About Jersey City

Jersey City is the second-most populous[29] city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.[30] It is the county seat of Hudson County[31] and the county's largest city.[21] The city's population as of the 2020 United States census was 283,927,[20][21] which represents an increase of 44,852 (18.1%) from the 2010 census, when the city's population stood at 247,597.[32] The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 283,927 in 2021,[20] ranking the city the 75th-most-populous in the country.[22]

Constituting part of 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 30.7 miles (49.4km) of waterfront and extensive rail infrastructure and connectivity,[33] the city is an important transportation terminus and distribution and manufacturing center for the Port of New York and New Jersey. Jersey City shares significant mass transit connections with Manhattan.[34][35] Redevelopment of the Jersey City waterfront has made the city one of the largest centers of banking and finance in the United States and has led to the district and city being nicknamed Wall Street West.[36] By the early 2020s, the construction of residential high-rises made median rental rates the highest of any city in the United States.[37]

The land comprising what is now Jersey City was inhabited by the Lenape, a collection of Native American tribes (later called Delaware Indian). In 1609, Henry Hudson, seeking an alternate route to East Asia, 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. 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.[38]
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