New Jersey Counties Map: Click All 21 Counties

How many counties are in New Jersey?

New Jersey has 21 counties. 39 states have more, and 10 have fewer.

New Jersey has 21 counties. Hudson County, across the river from Manhattan, is the smallest by land and the most crowded. Mercer County holds the capital, Trenton, on the Delaware River.

How New Jersey's counties were formed

East Jersey created New Jersey's first four counties in 1683: Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth. West Jersey added Burlington and Gloucester around the same time. Later counties were split off as towns grew, and Union County, separated from Essex County in 1857, was the 21st and last. New Jersey counties have boards of county commissioners, called freeholders until 2021.

New Jersey regions and the counties in each

New Jersey splits into North, Central and South Jersey. North Jersey includes the Gateway counties near New York City (Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Passaic, Union) and the Skylands of Sussex, Warren and Morris, with the Delaware Water Gap. Central Jersey includes Middlesex, Somerset, Mercer and Hunterdon. The Jersey Shore runs down Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties, and South Jersey takes in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland, with the Pine Barrens across the middle.

Notable places on the New Jersey county map

High Point, the state's highest point at 1,803 feet, is in Sussex County, crowned by a monument to New Jersey's veterans. Thomas Edison National Historical Park, the inventor's laboratory, is in West Orange (Essex County). Atlantic City is in Atlantic County, Cape May, one of the oldest seaside resorts in the country, is at the southern tip in Cape May County, and the Delaware Water Gap cuts through the Kittatinny Ridge in Warren County. The Great Falls of the Passaic River in Paterson (Passaic County) powered one of the country's first planned industrial cities.

New Jersey counties map: the biggest and smallest

Burlington County is the largest county in New Jersey, with 799 square miles of land, about 11% of the state. Hudson County is the smallest, at 46 square miles.

The smallest counties by land area are Hudson County (46 sq mi), Union County (103 sq mi) and Essex County (126 sq mi).

Which counties in New Jersey have the most people?

Bergen County has the most people, about 978,641 in the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate, or 10% of everyone in New Jersey. The three biggest counties together hold 29% of the state's 9,500,851 people. Salem County has the fewest, about 65,874.

The most crowded is Hudson County, with about 15,935 people per square mile. The emptiest is Salem County, with about 198 people per square mile. Comparing the two is a quick way to show children that a big county on the map isn't always a big county in people.

What county is Trenton in?

Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, is in Mercer County. Mercer County ranks 12th of 21 by population. New Jersey is called the Garden State, and it became the 3rd state in 1787.

Counties on the New Jersey border

Learning the edge of the map first gives children a frame to fill in. New Jersey shares a border with Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania.

How New Jersey's counties compare with other states

New Jersey ranks 46th among the 50 states in land area and 11th in population. Its average county covers about 350 square miles and holds about 452,421 people. Across the 50 states, the average county-level area covers about 1,139 square miles and holds about 109,381 people, so New Jersey's counties are smaller than usual in size. Small counties pack more names into the same space, so zooming in helps.

Landmarks for learning the counties of New Jersey

• Bergen and Hudson counties sit across the Hudson River from New York City.
• Cape May County is the southern tip, between the Atlantic and Delaware Bay.
• Burlington County, the largest, stretches across the Pine Barrens in the south.

With 21 counties, you can take on the whole map at once in a Practice round. Then print the New Jersey county map worksheet to check that it sticks on paper.

All 21 New Jersey counties

Every county on the map, A to Z, with its land area and July 2024 population estimate.

New Jersey geography for homeschoolers

Pair this map with the Northeast states and capitals quiz and the US states quiz. If you teach at home, see homeschooling in nj, and check new jersey school choice to see whether a program may help pay for New Jersey history and geography curriculum. Each program decides what it covers.