Most Densely Populated Cities in New Jersey: Ranked by People per Square Mile

The densest city in New Jersey in our data is Guttenberg, NJ, with about 57,617 people per square mile, followed by West New York, NJ (53,025) and Union City, NJ (52,820). This list ranks the top 50 places among the 243 New Jersey communities with at least 5,000 residents.

What are the top 50 in New Jersey?

How dense are the cities in New Jersey?

The densest place is about 15 times as dense as the median place in the state, which has about 3,856 people per square mile. At the other end, Hammonton, NJ has about 342. Under our scale, 83 places are an urban core (over 5,000 per square mile), 147 are suburban, and the rest are small towns or rural. Bergen County contributes 19 of the top 50.

Which counties do the top 50 belong to?

The 50 places on this list are spread across 10 counties of New Jersey. Bergen County has 19 (Cliffside Park, Fairview, Palisades Park, Fort Lee, Garfield, Edgewater, Wallington, Bogot); Hudson County has 7 (Guttenberg, West New York, Union City, Hoboken, Jersey City, Harrison, Bayonne); Passaic County has 5 (Passaic, Paterson, Prospect Park, Clifton, Haledon). Counties with several entries are usually centers of a metropolitan area, where one large city is surrounded by many suburbs that each pass the 5,000-resident threshold.

How does New Jersey compare with the rest of the country?

The median New Jersey place with a page has about 10,998 residents, compared with about 13,459 nationwide, so the state's typical community is smaller than the national typical place. The state has 508 communities in total, of which 243 reach 5,000 residents. See the national ranking of the largest cities for comparison.

Quick answers about New Jersey cities

• Which is the densest city in New Jersey? Guttenberg (57,617 per square mile).
• How many New Jersey cities have more than 100,000 people? 6 in our data.
• How many have 25,000 to 100,000? 31.
• What is the typical size? About 10,998 residents for a place with a page.

How is this ranking made?

The data comes from the SimpleMaps US Cities Database, which gives each place an estimated population and a density in people per square kilometer. We convert density to people per square mile and rank the places with at least 5,000 residents. Boundaries matter: a city that includes large parks or farmland scores lower on density than a compact city of the same size, and population estimates can include areas that share a city's ZIP codes. Read why population figures differ and how density is calculated before you quote a number.

Where to go next

Rankings use dataset estimates, not official counts.