Facts about New Jersey

Demographics

Statehood: December 18, 1787, the 3rd state

Capital: Trenton

Total Area: 46th among states, 22,608 sq km (8,729 sq mi)

Water Area: 2,062 sq km (796 sq mi)

Highest Point: High Point, 550 m (1,803 ft)

Total Population: 11th among states
2010 census - 8,791,894

Population Density in 2010: 1,195.5 people per sq mi

Distribution in 2000: 93.5% Urban, 6.5% Rural

Economy:
Gross State Product - $497 billion (2010)
Personal income per Capita - $50,313 (2009)

Largest cities in 2010:
Newark: 277,140
Jersey City: 247,597
Paterson: 146,199

New Jersey firsts include the first professional basketball games in 1896 and the first college football game in 1869.
The first drive-in movie theater opened in 1933 outside of Camden.
The first dinosaur skeleton discovered in North America was found in Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1858.
About one-sixth of all drugs manufactured in the United States come from New Jersey.
No other state has as dense a system of highways and railroads as New Jersey.
New Jersey is the nation's most densely populated state.
Modern paleontology, the science of studying dinosaur fossils, began in 1858 with the discovery of the first nearly-complete skeleton of a dinosaur in Haddonfield, New Jersey. The Hadrosaurus is the official New Jersey state dinosaur.
The state seashell is the knobbed whelk, (Busycon carica gmelin) because it is found on all beaches and bays of New Jersey.
The light bulb, phonograph (record player), motion picture projector were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park laboratory.
New Jersey is a leading industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation.
New Jersey has over 50 resort cities and towns, some of the nations most famous, Asbury park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside heights, Cape May.
New Jersey is home to the Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City.