Jersey City. Created in 1964, the room merged the collections of William H. Richardson and the Hudson County Historical Society with material the library already possessed.<ref name="jcnjroom">Template:Cite web</ref> The New Jersey Room holds over 20,000 volumes, in addition to historical maps and periodicals.<ref name="libguidenjroom">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="hobokengirl">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society Museum is located on the upper floor of the Greenville Branch of the Jersey City Public Library and features the heritage of Jersey City's African American community which has been preserved in a special collection. Additionally, a permanent collection of material culture of New Jersey's African Americans as well as African artifacts is also on display.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Museum of Jersey City History is located in the historic Van Wagenen House on Bergen Square and features rotating and permanent exhibitions on the history of Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Liberty State Park is home to the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, the Interpretive Center, and Liberty Science Center, an interactive science and learning center. The center, which first opened in 1993 as New Jersey's first major state science museum, has science exhibits, the world's largest IMAX Dome theater, numerous educational resources, and the original Hoberman sphere.<ref>Liberty State Park, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Accessed August 1, 2013.</ref> In 2017, the center debuted the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, the largest in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From the park, ferries travel to both Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum and Liberty Island, site of the Statue of Liberty.<ref>Home Page, Statue Cruises. Accessed August 1, 2013.</ref>

The Jersey City Museum, Mana Contemporary, and the Museum of Russian Art, which specializes in Soviet Nonconformist Art,<ref>Staff. "Unofficial Soviet Art On View in Jersey City", The New York Times, October 27, 1981. Accessed April 1, 2015. "The 25th anniversary of nonconformist art in the Soviet Union is being observed by the Museum of Soviet Unofficial Art in Jersey City with an exhibition of 200 works by 70 artists."</ref> include permanent art collections and special exhibits such as the International Center of Photography photographic collection, reading room and archives, the Middle East Center for the Arts (MECA) and the Richard Meier Model Museum at Mana. Some stations of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail feature public art exhibitions, including those at Exchange Place, Danforth Avenue<ref>"Hudson Bergen Light Rail (HBLR)" Template:Webarchive. Station Reporter. Accessed January 3, 2012.</ref> and Martin Luther King Drive station.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>New Jersey Transit Hudson-Bergen Light Rail. www.nycsubway.org. Accessed June 13, 2023.</ref>

Jersey City is also home to several art galleries of various scale and size including the Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery and Visial Arts Gallery at New Jersey City University, the Fine Arts Gallery at Saint Peter's University, the Jersey City Art School 313 Gallery as well as Drawing Rooms, SMUSH Gallery, Pro Arts Jersey City - Art 150 Gallery and Novado Gallery to name a few.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Performing arts

File:White Eagle Hall.jpg

The exterior of White Eagle Hall

White Eagle Hall is a 400-seat (800 general admission) performing arts venue located in the Village neighborhood of Downtown Jersey City. It first opened in 1910 as a performing arts venue and parish hall for St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. For many years after it was the practice gym of the historic national powerhouse St. Anthony High School Friars basketball team led by Hall of Fame Coach Bob Hurley. It reopened in 2017 after a three-year $6 million renovation as a performing arts, gallery space, and restaurant complex.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2017, the Jersey City Theater Center performs their dance and theatre programming at White Eagle Hall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Lowes Jersey jeh.JPG

Loew's Jersey Theatre

The Loew's Jersey Theatre is a 3,500-seat historic movie palace and performing arts venue in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City. It was built in 1929 and designed by the architectural firm of Rapp and Rapp. It is one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York metropolitan area and the only one built outside of New York City. When it opened it was called the "most lavish temple of music and entertainment" in New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, the theatre closed to undergo a $105 million renovation with a reopening scheduled for 2026 as a modern performing arts venue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Monty Hall is a live performing arts space owned and operated by WFMU 91.1FM starting in 2014 at their offices and studios at 43 Montgomery Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Nimbus Arts Center at The Lively opened in 2020 in the Powerhouse Arts District (PAD) as the home for Nimbus Dance Works. At Template:Convert, the 150-seat performing arts venue hosts the organization's professional dance company, school of dance, performing arts presentations, visual arts program, and office headquarters. It is also home to Segunda Quimbamba and LUX Performing Arts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Art House Productions Theater Center is located in the Powerhouse Arts District (PAD) and opened in 2023. The two-story facility, gallery and 99-seat black box theater was designed by nationally recognized theater architects Auerbach Consultants. The center hosts plays, comedy shows, film festivals, music performances, dance and visual arts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The New Jersey Symphony is opening its first permanent venue in 2026 in the Powerhouse Arts District (PAD). The Symphony will be moving from its long time base of operations at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark to a purpose built 550-seat theater called the "Symphony Center". The Template:Convert Center will be a hub for concerts, classes and other activities. While the Symphony will continue to perform across New Jersey, the theater will serve as its primary location. The center will increase its programming over a five-year period, with about 20 to 30 performances in the 2026–27 season, and rising to about 150 to 200 performances in the 2030–31 season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Several venues at the universities in Jersey City are also used to present professional and semi-professional theater, dance, and music. New Jersey City University (NJCU) features the historic 1,000 seat Margaret Williams Theatre at Hepburn Hall and the 120-seat black box West Side Theatre. Saint Peter's University features the 200-seat Roy Irving Theatre at Dinneen Hall and the 400-seat "cabaret-style" performing arts space at the Mac Mahon Student Center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

JCMAPS

Since 2013, the Jersey City Mural Arts Program (JCMAPS), has partnered with established and emerging local, national and international mural artists, such as JC based graffiti artist DISTORT, local Jersey City teachers, Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra, and American artists and activists such as Shepard Fairey and Kyle Holbrook. The city also engages property owners throughout Jersey City as part of the innovative program that reduces graffiti, engages local residents and beautifies Jersey City by transforming the city into a vibrant outdoor art gallery. To date, over 200 murals have been created by over 138 artists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2014, the Jersey City Youth Mural Arts Program (JCYMAP) started as an extension of JCMAPS. Students throughout Jersey City work together with art instructors on the final layout and design of the murals and engage in hands-on, intensive workshops that are designed to provide young artists with the tools and skills necessary to create public art.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The program also works with local universities such as New Jersey City University and Saint Peter's University to engage young-adults to create a mural under the direction of professional mural artists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Festivals and events

Jersey City is home to several annual visual and performing arts festivals, fairs, and other events.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These include Jersey City Art & Studio Tour (JCAST), a city-sponsored visual art showcase founded in 1990,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Art Fair 14C, a non-profit juried exhibition for New Jersey artists and New Jersey's largest visual arts event,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Your Move Modern Dance Festival, which was founded in 2010 and continues to be produced by Art House Productions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jersey City has also hosted JC Fridays, a city-wide quarterly seasonal arts festival organized by Art House Productions each March, June, September, and December since 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Art House Productions also produces the Jersey City Comedy Festival (formerly known as the 6th Borough Comedy Festival), which presents stand up, improv, and sketch comedy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2008, Art House Productions also hosts the annual Snow Ball Gala with a different theme every year. The gala celebrates Jersey City's vibrant arts and culture scene by honoring those who support artists and enrich Hudson County through arts programming.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Groove on Grove is a free weekly summer music series that takes place every Wednesday from May to August at Grove Street PATH Plaza.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 1992, the Hudson Shakespeare Company has been the resident Shakespeare festival of Hudson County performing a free Shakespeare production for each month of the summer throughout various parks in the city. The group regularly performs at Hamilton Park (9th Street & Jersey Avenue), Van Vorst Park (Jersey Avenue & Montgomery Street), and The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery (435 Newark Avenue).<ref>Venues, Hudson Shakespeare Company. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref>

The Ghost of Uncle Joe's is an annual weekend long music festival fundraiser that takes place in October and benefits The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery. Started in 2010 and named after Uncle Joe's, a popular former rock club in Downtown Jersey City, performances are held at the cemetery and the festival is Halloween themed and features a mix of local musicians covering well known artists and bands.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Starting in 2010, the annual Jersey City Ward Tour is a recreational cycling event that takes riders on a Template:Convert tour through all six wards of Jersey City and attracts over 3,000 cyclists. The tour is a fundraising event held by Bike JC, a nonprofit organization that advocates on making the streets safer for cyclists by promoting bike-friendly policies such as protected bike lanes and bicycle safety education.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The annual All About Downtown Street Fair, started in 2011 and hosted by the Historic Downtown Special Improvement District (HDSID), takes place in September and runs along Newark Avenue from Grove Street to Coles Street drawing thousand of people to Downtown Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The annual Jersey City Jazz Festival, started in 2013, is the largest jazz festival in the New York metropolitan area and features performances throughout Jersey City over the course of four days. The festival has been so successful that in 2024, the Jersey City Latin Jazz Festival began as its own event. Both festivals are held at Exchange Place and are produced by Riverview Jazz, a Jersey City-based non-profit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jersey City hosts its annual 4th of July fireworks celebration, concert and street fair at Exchange Place. The celebration is one of the largest in the metropolitan area attracting over 100,000 people with Fireworks by Grucci over the Hudson River, Jersey City Night Market and hosting several local and international performing artists over the years such as the Village People (2016), Kool and the Gang (2017), Snoop Dogg (2018), Pitbull (2019), Akon (2018 & 2019), DJ Diesel (2022), Flo Rida (2022), Fat Joe (2024) and Wyclef Jean (2024).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 2015, Jersey City co-hosts New York City's annual Fleet Week celebration and festivities at Liberty State Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Starting in 2017, the Hudson West Music Fest is a folk music festival that takes place in September at various venues throughout the city featuring artists such as Amythyst Kiah and Dori Freeman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Jersey City Mural Arts Festival started in 2021 and was born out of the successful Jersey City Mural Arts Program (JCMAPS). The inaugural festival featured over 50 artists and activated more than 30 walls throughout Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Starting in 2023, Jersey City hosts its annual Juneteenth All About Us Festival at Liberty State Park having hosted performances from Musiq Soulchild (2024), Crystal Waters (2024), Robin S. (2025), Mario (2025) and Jadakiss (2025).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The city's culinary profile has risen in recent years with Jersey City hosting two annual restaurant weeks during the winter months, Hudson County Restaurant Week and Jersey City Restaurant Fest, to celebrate its local establishments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Parks and recreation

File:AudubonPark.JerseyCity.jpg

Audubon Park in the Greenville neighborhood

As of 2025, Jersey City has 109 parks total including county, state and federal park space with 12% of the city's land devoted to parks and recreation, compared to the national median of 15%, giving Jersey City the most park space of any city in New Jersey. Every Jersey City resident lives within a 10-minute walk of a park which is better than the national average of 57%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Ranking>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2016, Jersey City residents voted to establish the Open Space Trust Fund to support the development and maintenance of open spaces, parks, and historic sites through a municipal tax levy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally the trust fund has led to investments to improve open space access, acreage, equity and amenities. These efforts have led to Jersey City being ranked 31st out of the 100 most populous cities by the 2025 Trust for Public Land Park Score.<ref name=Ranking/>

The largest parks in the city are Berry Lane Park at Template:Convert, the largest municipal park, Lincoln Park at Template:Convert, the largest county park and Liberty State Park at Template:Convert is the largest park in Jersey City, the largest urban park in the state and the most visited New Jersey state park with approximately 4.5 million visitors each year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Along the city's eastern waterfront is the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, an Template:Convert linear park that runs from the George Washington Bridge through Jersey City and Liberty State Park to the Bayonne Bridge.<ref>Hudson River Waterfront Conservancy</ref> The city's western waterfront features the Template:Convert Hackensack River Greenway with segments at Droyer's Point and Lincoln Park. As of 1998, Template:Cvt of Ellis Island, owned and operated by the National Park Service, are part of Jersey City.

Sports

Jersey City has a rich sports history despite not having hosted a team of its own in the Big Four professional sports leagues.

Baseball

File:Aerial view of Roosevelt Stadium - 01.jpg

Aerial view of Roosevelt Stadium from over Newark Bay

From the earliest days of organized baseball, Jersey City was a prominent location for teams especially with neighboring Hoboken being the location of the first officially recorded organized game of baseball at the Elysian Fields on June 19, 1846. The Jersey City Skeeters were a minor league baseball team that existed from 1885 to 1933. From 1888 to 1889, they were owned by and a minor league team for the New York Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Skeeters played at Oakland Park in the Jersey City Heights where the Giants opened the 1889 season playing two games against the Boston Beaneaters after being evicted from the original Polo Grounds. In 1902, the Skeeters moved to West Side Park, a site that would later become Lincoln Park in 1905 forcing them to move to a second West Side Park. In 1903, the Skeeters went 92–33 (.736) and won their first and only Eastern League title. For the 1932 season, the club became a farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1933, the club relocated to Syracuse, New York. In 2001, the 1903 team was ranked 7th out of the 100 Best Minor League Baseball teams of the century and as of 2025, the teams' .736 winning percentage is the best in the history of minor league baseball.<ref name="Westside">Template:Cite web</ref><ref> Template:Webarchive 7. Jersey City Skeeters Retrieved September 10, 2025.</ref> The second West Side Park was demolished and replaced by the College Towers housing co-op in 1956.<ref>"Housing Project In Jersey City Set", The New York Times, March 28, 1954. Accessed September 11, 2025. "Construction of an $8,000,000 cooperative apartment project designed for 800 middle-income families is scheduled to begin within a few months in Jersey City. The first project of its type in New Jersey, it will be erected under Federal supervision, but was made possible by a state law adopted in 1949.... The project will rise on the old city baseball park at Culver and Audubon Avenues, adjacent to Jersey City State Teachers College."</ref>

In 1937, Roosevelt Stadium opened at Droyer's Point and marked the return of baseball to the city with the Jersey City Giants of the International League (IL), the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Giants, playing there from 1937 to 1950. The 24,000-seat stadium was considered the best minor league ballpark of the time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Era">Template:Cite web</ref> The Giants won the International League regular-season pennant in 1939 and 1947 and were runners-up to the Syracuse Chiefs (the former Skeeters) in the Governors' Cup playoffs in 1942, but no Giants team would ever win a pennant in postseason play. The most historic baseball moment in the stadium's and city's history occurred on April 18, 1946, when the Giants hosted the Montreal Royals, the farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers, marking the professional debut of the Royals' Jackie Robinson and the breaking of professional baseball's color barrier.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the 1950 season, the New York Giants moved the club to Ottawa, Ontario due to drops in attendance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baseball returned to Jersey City again from 1956 to 1957 when Roosevelt Stadium hosted "home" games for the Brooklyn Dodgers during their last two seasons in Brooklyn – seven in Template:Baseball year and eight in Template:Baseball year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The games were partly a negotiating tactic with the City of New York and the Borough of Brooklyn, in pursuit of a new stadium to replace Ebbets Field.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Dodgers agreed to rent Roosevelt Stadium from the city for an annual fee of $10,000 and agreed to absorb the cost of making the stadium ready for major league baseball. In return, the Dodgers received all parking and ticket revenue. Team owner, Walter O'Malley, added that if by 1958 their new stadium in Brooklyn was still under construction, the Dodgers could play the entire season in Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Dodgers' negotiations with New York City came to naught and the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958.

In 1960, the Havana Sugar Kings of the IL moved to Jersey City from Havana, Cuba for the 1960 and 1961 season a year after winning the 1959 International League title. They were renamed the Jersey City Jerseys and played their games at Roosevelt Stadium. The Commissioner of Baseball, Ford Frick, felt forced by Secretary of State Christian Herter to move the club to protect the “safety and welfare” of club personnel and baseball's interests after Fidel Castro nationalized all U.S.-owned enterprises in Cuba.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jersey City would see the last of professional baseball competition with the Jersey City Indians of the Double-A Eastern League (EL) in 1977 and, following a change in minor-league affiliation, the Jersey City A's of the EL in 1978 calling Roosevelt Stadium home. The stadium was demolished in 1985 after it became too expensive to repair and maintain and the site became a middle income housing development known as Society Hill in 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

American football

In 1937, founding owner of the New York Football Giants of the NFL, Tim Mara, purchased the Stapleton Buffaloes of the American Football Association (AA) and moved the franchise to Jersey City in 1938. Mara renamed the club the Jersey City Giants and made them a minor league team for the New York Giants, the first in professional football. The Giants played their home games at Roosevelt Stadium from 1938 to 1950. Coached by Jersey City native Ed Franco and led by future Hall of Famer Ken Strong, the Giants won the league title in their first season and would win two more championships for a record three league titles (1938, 1940, 1946).<ref name="Era"/>

In 1960, Jersey City hosted a pre-season NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants at Roosevelt Stadium to celebrate the city's 300th anniversary. The game was arranged by the Packers future Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi and Ed Franco who were teammates on the Fordham University's Seven Blocks of Granite offensive line.<ref name="Westside"/>

In 1970, the city hosted the Jersey Jays of the Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL), the farm team of the Cleveland Browns, at Roosevelt Stadium.

During the 1973 NFL season, the New York Giants practiced at Roosevelt Stadium while playing their home games in New Haven, Connecticut at the Yale Bowl. During this time, Giants Stadium was under construction across the Hackensack River at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.<ref name="Era"/>

Jersey City was a host city for Super Bowl XLVIII, held on February 2, 2014, at nearby MetLife Stadium, the home field of the New York Giants and New York Jets. The city hosted the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks at two hotels along the city's waterfront.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Super Bowl XLVIII Kickoff Spectacular was held in Liberty State Park by Communipaw Terminal and hosted by Erin Andrews, Jordin Sparks and Joe Buck on January 27, 2014. The event featured performances from Goo Goo Dolls and Daughtry followed by a 13-minute Macy's fireworks display featuring music from Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga and halftime show performer Bruno Mars.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Basketball

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The Jersey City Armory

Jersey City has been a basketball talent hotbed for decades. The Fourth Regiment Armory (1895–1927), now the site of Hudson Catholic Regional High School, hosted several early semi-professional basketball teams such as the Jersey City Saints (1915–1916) and the Jersey City Skeeters (1917–1919, 1926). The 1919 Skeeters featured future Hall of Famers John Beckman and Nat Holman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 1946 to 1948, the Jersey City Armory hosted the Jersey City Atoms of the professional American Basketball League. Owned by the Kellex Corporation, they also fielded a women's team called the Atom Flashes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From the 1960s to 2017, the St. Anthony High School Friars varsity team were led by Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley who coached the Friars to a record 28 state championships and 4 national championships for the most championships by a high school basketball program in United States history. The school was an integral part of the "NBA Pipeline" for young talent.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Friars held their practices at White Eagle Hall and often played home games at the Jersey City Armory, the city's premier indoor sports venue. St. Anthony closed in 2017 due to declining enrollment and a lack of funds to cover expenses despite efforts to save the school.<ref>Borzello, Jeff. "Hall of Famer Bob Hurley Sr. says St. Anthony High to close", ESPN, April 6, 2017. Accessed September 8, 2025. "St. Anthony High School, home to one of the most successful programs in high school basketball, will close its doors at the end of the school year.... 'Even with fundraising that will generate close to $1.5M by the end of June, this amount is still insufficient to maintain operating expenses and cover debt payment to the Archdiocese,' Hurley wrote. 'In addition, the projected enrollment for 2017–2018 does not provide the revenues required to operate the school going forward.'"</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 2003, the Hamilton Park Summer League, hosted by the Jersey City Department of Recreation, has grown to become one of the premier summer basketball tournaments in New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area. The league features approximately 22 boys high school programs and 500 participants from Jersey City and New Jersey. The league was officially sanctioned by the NCAA in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Saint Peter's Peacocks men's basketball team is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's basketball program that has been representing Saint Peter's University since the 1930–31 season. Saint Peter's hosted its games at the Jersey City Armory prior to the construction of Run Baby Run Arena on campus in 1975. The Peacocks are a founding member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) since the 1981–82 season where they have compiled the second most wins of any MAAC team and have won the MAAC Championship five times (1991, 1995, 2011, 2022, 2024), tied for the second most all-time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Peacocks have appeared in the NCAA tournament five times, including a historic run to the Elite Eight as the first 15-seed to do so in 2022 where they gained national recognition and finished the season ranked No. 24 in the nation by the USA Today Coaches Poll<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with the best NCAA post-season run and the most wins by a MAAC program in a single NCAA Tournament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Peacocks previously achieved national recognition in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), where they have appeared twelve times, in 1968 when they defeated the nationally ranked No. 10 Duke Blue Devils 100–71 in the 1968 NIT Quarterfinals in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,500 at Madison Square Garden.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, the Peacocks competed in the 2017 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) where they won their first national postseason title by defeating the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders 62–61 becoming just the second MAAC program to win a national postseason championship.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Boxing

Jersey City has a long history with the sport and has been host to several high-profile boxing matches over the years. The city's first recorded professional boxing match took place on July 25, 1885, when Jack McAuliffe, nicknamed The Napoleon of the Prize Ring, knocked out Joe Milletecchia in the second round in Jersey City for his first win. By 1905, Newark established itself as New Jersey's boxing center, overtaking Jersey City as a major venue for professional boxing. By 1918, Jersey City again became a hotbed for pro boxing with 37 different boxing cards. Promoters came to Jersey City to avoid New York's taxes on boxing cards while enabling bigger purses for promoters and boxers without a substantinal decrease in attendance and revenue. By 1919, Jersey City surpassed Newark to become the state's boxing mecca hosting a total of 45 fight cards.<ref name="Ringside">Template:Cite news</ref>

The second West Side Park became a top outdoor venue for pro boxing hosting several fights. On July 3, 1918, Jersey City native Frankie Burns, defeated Pete Herman in a 10-round decision for his first win, avenging his previous loss for the world bantamweight title in New Orleans a year earlier. Burns, who would become the featherweight champion of the world, fought seven times in Jersey City. On July 19, 1918, Kid Norfolk defeated former World Colored Heavyweight Champion, Joe Jeanette who first boxed in Jersey City in 1904. The biggest fight held at West Side Park was between Georges Carpentier and World Light Heavyweight Champion, Barney "Battling" Levinsky, on October 12, 1920, in front of sold-out crowd of 15,000. Carpentier defeated Levinsky, who held the title for four years against 59 challengers, by knock-out in the fourth-round, qualifying to fight Jack Dempsey for the heavyweight championship the following summer in Jersey City.<ref name="Westside"/>

The boxing match billed as The Fight of the Century between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier for the world heavyweight championship took place at Boyle's Thirty Acres on July 3, 1921. The arena was a Template:Convert octagonal wooden bowl that seated 80,000 spectators specifically built for the event by promotor Tex Rickard. Dempsey defeated Carpentier by knock-out in the fourth-round retaining his title. The match became the first world title fight to be broadcast over radio via a temporary transmitter on top of Hoboken Terminal. It was also the first boxing match to produce $1,000,000 in revenue, or "million dollar gate" at a then record of $1,789,238. Boyle's would see additional matches over the next few years featuring boxers such as Johnny Wilson, Panama Joe Gans, Mike McTigue, Johnny Buff, Benny Leonard, Lew Tendler, Luis Ángel Firpo, Jess Willard, Harry Wills, Tiger Flowers, Paul Berlenbach, and James J Braddock aka the Cinderella Man.<ref name="Ringside"/> The venue was demolished in 1927 and is now the site of the Mill Creek Gardens public housing development.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

When Roosevelt Stadium opened in 1937, it became the city's main outdoor venue for boxing matches. In 1940, former heavyweight champion Max Baer defeated "Two Ton Tony" Galento. On September 21, 1948, European champion Marcel Cerdan of France defeated Tony Zale for the world middleweight championship title in one of several Tournament of Champions bouts held at the stadium. On August 9, 1950, Sugar Ray Robinson defeated the former 3-time New Jersey State Champion Charley Fusari to defend his welterweight title.

Both the Fourth Regiment Armory and the current Jersey City Armory saw numerous matches featuring Johnny Dundee, Mickey Donley, Jack Britton, Ted "Kid" Lewis, Gene Tunney, James J Braddock, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Sonny Liston and Chuck Wepner, aka the Bayonne Bleeder. Braddock enjoyed boxing in Jersey City going 12–0 in matches in the city. Liston's last fight before his death was at the Armory where he defeated Wepner in the ninth-round on June 29, 1970. The last major boxing card held in the city was on June 2, 1978, with Wepner defeating Tom Healy in a five-round knockout. The following year on July 29, 1979, mayor Thomas F. X. Smith and Muhammad Ali "boxed" for three rounds in front of a crowd of 8,000 as part of fundraiser for the Jersey City Medical Center.<ref name="Ringside"/>

By 1980, Atlantic City became the home of pro boxing in New Jersey with no professional matches in Jersey City until 2000 and again in 2015 when the armory hosted the "Fists of the Fighting Irish" pro boxing event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The city has still been represented in the boxing world with Mark Medal, Arturo Gatti and Tomasz Adamek having fought out of Jersey City.

Soccer

Jersey City has hosted several professional soccer matches at Roosevelt Stadium. On June 19, 1960, the city hosted the International Soccer League (ISL), an affiliate league of the American Soccer League, debut double-header matches where Burnley F.C. defeated OGC Nice 4–0 and Kilmarnock F.C. defeated the New York Americans 3–1.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On June 20, 1971, the stadium hosted a North American Soccer League (NASL) and international soccer double-header where the New York Cosmos defeated the Dallas Tornado 3–1 and Bologna defeated West Ham United 2–1.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Pelé and Santos FC played twice at Roosevelt Stadium. Santos and Bologna played to a 1–1 draw on June 27, 1971 and Santos defeated Lazio 3–0 in a shortened match after many in the crowd of 26,145 fans stormed the field on May 25, 1973.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2017, the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer (MLS) entered into a partnership with New Jersey City University (NJCU) to allow national and international soccer teams to train at the university's Thomas M. Gerrity Complex ahead of their matches at Sports Illustrated Stadium in neighboring Harrison. The French Guiana national football team were the first team to train at the field ahead of their 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup match against the Canada men's national soccer team.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2026, Jersey City will host the FIFA Fan Festival for the New York/New Jersey area at Liberty State Park as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The final will be held at nearby MetLife Stadium along with five group stage matches, one match in the round of 32 and one match in the round of 16.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Golf

File:Liberty Natl Golf clubhouse jeh.jpg

Liberty National clubhouse

Since the opening in 2006 of Liberty National Golf Club on Upper New York Bay, designed by Robert E. Cupp and Tom Kite, Jersey City has become a major host for professional golf tours. Liberty National has hosted the The Northern Trust (formerly known as The Barclays and the Westchester Classic) on the PGA Tour on several occasions, including in 2009, 2013, 2019, and 2021. Since 2023, the course hosts the Mizuho Americas Open on the LPGA Tour (2023, 2024, 2025). From September 28 to October 1, 2017, Liberty National hosted the Presidents Cup where the United States team, led by captain Steve Stricker, defeated the International team by a score of 19–11 for their seventh straight victory.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In media

Newspapers & other news outlets

File:JerseyJournalBuilding.jpg

The Jersey Journal's former headquarters at 30 Journal Square

Jersey City is located in the New York media market, and most of its daily papers are available for sale or delivery such as The New York Times and the Daily News, which maintained its extensive publishing and distribution facilities at Liberty Industrial Park from 1993 to 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of 2025, Jersey City no longer has a daily print newspaper. The city's former daily newspaper since 1867, The Jersey Journal, formerly located at its namesake Journal Square, covered Hudson County and was its morning daily before ceasing publication in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Hudson Dispatch merged with the Jersey Journal in 1991.<ref>Staff. "Owners Warn That Hudson County Newspaper Could Be Closed", The New York Times, January 3, 2002. Accessed September 5, 2011.</ref> The Jersey City Reporter is part of The Hudson Reporter group of local weeklies and is an online-only news outlet since ceasing physical publication in 2023. The River View Observer is another weekly published in the city and distributed throughout the county. Another countywide weekly, El Especialito, also serves the city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> NJ.com, provided by NJ Advance Media, covers news in Jersey City and Hudson County. The Jersey City Times began in 2019 as an online-only news outlet dedicated to in-depth coverage of Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Jersey City Independent was an online newspaper covering Jersey City and surrounding municipalities. It also published JCI Magazine, a print quarterly magazine.<ref>Germano, Sara. "Jersey City Independent Eye-opening alternative news for a bedroom community on the Hudson", Columbia Journalism Review, May 18, 2011. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref>

Radio

WSNR 620 AM is a commercial radio station owned by Gregory Davidzon and Sam Katsman and licensed to Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

WFMU 91.1 FM (WMFU 90.1 FM in the Hudson Valley), the longest-running freeform radio station in the United States, moved to Jersey City in 1998.<ref>About, WFMU. Accessed November 14, 2016. "WFMU-FM is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station broadcasting at 91.1 Mhz FM in Jersey City, NJ, right across the Hudson from lower Manhattan. It is currently the longest running freeform radio station in the United States. The station also broadcasts to the Hudson Valley and Lower Catskills in New York, Western New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania via its 90.1 signal at WMFU in Mount Hope, NY."</ref>

Television and film

File:Pathé Studio Scene—Director Handworth Posing a Military Drama.jpg

Filming at the Pathé American studio in Jersey City Heights (1912)

Jersey City has a long history with the film and television industry dating back to its early days.

Jersey City has hosted several film festivals over the years. The annual Golden Door Film Festival has taken place at various venues throughout Jersey City since 2011, including the Loew's Jersey Theatre, and is the city's longest running film festival.<ref>Hortillosa, Summer Dawn. "Golden Door Film Festival to bring big names, big films to Jersey City; majority of films created by Hudson County people", The Jersey Journal, October 7, 2011. Accessed February 28, 2023."Next week, Jersey City will lift its lamp beside the golden door of opportunity for local filmmakers and actors. The Golden Door International Film Festival, which opens on Thursday, will feature more than 40 films."</ref> The Brightside Film Festival has been held at the Brightside Tavern since 2014 and is an annual festival that features short films.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Jersey City Horror Film Festival (JCHFF) began as the Jersey City Popup Film Festival in 2015 and is designed to be a fun and relaxed film festival, offering quality independent films.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Thomas Edison Film Festival (TEFF) began as the "Black Maria Film Festival" in 1981 as a project of the Thomas A. Edison Media Arts Consortium, an independent non-profit organization originally based at the Media Arts Department at New Jersey City University (NJCU) and was held a Hepburn Hall. The consortium has since moved operations to the Hoboken Historical Museum in neighboring Hoboken and now shows films across New Jersey, the United States and abroad.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The first film studio in the city was built in 1910 in the Jersey City Heights by film production company Pathé Exchange as an outgrowth of the birth of the motion picture industry in Fort Lee at the turn of the 20th century. The most successful film series produced by the studio was The Perils of Pauline starring Pearl White in 1914. The term "cliffhanger" is thought to have originated with the series due to a number of episodes filmed on or around the New Jersey Palisades. Additionally, the hero or heroine was sometimes hanging from the Palisade cliffs, seemingly with no way out, until the next episode.

The Frederick Douglass Film Company was a production company established in 1916 in Lafayette by two prominent residents, Dr. George E. Cannon and Rev. Dr. W.S. Smith of Monumental Baptist Church. Named after the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the company was founded to produce films to counter the negativity from anti-African-American films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), the stereotypical images of Black entertainers in comedic roles and to improve race relations. The company produced three films, The Colored American Winning His Suit (1916), The Scapegoat (1917) and Heroic Negro Soldiers of the World War (1919).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Jersey City Armory has been used as a temporary film studio due to its large floor space and ceiling height for several film projects, including Chazz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale, the Faye Dunaway thriller Eyes Of Laura Mars, Laura Brannigan's music video "Self-Control",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Terry Kinney's Diminished Capacity,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A Perfect Murder by Andrew Davis<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> and Jim Jarmusch's, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

Parlay Studios is Jersey City's longest serving film studio since it opened in The Heights in 2005. It is now located on the campus of Mana Contemporary and features over Template:Convert of space across three soundstages, three studios, production offices and flex and support spaces.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021, Cinelease Studios-Caven Point opened as the second-largest film studio in the State of New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The studio has three soundstages totaling Template:Convert that are Template:Convert high to the grid and Template:Convert to the ceiling.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, the Cinelease announced they are planning to double the number of soundstages with a Template:Convert expansion that will include three new stages.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jersey City has been referenced in and the backdrop and location of several movies, television shows and music videos over the years.

• In the 1950 biopic The Jackie Robinson Story, starring Jackie Robinson and partially based on his autobiography, My Own Story, his historic professional debut with the Montreal Royals in Jersey City is first depicted with Gilmore Field standing in for Roosevelt Stadium.
• In 1968, the film Funny Girl shot the "Don't Rain on My Parade" sequence in the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.<ref name="LSP">Template:Cite web</ref>
• In the 1972 film, The Godfather, the scene featuring Peter Clemenza and Rocco Lampone's famous exchange, "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli", was filmed at the site that became Freedom Way in Liberty State Park in Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 1984 superhero film, The Toxic Avenger, features a car chase scene that was filmed throughout Downtown Jersey City.
• The music video for the 1985 single "Minus Zero" by the Polish band Lady Pank, features Jersey City as a backdrop.
• The 1986 biopic, Sid and Nancy, filmed the movie's final scenes along the waterfront at Exchange Place with the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse in the final shot.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 1989 film Bloodhounds of Broadway, which starred Madonna, Matt Dillon, and Jennifer Grey, was partially filmed in Jersey City.<ref name=JerseyDigs>Template:Cite web</ref>
• In the 1992 "Black Hole" episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show, Commander Höek and Space Cadet Stimpy get sucked into a black hole and end up on a strange world. In order to escape they need catch a bus that is headed for Jersey City.
• In the 1994 historical drama Quiz Show, the Art Deco Murdoch Hall at The Beacon (former Jersey City Medical Center) portrays NBC's Rockefeller Center as both complex's share many architectural similarities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Medical Center"/>
• The 1995 comedy film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, filmed the opening restaurant scenes at the former landmark Canton Restaurant in Journal Square.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• In 1997, the film Men in Black depicts a scene where Agent J delivers a newborn alien squid on Morris Pesin Drive in Liberty State Park.<ref name="LSP"/>
• The 1998 film Godzilla, filmed in the Paulus Hook neighborhood with the movies' military headquarters set at Essex and Hudson Streets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The HBO crime drama The Sopranos filmed at several locations throughout Jersey City during its run from 1999 to 2007 and featured landmarks such as the Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery as the Soprano family cemetery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2004 animated television series Megas XLR is set in Jersey City and features mechanic Coop and his best friend Jamie who find a mecha robot from the future at a local junkyard.
• The 2005 political thriller The Interpreter, filmed several important scenes at the campus of Saint Peter's University.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2009 NBC medical drama Mercy was set and filmed in Jersey City and featured the fictional "Mercy Hospital".
• Jersey City was the filming location for the debut season of the 2012 reality television series Snooki & JWoww, a spinoff of Jersey Shore that starred Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jennifer "JWoww" Farley living downtown at a former firehouse at 38 Mercer Street.<ref>"PHOTOS: Snooki, JWoww move into old Jersey City firehouse for 'Jersey Shore' spinoff", The Jersey Journal, February 26, 2012. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref>
• In the 2013 biopic sports film 42, Jackie Robinson's historic professional debut with the Montreal Royals in Jersey City is depicted with Luther Williams Field doubling as Roosevelt Stadium.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The final scenes of the 2014 adaptation of Annie were shot at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2018 Netflix series Seven Seconds, starring Regina King, is set in Jersey City and the bicycle accident at the center of the plot of Season 1 occurs at Liberty State Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2019 film Joker, based on the DC Comics supervillain, was filmed in Jersey City while depicting it as Gotham City. The historic Hudson County Courthouse is depicted as "Wayne Hall" where Arthur Fleck (Joker) confronts Thomas Wayne and the historic Loew's Jersey Theatre is depicted as the theatre where Bruce Wayne witnesses a criminal murder his parents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Jersey City is the hometown of the fictional Marvel Comics superhero Kamala Khan, an incarnation of Ms. Marvel. The high school she attends, "Coles Academic", is based on Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School located on Coles Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jersey City has been featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in the 2022 Disney+ miniseries Ms. Marvel and in the 2023 film The Marvels. Jersey City was referenced in the 2025 Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again with Matt Murdock/Daredevil saying he prefers Jersey City to Hoboken.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2022 rom-com, Bros, was filmed in the Village section of Downtown Jersey City and at White Eagle Hall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2022 coming-of-age drama film, Armageddon Time, inspired by director, writer and producer James Gray's experience growing up in Queens was filmed throughout Jersey City and features portrayals of Fred Trump and Maryanne Trump Barry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2022 biopic The Greatest Beer Run Ever, produced by Jersey City resident Andrew Muscato, was shot throughout the city, with Van Vorst Park serving as the site of Vietnam War protests and an argument between the main character, Chickie, and his sister.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2023 comedy drama film, Ezra is set in New Jersey and was filmed in the city's Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood featuring Robert De Niro, Whoopi Goldberg and Bobby Cannavale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2024 post apocalyptic AMC miniseries, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, was filmed in and around Hamilton Park with the park being renamed Millennium Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2024 film, It Ends with Us, was shot on location at the Newport waterfront, the Newark Avenue pedestrian plaza and the Van Vorst Park neighborhood with Jersey City portraying Boston.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2024 Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, was extensively shot at multiple locations and businesses in Jersey City with the Van Vorst Park neighborhood around Jersey Avenue portraying Manhattan's West Village.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The 2025 biopic Nonnas, was filmed in the Downtown and Greenville neighborhoods with Jersey City portraying Brooklyn and Staten Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Government

Local

File:2.28.12JerseyCityHallByLuigiNovi2.jpg

City Hall, on Grove Street

Template:Further Jersey City is governed under the Faulkner Act (mayor–council) form of municipal government. The city is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government.<ref>Inventory of Municipal Forms of Government in New Jersey Template:Webarchive, Rutgers University Center for Government Studies, July 1, 2011. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref> The governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the nine-member City Council. The city council has six members elected from wards<ref>Jersey City Ward and Councilperson Map, City of Jersey City. Accessed February 13, 2025.</ref> and three elected at-large, all elected to concurrent four-year terms on a non-partisan basis as part of the November general election.<ref name=DataBook>2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book, Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, March 2013, p. 139.</ref><ref name = JCwards>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey" Template:Webarchive, p. 10. Rutgers University Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref><ref>Cerra, Michael F. "Forms of Government: Everything You've Always Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask", New Jersey State League of Municipalities, March 2007. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref> Ward boundaries were redrawn based on the results of the 2020 United States census to rebalance wards based on population changes.<ref>City Ward Redistricting, City of Jersey City. Accessed June 26, 2022. "After every Federal Census, the boundaries of legislative districts at all levels, federal, state and local, must be reviewed using new census data - and if need be, redrawn to ensure fair and equal representation.... The Governor approved the census results on September 16, 2021. The Ward Commission convened for the first time on December 15, 2021 and determined that the current distribution of the City's population across its six wards required that the ward boundaries be re-drawn."</ref> The redistricting led to some controversy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:As of, the mayor is Steven Fulop, whose term of office ends December 31, 2025.<ref name=Mayor>Mayor's Office, City of Jersey City. Accessed September 26, 2025.</ref><ref>Steve Fulop talks plans for historic third term as Jersey City mayor, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Accessed January 17, 2022.</ref><ref>2023 New Jersey Mayors Directory, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, updated February 8, 2023. Accessed February 10, 2023.</ref> Members of the City Council are Council President Joyce Watterman (at large), Richard Boggiano (Ward C – Journal Square), Amy M. DeGise (at large), Frank E. Gilmore (Ward F – Bergen/Lafayette), Maureen Hulings (Ward B – West Side; appointed to fill an unexpired term), Denise Ridley (Ward A – Greenville), Daniel Rivera (at large), Yousef J. Saleh (Ward D – The Heights) and James Solomon (Ward E – Downtown), all of whom are serving concurrent terms of office that end December 31, 2025.<ref>City Council, City of Jersey City. Accessed September 26, 2025. "The City Council in Jersey City consists of nine members: one council member for each of the City's six wards, plus three at-large council members who represent the entire City. Every two years, the members of the City Council vote among themselves to select one member to serve as the City Council President. Council members serve for a term of four years, which coincides with that of the Mayor."</ref><ref>2025 Municipal Data Sheet, City of Jersey City. Accessed September 26, 2025.</ref><ref name=HudsonDirectory>Elected Officials, Hudson County, New Jersey Clerk. Accessed September 26, 2025.</ref><ref name=Hudson2021>General Election November 2, 2021 Official results, Hudson County, New Jersey, updated November 17, 2021. Accessed January 1, 2022.</ref> Solomon is running for mayor.<ref name=pedia/>

In April 2020, Yousef J. Saleh was appointed to fill the Ward D seat that became vacant following the death earlier that month of Michael Yun from complications related to COVID-19; Saleh served on an interim basis until the November 2020 general election, when voters chose him to serve the balance of the term of office.<ref>Baer, Marilyn. "Yousef J. Saleh sworn in as Jersey City councilman; Protests raised over a 'rushed' process", The Hudson Reporter, May 1, 2020. Accessed September 23, 2020. "Mayor Steven Fulop swore in Yousef J. Saleh on Friday, May 1 after the Jersey City council appointed him to represent Ward D in a 6–2 vote during a special council meeting on April 30. Council President Joyce Watterman nominated the first-generation American, who was born and raised in the Jersey City's Heights neighborhood, to the position left vacant by the death of Councilman Michael Yun due to COVID-19."</ref> The candidates in the December 2025 general election are Jake Ephros, Veronica Akaezuwa, Patrick Ambrossi, Elvin Dominici Encarnacion, and Catherine Healy.<ref name=pedia>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2025, Maureen Hulings was appointed to fill the Ward B seat that became vacant following the resignation of Mira Prinz-Arey.<ref>Milone, Andy. "Hulings Appointed to Ward B Seat, Union Jobs, Affordable Housing Accompanies Approved Tax Abatement", Jersey City Times, April 24, 2025. Accessed September 26, 2025. "The City Council sided Wednesday night with the administration’s pick for a new councilmember temporarily representing Ward B. Councilmembers appointed lifelong resident Maureen Hulings, chair of the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority and legal administrator with the Connell Foley law firm, to the seat vacated April 11 by former Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey."</ref> In November 2025, Eleana Little won the election for Ward E, replacing Solomon who is running for mayor.<ref name=pedia/>

In November 2023, former Governor of New Jersey Jim McGreevy announced his candidacy for Jersey City mayor. Following his 2004 resignation from governorship after admitting to extramarital affairs, McGreevy planned to re-enter politics on a platform of clean and safe streets and controlled property taxes.<ref>Nieto-Munoz, Sophie. "Ex-Gov. Jim McGreevey seeks second chance, this time as mayor of Jersey City McGreevey resigned in 2004 after coming out as 'a gay American'", New Jersey Monitor, November 9, 2023. Accessed September 26, 2025. "Nearly 20 years after he resigned as the state’s top elected official after admitting to an adulterous affair, Jim McGreevey says he’s ready for a second chance in New Jersey’s political world. McGreevey, 66, announced Thursday he is running to become Jersey City’s mayor at El Sabor del Cafe, a restaurant on Martin Luther King Drive in the city’s Greenville neighborhood."</ref> The former governor, however, came in second place to Ward E representative James Solomon; both will advance to the December 2, 2025 runoff election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The business administrator is John J. Metro;<ref name=Administrator/> the City Clerk is Sean J. Gallagher.<ref name=Clerk/>

Federal, state and county representation

File:Hudson County Courthouse Jersey City August 2020 001.jpg

Hudson County Courthouse on Newark Avenue

Jersey City is split between the 8th and 10th Congressional Districts, with 138,371 residents in the Eighth District and 154,819 in the Tenth,<ref name=PCR2022>Plan Components Report, New Jersey Redistricting Commission, December 23, 2021. Accessed October 3, 2025.</ref> and is part of New Jersey's 31st and 32nd state legislative districts, covering the northern and southern halves of the city, respectively.<ref>Districts by Number for 2023-2031, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed September 18, 2023.</ref><ref>New Jersey Legislative Districts 2022-2030 Adopted by the New Jersey Legislative Apportionment Commission on 2/18/2022 Jersey City Census VTD, New Jersey Department of State. Accessed October 3, 2025.</ref><ref>2024 New jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, League of Women Voters of New Jersey. Accessed October 3, 2025.</ref>

Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 census, Jersey City had been in the 31st, 32nd and the 33rd state legislative districts.<ref name=LWV2011>2011 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government Template:Webarchive, p. 59, New Jersey League of Women Voters. Accessed May 22, 2015.</ref> Prior to the 2010 census, Jersey City had been split between the Template:Ushr, 10th Congressional District and the Template:Ushr, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.<ref name=LWV2011/> The split, which went into effect in 2013, placed 111,678 residents living in the city's north and east in the 8th District, while 139,519 residents in the southwest portion of the city were placed in the 10th District.<ref name=PCR2012>Plan Components Report, New Jersey Redistricting Commission, December 23, 2011. Accessed February 1, 2020.</ref><ref>New Jersey Congressional Districts 2012–2021: Jersey City Map, New Jersey Department of State. Accessed February 1, 2020.</ref>

Politics

As of March 23, 2011, there was a total of 120,229 registered voters in Jersey City, of whom 58,194 (48.4%) were registered as Democrats, 7,655 (6.4%) were registered as Republicans, and 54,293 (45.2%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 87 voters registered to other parties.<ref>Voter Registration Summary – Hudson, New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections, March 23, 2011. Accessed November 13, 2012.</ref>

In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 85.5% of the vote (64,052 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 13.5% (10,120 votes), and other candidates with 1.0% (751 votes), among the 75,506 ballots cast by the city's 133,197 registered voters (583 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 56.7%.<ref name=2012Elections>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=2012VoterReg>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 81.8% of the vote (65,780 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain with 16.8% (13,529 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (584 votes), among the 80,381 ballots cast by the city's 139,158 registered voters, for a turnout of 57.8%.<ref>2008 Presidential General Election Results: Hudson County, New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections, December 23, 2008. Accessed November 13, 2012.</ref> In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 74.5% of the vote (52,979 ballots cast), out polling Republican George W. Bush with 22.8% (16,216 votes) and other candidates with 0.5% (559 votes), among the 71,130 ballots cast by the city's 119,723 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 59.4.<ref>2004 Presidential Election: Hudson County, New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections, December 13, 2004. Accessed November 13, 2012.</ref>

Presidential Elections Results

Year	Republican	Democratic	Third Parties
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2024<ref name="2024Elections">Template:Cite web</ref>	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|23.8% 21,236	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|72.6% 64,749	3.6% 2,767
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2020<ref name="2020Elections">Template:Cite web</ref>	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|17.3% 17,032	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|79.3% 78,209	3.4% 1,006
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2016<ref name="2016Elections">Template:Cite web</ref>	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|14.2% 10,735	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|82.7% 62,319	2.7% 2,014
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2012<ref name=2012Election>Template:Cite web</ref>	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|13.5% 10,120	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|85.5% 64,052	1.0% 751
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2008<ref>2008 Presidential General Election Results: Hudson County, New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections, December 23, 2008. Accessed December 24, 2024.</ref>	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|16.8% 13,259	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|81.8% 65,780	0.7% 584
style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|2004<ref>2004 Presidential Election: Hudson County Template:Webarchive, New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections, December 13, 2004. Accessed November 13, 2012.</ref>	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Republican|22.8%, 16,216	style="text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/Democratic|74.5%, 52,979	0.5%, 559

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat Barbara Buono received 66.5% of the vote (20,421 cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 31.8% (9,784 votes), and other candidates with 1.7% (514 votes), among the 32,347 ballots cast by the city's 139,265 registered voters (1,628 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 23.2%.<ref name=2013Elections>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=2013VoterReg>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 76.2% of the vote (29,817 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 18.7% (7,336 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 3.2% (1,263 votes) and other candidates with 0.9% (371 votes), among the 39,143 ballots cast by the city's 120,269 registered voters, yielding a 32.5% turnout.<ref>2009 Governor: Hudson County Template:Webarchive, New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections, December 31, 2009. Accessed November 13, 2012.</ref>

Public safety

• The Jersey City Fire Department has 667 uniformed firefighters and is the state's largest municipal fire department.<ref>Zucker, Harvey. "Jersey City Fire Department's 150th anniversary to be celebrated with parade", The Jersey Journal, September 29, 2021. Accessed April 5, 2022. "Last year, the fire department, which has 667 uniformed members and is the largest in the state, responded to over 13,000 calls, according to Shea and Wallace-Scalcione."</ref><ref>Division of Fire, City of Jersey City. Accessed April 5, 2022. "Presently, the Jersey City Division of Fire consists of 50 civilian employees and over 650 uniformed members, its largest size in a decade, and now the largest of the over 600 municipal departments throughout New Jersey!"</ref> Established as a volunteer department in 1829, the department became a paid professional organization in 1871.<ref>"Mayor Fulop Invites Community to Honor Jersey City Fire Department's 150th Anniversary with Celebratory Parade; NJ's Largest Municipal Fire Department, Saving Lives and Property since 1871" Template:Webarchive, City of Jersey City press release dated September 29, 2021. "Organized fire protection in Jersey City began on September 21, 1829. The volunteer Jersey City Fire Department consolidated with the Hudson City and City of Bergen volunteer departments to officially form the professional career Jersey City Fire Department in 1871."</ref> Jersey City is a member of the Metro USAR Strike Team, which consists of nine North Jersey fire departments.<ref>Steadman, Andrew. "Bayonne firefighters participate in mock disaster drills in Newark", The Jersey Journal, May 1, 2012. Accessed August 22, 2018. "According to the press release, the Metro USAR Strike Team is made up of nine fire departments from Bayonne, Elizabeth, Hackensack, Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, Morristown as well as the five-municipality North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Agency."</ref> Jersey City also has the only High-Rise Firefighting Unit in the state, known as "Squad 1."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Jersey City Police Department has more than 950 sworn officers. The creation of the department dates back to 1829 with the first appointment of watchmen. The Patrol Division is divided into four districts including the North, East, West and South areas of the city.<ref>Division of Police, City of Jersey City. Accessed April 5, 2022. "The history of the Jersey City Police Department dates back to 1829, and today consists of nearly 975 uniformed officers, 200 crossing guards, and 200+ civilian employees dedicated to the safety of Jersey City's residents and visitors."</ref> In 2024, the city opened the Public Safety De-Escalation and Training Center which features multiple training centers including a 360-degree training simulator, tactical training rooms, two firearm qualification ranges and five classrooms. Additionally, residents and community partners are invited to participate in training at the new building to better understand emergency responses.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are provided by the Jersey City Medical Center under RWJBarnabas Health with a Template:Convert headquarters located a short distance from the Medical Center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Education

Colleges and universities

File:7.20.2010NJCUHepburnHall.jpg

Hepburn Hall at New Jersey City University

File:YanitelliCenterOutside.jpg

The Yanitelli Center on the campus of Saint Peter's University

Jersey City is home to several institutions of higher education.

New Jersey City University (NJCU) is a state public university on the West Side of the city. Chartered in 1927 as "New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City", it originally specialized in teacher education and first awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in education.<ref>About, New Jersey City University. Accessed April 28, 2023. "Located in Jersey City, NJ, one of the most diverse cities in the nation, and just minutes from New York City, NJCU's College of Arts and Sciences, Education, Professional Studies, and School of Business offer 50 undergraduate degree programs and 30 graduate programs, including emerging and interdisciplinary fields."</ref> A. Harry Moore School school opened in the 1930s as the one of the first public schools in the United States specifically constructed for students with multiple disabilities. Since 1963, the school is part of NJCU's campus and is a laboratory school for its Special Education program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Saint Peter's University is a private Jesuit university on the West Side of Jersey City. It was founded as "Saint Peter's College" by the Society of Jesus in 1872 as a liberal arts college in the Paulus Hook neighborhood.<ref>Campus Map Template:Webarchive, Saint Peter's University. Accessed June 28, 2017.</ref>

Hudson County Community College, established in 1974 as the first "contract" college in New Jersey, is a public community college located on an urban style campus in Journal Square offering courses to help students transition into a larger university.<ref>Explore HCCC Template:Webarchive, Hudson County Community College. Accessed January 25, 2020. "Our beautiful urban Journal Square campus (our main campus) is conveniently located in the heart of Hudson County, less than 20 minutes from New York City and the Newark Liberty International Airport, and is easily accessible via PATH, train or bus."</ref>

Rutgers University offers MBA classes through the Rutgers Business School at Harborside Financial Center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"Jersey City Directions". Rutgers University. Accessed June 28, 2017. "The Rutgers Part-Time MBA satellite location at Harborside in Jersey City brings the Rutgers MBA experience to your doorstep."</ref>

New Jersey Institute of Technology offers M.S. programs in artificial intelligence, computer science, data science and cyber security at the Ying Wu College of Computing at 101 Hudson Street at Exchange Place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>NJIT@JerseyCity. New Jersey City University. Accessed January 25, 2020.</ref>

Public schools

File:McNair Acad HS JC jeh.jpg

Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School

The Jersey City Public Schools serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke<ref>What We Do: History, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022. "In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the Abbott v. Burke case that the State must provide 100 percent funding for all school renovation and construction projects in special-needs school districts. According to the Court, aging, unsafe and overcrowded buildings prevented children from receiving the "thorough and efficient" education required under the New Jersey Constitution.... Full funding for approved projects was authorized for the 31 special-needs districts, known as 'Abbott Districts'."</ref> which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.<ref>What We Do, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022.</ref><ref>SDA Districts, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022.</ref> As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised 39 schools, had an enrollment of 27,134 students and 2,110.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.9:1.<ref name=NCES>District information for Jersey City Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.</ref>

High schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics)<ref>School Data for the Jersey City Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.</ref> are William L. Dickinson High School Academy of the Sciences<ref>Academy of the Sciences at William L. Dickinson High School, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (2,046; 9–12), James J. Ferris High School Academy of International Enterprise<ref>Academy of International Enterprise at James J. Ferris High School, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (1,292; 9–12), Infinity Institute<ref>Infinity Institute, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (485; 6–12), Innovation High School<ref>Innovation High School, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (286; 9–12), Liberty High School<ref>Liberty High School, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (210; 9–12), Lincoln High School Academy of Governance and Social Sciences<ref>Academy of Governance and Social Sciences at Lincoln High School, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (949; 9–12), Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School<ref>Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (704; 9–12), Renaissance Institute<ref>Renaissance Institute, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (NA; 9–12) and Henry Snyder High School Academy of the Arts<ref>Academy of the Arts at Henry Snyder High School, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref> (800; 9–12).<ref>High Schools, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref><ref>School Performance Reports for the Jersey City Public SchoolsTemplate:Dead link, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed July 25, 2023.</ref>

Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School was the first-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked second in 2008 out of 316 schools.<ref>Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed December 21, 2011.</ref> and was selected as 41st best high school in the United States in Newsweek magazine's national 2011 survey.<ref>Staff. "36 N.J. high schools named among Newsweek's top 1000 in America", The Star-Ledger, June 21, 2011. Accessed December 21, 2011.</ref> William L. Dickinson High School is the oldest high school in the city and one of the largest schools in Hudson County in terms of student population. Opened in 1906 as the Jersey City High School it is one of the oldest school sites in the city, it is a four-story Beaux-Arts building located on a hilltop facing the Hudson River.<ref>Goodnough, Abby. "Once Upon a Time, When High Schools Were Palaces", The New York Times, October 6, 1996. Accessed December 21, 2011. "NINETY years ago, an enormous Beaux Arts building went up on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. It had Corinthian columns, terrazzo floors and a vestibule lined with English marble. It could have passed for a palace, or at least a palatial estate. But it was neither. It was, in fact, William L. Dickinson High School, the first public secondary school in Jersey City.... When it opened in 1906, Dickinson had a 2,000-seat auditorium used not just for school functions but for political debates, plays and concerts."</ref>

Among Jersey City's elementary and middle schools is Academy I Middle School and Frank R. Conwell Middle School #4, which is part of the Academic Enrichment Program for Gifted Students. Another school is Alexander D. Sullivan P.S. #30, an ESL magnet school in the Greenville district, which serves nearly 800 Pre-k through 5th grade students.<ref>Alexander D. Sullivan School – PS 30 Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Public Schools. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref>

The Hudson County Schools of Technology (which also has campuses in North Bergen and Secaucus) has a campus in Jersey City, which includes County Prep High School.<ref>High Schools Template:Webarchive, Hudson County Schools of Technology. Accessed November 16, 2011.</ref>

Jersey City also has 12 charter schools, which are run under a special charter granted by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education, including the Mathematics, Engineering, Technology and Science Charter School (for grades 6–12) and the Dr. Lena Edwards Charter School (for K–8), which were approved in January 2011.<ref>Staff. "State approves 2 New Jersey City charter schools", The Jersey Journal, January 19, 2011. Accessed November 16, 2011.</ref> BelovED Community Charter School opened in 2012.<ref>Ojutiku, Max. "Jersey City charter school to build $12M middle school", The Jersey Journal, April 21, 2016. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref>

Private schools

File:Photo-banner-JC-e1453327586564.jpg

French American Academy on 3rd Street

Catholic schools

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark maintains a network of elementary and secondary Catholic schools that serve every area of Jersey City. Hudson Catholic Regional High School is operated by the Archdiocese, while Saint Dominic Academy and St. Peter's Preparatory School are private, religiously affiliated schools.<ref>Hudson County Catholic High Schools, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. Accessed March 1, 2023.</ref> St. Mary High School closed in June 2011 due to declining enrollment.<ref>Persaud, Vishal. "Announcement St. Mary High School in Jersey City will close in June has some parents, students and staff stunned" Template:Webarchive, The Jersey Journal, February 9, 2011. Accessed September 2, 2011. "Parents, students and staff at St. Mary High School in Jersey City remained stunned yesterday by Monday's news that the school is closing at the end of June.... St. Mary will graduate 72 seniors in June, which would have put the school's enrollment at 93 among the remaining classes. Ten years ago, St. Mary had 381 students, Lalicato said. At its peak in the mid-1980s, the school had more than 450 students."</ref> St. Anthony High School, a prep basketball powerhouse known for its success under Bob Hurley and his 26 state championships in 39 years as a coach, closed in June 2017 due to declining funding and enrollment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Catholic K-8 elementary schools include Our Lady of Czestochowa School,<ref>About Us Template:Webarchive, Our Lady of Czestochowa School. Accessed February 14, 2022.</ref> Sacred Heart School,<ref>Thorbourne, Ken. "Amid economic challenges, Jersey City's Sacred Heart School continues mission", The Jersey Journal, June 26, 2014. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref> Saint Aloysius Elementary Academy,<ref>About Us Template:Webarchive, Saint Aloysius Elementary Academy. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref> St. Joseph School<ref>History Template:Webarchive, St. Joseph Catholic School. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref> and St. Nicholas School.<ref>About Us, Saint Nicholas School. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref><ref>Hudson County Catholic Elementary Schools, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. Accessed March 1, 2023.</ref> In 2015, Our Lady of Czestochowa School was one of 15 schools in New Jersey, and one of six private schools, recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in the exemplary high performing category by the United States Department of Education.<ref>2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools All Public and Private, National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref><ref>Mueller, Mark. "Which N.J. schools were named National Blue Ribbon schools?", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, September 29, 2015. Accessed November 14, 2016. "Fifteen New Jersey schools have been recognized by the federal government as National Blue Ribbon Schools, a designation that celebrates excellence in academics or progress in closing the achievement gap among groups of students.... Each of the 15 New Jersey schools was chosen for the 'exemplary high performing' category, which weighs state or national tests, high school graduation rates and the performance of subgroups of students, such as those who are economically disadvantaged."</ref>

In the face of declining enrollment and rising expenses, the Newark Archdiocese closed Our Lady of Mercy Academy (founded in 1964) and Resurrection School at the end of the 2012–13 school year.<ref>Conte, Michaelangelo. "Jersey City losing another Catholic elementary school in June: Our Lady of Mercy Academy", The Jersey Journal, April 13, 2013. Accessed November 14, 2016. "Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Jersey City will close at the end of the 2012–2013 school year. The pre-K through eighth grade school on Bartholdi Avenue opened its doors in 1964. The closures of OLM and Resurrection School at the end of the school year will leave Jersey City with just five Catholic grammar schools."</ref> St. Anne School closed at the end of the 2011–12 school year after 112 years, as enrollment declined from 700 students in 1976 to 240 in 2010–11 and 188 in the school's final year of operation.<ref>Scrivner, Michael. "St. Anne's School in Jersey City Heights graduates its last class, will close on Thursday", The Jersey Journal, June 12, 2012. Accessed November 14, 2016. "The 112-year-old school at Kennedy Boulevard and Congress Street will close its doors for good on Thursday due to rising debt and declining enrollment, school officials said. At its peak in 1976, the school had more than 700 students. This school year, there were 188 students, down from 240 last year."</ref>

Other private schools

Other private high schools in Jersey City include First Christian Pentecostal Academy and Stevens Cooperative School.<ref>At A Glance, Stevens Cooperative School. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref><ref>Our History Template:Webarchive, First Pentecostal Church of God. Accessed January 3, 2012. "First Christian Pentecostal Academy spans from grades K4 through 8th. It is a ministry that God has used and continues to use to serve children and their families."</ref> Kenmare High School is operated through the York Street Project as part of an effort to reduce rates of poverty in households headed by women, through a program that offers small class sizes, individualized learning and development of life skills.<ref>Kenmare High School Template:Webarchive, The York Street Project. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> The French American Academy, located in the century-old three-story building of the former St. Mary's High School, is a private bilingual school PK-3.<ref>"French American Academy in Jersey City". Great!Schools.org. Retrieved April 19, 2019.</ref> A number of other private schools are also available. Genesis Educational Center is a private Christian school located in downtown Jersey City for ages newborn through 8th grade.<ref>Genesis Educational Center Template:Webarchive, Riverside Church Jersey City. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> The Jersey City Art School is a private art school located in downtown Jersey City for all ages.<ref>About Template:Webarchive, Jersey City Art School. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref> The Franklin School is a four year independent high school located in the Newport neighborhood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Transportation

File:PATH PA-5.jpg

PATH train departing the Journal Square Transportation Center

Of all Jersey City commuters, 8.17% walk to work, and 46.62% take public transit. This is the second highest percentage of public transit riders of any city with a population of 100,000+ in the United States, behind only New York City and ahead of Washington, D.C.<ref name=CarFree>Most Public Transit Commuters in Cities with 50,000 to 250,000 Residents, Cars At Work, backed up by the Internet Archive as of October 13, 2007. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref>

Air

• Newport Helistop Heliport, on the Sixth Street Pier at the Hudson River in Newport<ref>Newport Helistop Heliport , SkyVector. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Newark Liberty International Airport is the nearest commercial airport that serves Jersey City and is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Mass transit

Rail

File:Hudson bergen exchange place.jpg

Hudson–Bergen Light Rail at Exchange Place

• Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: One of the most popular forms of transportation in the city. Of the 24 HBLR stations that connect its three terminus points, 13 are located in Jersey City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• PATH: 24-hour rapid transit system with four stations in Jersey City: Exchange Place, Newport, Grove Street, and Journal Square. Service goes to Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, 33rd Street station in Midtown Manhattan, World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and Newark Penn Station in Newark where inter-state Amtrak connections can be made.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Hoboken Terminal, straddling the city's northeast corner: Main Line (to Suffern, and in partnership with MTA/Metro-North, express service to Port Jervis), Bergen County Line, and Pascack Valley Line, all via Secaucus Junction (where transfer is possible to Northeast Corridor Line); Montclair-Boonton Line and Morris and Essex Lines (both via Newark Broad Street Station); North Jersey Coast Line (limited service as Waterfront Connection via Newark Penn Station to Long Branch and Bay Head).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bus

The Journal Square Transportation Center, Exchange Place and Hoboken Terminal are major origination/destination points for buses. Service is available to numerous points in Jersey City, Hudson County, and some suburban areas as well as to Newark on the 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14, 16, 22, 23, 64, 68, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 bus routes. Service is available to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 119, 123, 125, 126 bus routes via the Lincoln Tunnel. Express service to Atlantic City is available on the 319 bus route.<ref>Hudson County Bus / Rail Connections. NJ Transit, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 25, 2009. Accessed September 5, 2011.</ref><ref>Hudson County System Map Template:Webarchive, NJ Transit. Accessed November 12, 2019.</ref><ref>2018 Hudson County Transit Map, Hudson Transportation Management Association. Accessed November 12, 2019.</ref>

Increased use of jitneys, locally known as dollar vans, has greatly affected travel patterns in Hudson County, leading to decreased bus ridership on traditional bus lines. After studies examining existing systems and changes in public transportation usage patterns it was determined that a Journal Square-Bayonne bus rapid transit system should be investigated. In 2012, the Board of Chosen Freeholders authorized the identification of possible BRT corridors.<ref>Hudson County Jitney Study, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 18, 2015. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref><ref>Hudson County Bus Circulation and Infrastructure Study, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, backed up by the Internet Archive as of January 15, 2013. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref><ref>Jersey City Bus Study, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref><ref name="JCBaynne">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Hack, Charles. "Hudson freeholders to study express bus service between Jersey City and Bayonne", The Jersey Journal, January 25, 2012. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref>

The A&C Bus Corporation was an independent bus company established in 1927 and headquartered in Jersey City. A&C had operated the 30, 31, 32 and 33 bus routes using a fleet of buses leased from NJ Transit. In July 2023, A&C announced that it would discontinue operations.<ref>Sussman, Spencer. "End of the line: Nearly century-old Jersey City bus company shutting down", The Jersey Journal, July 25, 2023. Accessed December 8, 2023. "The independent Jersey City bus company was founded in 1927 and is known for its distinctive solid red line across the side of the bus.... A&C currently operates four bus routes in Jersey City: the No. 30 from Society Hill to Journal Square, the No. 31 from Danforth Avenue to the Newport Mall, the No. 32 from Journal Square to the Hudson Mall, and the No. 33 from 53rd street in Bayonne to Journal Square."</ref> In October 2023, the four routes that had been operated by A&C were taken over by NJ Transit bus operations under a modified route 80 and new routes 9, 14 and 8.<ref>Sussman, Spencer. "Jersey City bus company to close on Halloween, giving officials 3 months to find new option for riders", The Jersey Journal, July 27, 2023. Accessed December 8, 2023. "The independent Jersey City bus service will cease operations on its four Jersey City and Bayonne bus routes Oct. 31, The Jersey Journal has learned."</ref><ref>Zeitlinger, Ron. "On schedule: NJ Transit’s takeover of A&C bus lines Oct. 28 is on track", The Jersey Journal, October 23, 2023. Accessed June 26, 2025. "New Jersey Transit is taking over four bus routes on the West Side of Jersey City, starting Saturday, Oct. 28, the day the nearly 100-year-old A&C ceases operations. The closure stems from the rising cost of insurance and shrinking revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic, company officials have said. The buses will be different and the bus route numbers are changing from Nos. 30, 31, 32 and 33 to Nos. 80, 9, 14 and 8. But little else is expected to change."</ref>

Since 2016, two Taiwanese airlines, China Airlines and EVA Air, have provided private bus services to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City for customers based in New Jersey. These bus services stop in Jersey City.<ref>"Service to Connect PA & NJ Template:Webarchive." EVA Air. Accessed February 29, 2016.</ref><ref>"Free Shuttle Service To/From JFK Airport Template:Webarchive." China Airlines. September 15, 2015. Accessed February 29, 2016.</ref>

Via on-demand public transit

In February 2020, the city launched its on-demand transit system in partnership with Via Transportation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The city-run microtransit service, Via Jersey City, complements and extends the existing public transit networks, providing better connections between residential neighborhoods, business districts, government facilities, PATH stations, and ferry and light rail stops in the north and south regions of the city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Commuters can use the Via app to book an on-demand ride from their smartphone. In March 2021, Via Jersey City was expanded to provide weekend service on Saturdays.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Water

File:Austin Tobin, Morris Canal Basin.jpg

Ferry crossing the Morris Canal Basin in Jersey City

• NY Waterway ferries operate between Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal, Liberty Harbor and Port Liberté, Jersey City to Manhattan at Battery Park City Ferry Terminal, Pier 11/Wall Street, and West Midtown Ferry Terminal, where free transfer is available to a variety of "loop" buses.<ref>Fares, Routes & Schedules, NY Waterway. Accessed June 1, 2015.</ref>
• Liberty Landing Ferry operates ferries between Liberty Landing Marina, Warren Street and the Battery Park City Ferry Terminal at Brookfield Place (New York City).<ref>Route, Liberty Landing Ferry. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref>
• Statue Cruises provides ferry service to and between Ellis Island and Liberty Island from Liberty State Park<ref>Ferry System Map, National Park Service. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref><ref>About, Statue Cruises. Accessed November 14, 2016.</ref>

Road

File:2018-07-08 08 23 07 View west along Interstate 78 (New Jersey Turnpike Newark Bay Extension) just east of Exit 14B (Jersey City, Liberty State Park) in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.jpg

Interstate 78, the New Jersey Turnpike Newark Bay Extension, westbound at Exit 14B in Jersey City

File:Pulaski Skyway at NJ TPK, Newark.jpg

Looking east towards Jersey City, the Wittpenn Bridge (left), Pulaski Skyway (center) and Lincoln Highway Bridges (right)

File:Holland Tunnel Entrance.jpg

Entrance to the Holland Tunnel, which carries high amounts of vehicular traffic from New Jersey to Lower Manhattan

Template:As of, the city had a total of Template:Convert of roadways, of which Template:Convert were maintained by the municipality, Template:Convert by Hudson County and Template:Convert by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Template:Convert by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Template:Convert by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.<ref>Hudson County Mileage by Municipality and Jurisdiction, New Jersey Department of Transportation, March 2019. Accessed January 3, 2021.</ref>

• Holland Tunnel: From Boyle Plaza in Downtown Jersey City to its eastern terminus at Canal Street in Manhattan (carries Interstate 78 and Route 139).
• Highways include the New Jersey Turnpike Extension (Interstate 78); the Pulaski Skyway (U.S. Route 1/9), Route 7, Route 139, Route 185 and Route 440.
• Bridges include the Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge from South Kearny to the West Side of Jersey City (carries U.S. Route 1/9 Truck) and the Wittpenn Bridge from Kearny to Jersey City (carries Route 7).

Bike

File:Lincoln Pk ECGW ribbon cutting jeh.jpg

East Coast Greenway dedication ceremony

A part of the East Coast Greenway, a planned unbroken bike route from Maine to the Florida Keys, will travel through the city. In June 2012, part of the route was officially designated in Lincoln Park and over the Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge.<ref>Haddon, Heather. "Greenway Clears Gritty Hurdle", The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2012. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref><ref>Reyes, Daniel. "New Bike Path Connects Jersey City and Newark", The Jersey Journal, June 22, 2012, updated March 30, 2019. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> Both the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway and Hackensack River Greenway are bicycle friendly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In April 2012, the city initiated the Morris Canal Greenway Plan to investigate the establishment of a greenway, including a bicycle path, that would follow the route of the Morris Canal to the greatest extent possible.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Also in April 2012, the city established bikes lanes along the length Grove Street, originally meant to temporary. In December 2012, the city announced that Grove Street lanes would become permanent and that it would add an additional Template:Convert of both dedicated and shared bike lanes.<ref>Nathan, Sarah. "Move over, drivers: Jersey City plans to add 54 miles of bike lanes", The Jersey Journal, December 7, 2012, updated January 18, 2019. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> In 2019, the Grove Street lanes became the city's first protected bike lanes along with an addition Template:Convert of new protected bike lanes throughout the city. As of 2024, Template:Convert of protected bike lanes have been installed with an additional Template:Convert in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Harbor Ring is an initiative to create a 50-mile bike route along the Lower Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, and Kill van Kull that would incorporate bike paths in the city.<ref>Cruz, Vera. "New York Harbor and New Jersey meet Bike and pedestrian route planned to encourage recreation and transportation", Hudson Reporter, February 24, 2013. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Goodyear, Sarah. "Could You One Day Ride Your Bike All the Way Around New York Harbor?", Citylab, October 12, 2012. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref>

In 2013, the city simplified the application and reduced the cost for business and residences to install bike racks as well as making them obligatory for certain new construction projects.<ref>Copeland, Denise. "Two major new bike initiatives to enhance Jersey City's bike infrastructure", The Jersey Journal, March 19, 2013, updated January 17, 2019. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref>

Bike share and storage

Also in 2013, Hudson County had initiated exploration of a bike-share program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken intended to operate the program starting in 2014<ref>Brenzel, Kathryn. "Ready to roll: Hoboken, Jersey City and Weehawken plan regional bike-sharing program", The Jersey Journal December 17, 2013, updated March 29, 2019. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> but delayed the launch due to lack of sponsorship. The revamped program officially launched on September 21, 2015, as Citi Bike with membership working in Jersey City and New York City.<ref>Tangel, Andrew. "North Jersey Bike-Sharing Program Faces Delays; Program Won't Roll Out for at Least Several Months in Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken", The Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2014. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref> On May 3, 2021, Citi Bike eventually expanded to neighboring Hoboken with 15 stations and about 200 bikes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2025, the Jersey City announced that 25 new Citi Bike stations would be added to the system in the Bergen-Lafayette, Greenville, West Side and Jackson Hill neighborhoods expanding the system from 53 to 78 stations. These new stations will enable better connections to NY Waterway service at Port Liberté.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, the city officially launched the first municipal secure bike parking & charging network in the United States. Jersey City partnered with Oonee, a Brooklyn based bicycle storage company, to develop a network of 30 storage pods, racks and charging stations throughout the city. As of 2025, there are 7 locations at Journal Square (pilot location), McGinley Square, Newport, Exchange Place, Washington and Montgomery Streets, the Grove Street PATH station and the Danforth Avenue HBLR station.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, the battery charging and swapping program for e-bikes and e-scooters was initiated at two locations, McGinley Square and Washington and Montgomery Streets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Pedestrian safety

In 2018, Jersey City adopted the Vision Zero initiative becoming the first city in New Jersey to do so. The city implemented a number of traffic calming measures to make certain intersections and streets safer. These include giving pedestrians lead time before turning traffic lights green, enhancing crosswalks, installing bump-outs, curb extensions, and vertical delineators by daylighting intersections to improve sightlines for motorists to avoid collisions with cyclists, pedestrians, and other cars. Additionally, speed bumps were installed on various corridors and designated vehicle restricted "slow streets" were created. Street space reclamation projects through "tactical urbanism" created new pedestrian plazas throughout the city. As a result of these efforts, in 2022 Jersey City did not experience a traffic death on streets owned and maintained by the city for a single year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

These measures along with the city's compactness, density, transit and bike infrastructure has led Jersey City to become known as one of the most walkable cities in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, Walk Score ranks Jersey City as the third most walkable U.S. city, with a Walk Score of 87, a Transit Score of 70, and a Bike Score of 64.<ref name="WalkScore">Template:Cite web</ref>

Modal characteristics

Jersey City has a high percentage of residents who commute without a car. In 2000, 40.67% of Jersey City households did not own an automobile, the second-highest of all cities in the United States with 50,000 to 250,000 residents.<ref name=CarFree/> In 2015, that dropped to 40.1% of Jersey City households were without a car, which decreased further to 37.1% in 2016. The national average was 8.7% in 2016. Jersey City averaged 0.85 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8 per household.<ref>Car Ownership in U.S. Cities Data and Map, Governing. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref> In 2020, 37.1% of Jersey City households were still without a car giving the city an average of 0.85 cars per household, the fourth fewest in the nation. The national average for households without a car was 8.3% in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hospitals and healthcare

File:JCMC south jeh.JPG

Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC)

Jersey City is home to two hospitals. Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC) is a 352-bed, Level II Regional Trauma Center and teaching hospital that is located on a 15-acre campus in Downtown Jersey City that includes Wilzig Hospital, the Provident Bank Ambulatory Center, the Cristie Kerr Women's Health Center and the Abercrombie Guild Pediatric Emergency Department (ED), the only pediatric ED in Hudson County. It is part of RWJBarnabas Health, New Jersey's largest network of independent hospitals and healthcare facilities. The medical center is Jersey City's largest medical center and oldest hospital dating back to 1868 and was the first medical center in New Jersey and one of the first in the United States. By the 1940s, it had grown to become the third-largest healthcare center in the world. From 1956 to 1968, the medical center was the original home of the Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry, the predecessor to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Medical Center"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Christ Hospital is a 376-bed, private for-profit hospital in the Jersey City Heights. Established in 1872, the hospital was originally affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Newark and is the second oldest and second largest hospital in Jersey City. The hospital is currently part of the CarePoint Health system. Since 1890, it has been home to the Christ Hospital School of Nursing which merged with the Bayonne Medical Center nursing school 2014.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jersey City Medical Center at Greenville is an outpatient medical center and urgent care operated by JCMC in the Greenville section of Jersey City that opened in 2015 in the former Greenville Hospital. Originally opened in 1898 as the "German Hospital and Dispensary of Hudson County" and Jersey City's third hospital, the facility grew over the years with the current building opening in 1964 and a west wing added in 1971. Greenville Hospital closed in 2008 due to cuts in the state budget and was later used as the home of Jersey City Medical Center's EMS from 2009 to 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Englewood Health ZT Systems Outpatient Center is an outpatient medical center and urgent care operated by Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Journal Square that opened in 2022. The facility occupies over Template:Convert across three-floors at 2 Journal Square.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Saint Francis Hospital was founded in 1864 by the Society of the Sisters of St. Francis and constructed the first hospital building in 1870 across from Hamilton Park in Downtown Jersey City. In 2005, the hospital closed and was sold by the Bon Secours Health System and converted into a residential complex.<ref name="Hamilton Park"/>

Sister cities

Sister cities of Jersey City are:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

• Template:Flagicon Cusco, Peru (1988)
• Template:Flagicon Karpathos, Greece (1992)
• Template:Flagicon Changwon, South Korea (1993)
• Template:Flagicon New Delhi, India (1993)
• Template:Flagicon Ahmedabad, India (1994)
• Template:Flagicon Nantong, China (1994)
• Template:Flagicon Changsha, China (1995)
• Template:Flagicon Ozamiz, Philippines (1995)
• Template:Flagicon Jerusalem, Israel (1997)<ref name=JCT2022>Leir, Ron. "Jersey City Welcomes Beit Shemesh, in Israel, as ‘Sister City’", Jersey City Times, November 27, 2022. Accessed January 28, 2025. "It twinned with Jerusalem in 1997 and with Palatka, Fla., in 2016."</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Oviedo, Spain (1998)
• Template:Flagicon Sant'Arsenio, Italy (1999)
• Template:Flagicon Kolkata (Calcutta), India (2001)
• Template:Flagicon Saint John's, Antigua and Barbuda (2002)
• Template:Flagicon Palatka, Florida, United States (2016)<ref name=JCT2022/>
• Template:Flagicon Gomoa West District, Ghana (2018)
• Template:Flagicon Indrawati, Nepal (2018)
• Template:Flagicon General Santos, Philippines (2018)<ref name="GenSanMagazine-Jersey">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Beit Shemesh, Israel (2022)<ref>"Jersey City and Beit Shemesh sign sister cities agreement", Jewish News Syndicate, November 14, 2022. Accessed November 18, 2022. "City, New Jersey, and Israel's Beit Shemesh have signed a sister city agreement, aiming for economic cooperation and partnerships in urban planning and workforce development."</ref>

See also

• Bergen Township, New Jersey (1661–1862)
• Demographics of New Jersey
• Gold Coast, New Jersey
• Northeast Megalopolis
• Timeline of Jersey City area railroads
• Transportation in New Jersey
• Van Vorst Township, New Jersey

External links

• Official website
• Jersey City List
• VisitNJ – Jersey City
• Template:Cite EB1911