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The One Minute Geographer: New Jersey’s Population Density
One hundred percent of New Jersey’s population is metropolitan. As you can see on the map below, every county in the state is in a Census-defined metropolitan area. (I say Census as shorthand because metropolitan areas and other such divisions are defined by the Office of Management and Budget.) Still, this doesn’t mean that everyone lives in high-rises and that they are standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the streets. After all, a metropolitan area can include suburbs as well as cities and even some fairly sparsely populated suburban fringe areas — and the Pinelands!
Here is the key to the map above. Keep in mind that metropolitan areas are defined like Russian matryoshka dolls, fitting inside each other.
BLUE: The three clusters of counties in blue are considered part of metropolitan or ‘Greater’ New York Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), especially those in the lightest shade of blue which are in the core New York City MSA. The darkest shade of blue, still part of metro New York, is the Edison NJ metro area. The intermediate shade of blue is metro Newark MSA , also part of metro New York.
