New Jersey Population 2012
The coastal state of New Jersey is situated on the north eastern edge of the United States and is bordered to the south by the Atlantic Ocean. It has played a prime role in the history of the country and in terms of the New Jersey population, the state packs a lot of people into a relatively small area.
Density and numbers
The last countrywide census was carried out in the US back in 2010 and at the time, it was revealed that there were 8,791,894 people living here which equated to a rise of 4.5% on the numbers declared in the 2000 survey.
An estimate carried out in 2011 claimed that those numbers had risen still further to 8,821,155 and that statistic made New Jersey the 11th most populous state in the US.
Statistics relating to density make for some very interesting reading indeed and New Jersey makes great use of every inch of territory. Its total land mass equates to 8,721 square miles (22,608 square kilometres) making it only the 47th biggest state in the US. The only US states that are smaller than New Jersey are Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island.
Despite it’s lack of size, however, for every square mile of NJ territory, there is an average of 1189 people (459 per square kilometre) – no other state in the US can boast a higher population density.
Largest Cities in New Jersey
Surprisingly for such a densely populated state, there are only four cities in New Jersey with a population of more than 100,000 people. Newarks is the state’s largest city, with a population of 278,154 (based on the 2010 census), closely followed by Jersey City, home to 247,597 people. The other cities with more than 100,000 people are Patterson (146,199 people) and Elizabeth (124,969)
New Jersey population history
It’s a simplistic generalisation to say that like most eastern areas of the United States, New Jersey began to fill up quite rapidly in the 1800’s. In 1790, 184,139 citizens were living here and that was already a very healthy figure.
Ten years later in 1800, that number had climbed by just under 15% to 211,149 but from the second half of the 19th century onwards, percentage rises in population began to increase on a census by census basis. The growth had gathered so much momentum that by the beginning of the 1900’s, the New Jersey population had grown to 1,883,669.
Throughout the 20th century there was less of a pattern but the overall picture was one of sustained growth to the point where, in the present day, the New Jersey population in 2012 is edging towards the nine million mark. To give you an indication of scale, that’s bigger than more than half of the countries in Europe, and nearly a third of the size of a country like Canada.
Demographics
Ethnicity splits for the 2010 census aren’t widely available yet but demographics show that in 2000, the demographic make up was as follows:-
- White 79.16%
- Black 14.98%
- Asian 6.28%
- Native American and Alaskan Native 0.68%
There are smaller ethnic groups too and while the numbers above total over 100%, this is due to some groups being claimed twice by citizens.
The future
New Jersey’s remarkable growth shows no signs of abating and similar increases will take the population comfortably beyond the 9 million mark in 2020. How long this tiny state can sustain those rises without running out of space is a far greater question.
