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About New Jersey

New Jersey is in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the northeast by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware. New Jersey lies largely within the sprawling metropolitan areas of New York City and Philadelphia. It is the most densely populated state in the United States. New Jersey is bordered on the north and northeast by New York (parts of which are across the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, and the Arthur Kill); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest by Delaware across Delaware Bay; and on the west by Pennsylvania across the Delaware River. Additionally, the New Jersey Commerce, Economic Growth, & Tourism Commission divides the state into six distinct regions to facilitate the state's tourism industry. For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities.

New Jersey Tourism and Recreation

Tourism is a leading industry in New Jersey, accounting for a sizeable part of the state's revenues. 57% of which were day-trip travelers, about 34% of all trips are made by residents within the state. Nearly 25% of all visitors are from New York and about 19% are from Pennsylvania. The Jersey shore has been a popular attraction, when Cape May began advertising itself as a summer resort. Dining, entertainment, and gambling are also popular.

Of all the shore resorts, the largest has long been Atlantic City. Some 33 million people visit Atlantic City annually. Casino taxes were earmarked to reduce property taxes of senior citizens.

State attractions include ten ski areas in northwestern New Jersey, canoeing and camping at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, three national wildlife refuges, 31 public golf courses, and 30 amusement parks, including Great Adventure in central Jersey. Dutch Neck Village includes a living museum and the Old Hickory Arboretum.

New Jersey Climate

Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware River, most of New Jersey has a moderate climate with cold winters and warm, humid summers. Winter temperatures are slightly colder and summer temperatures slightly milder in the northwestern hills than in the rest of the state.

Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–88 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–70 °F (16–21 °C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average −25 days each summer, though rarely exceed 100 °F (38 °C). Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 38–46 °F (3–8 °C) and lows of 26–32 °F (-3–0 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures could, for brief interludes, be as low as 10–20 °F (-12–-7 °C) and sometimes rise to 50–60 °F (10–16 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have slightly colder winters with average temperatures just below freezing. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, ranging from chilly to warm, although they are usually mild with lower humidity than summer.

Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), uniformly spread through the year. Average snowfall per winter season range from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this varies from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer.

New Jersey Transportaion

The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the best-known and most-trafficked roadways in the United States. This toll road carries interstate traffic between Delaware and New York, and the East Coast in general. The Garden State Parkway carries more in-state traffic and runs from the town of Montvale along New Jersey's northern border to its southernmost tip at Cape May for 172.4 miles (277.5 km). It is the trunk that connects the New York metropolitan area to Atlantic City and it is consistently one of the safest roads in the nation.

New Jersey is connected to New York City via various bridges and tunnels. The George Washington Bridge carries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world from Fort Lee, New Jersey to Upper Manhattan in New York City. The Lincoln Tunnel connects to Midtown Manhattan and the Holland Tunnel connects to Lower Manhattan.

Newark Liberty International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the other two major airports in the New York metropolitan area (John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport), it is one of the main airports serving the New York City area. Continental Airlines is the facility's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal at Newark, which it uses as one of its primary hubs. FedEx Express operates a large cargo hub. The adjacent Newark Airport railroad station provides access to the trains of Amtrak and New Jersey Transit along the Northeast Corridor Line.

Two smaller commercial airports, Atlantic City International Airport and Trenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of New Jersey. Teterboro Airport, in Bergen County, is a general aviation airport popular with private and corporate aircraft, due to its proximity to New York City. Millville Municipal Airport, in Cumberland County, is a general aviation airport popular with private and corporate aircraft, due to its proximity to the shore.