New Jersey County Map

New Jersey has 21 counties. Bergen County is the most populous with 955,732 residents in 2020, and Burlington County is the largest by land area at 799.3 sq mi. The capital, Trenton, is the county seat of Mercer County.

County lines are switched on when the interactive map loads. Hover over a county to see its name, or untick Show counties to hide them and see the cities on the OpenStreetMap base map.

21counties

Bergenmost populous: 955,732

Burlingtonlargest: 799.3 sq mi

Hudsonsmallest: 46.2 sq mi

List of New Jersey counties

County	County seat	Population (2020)	Land area (sq mi)
Atlantic County	Mays Landing	274,534	555.5
Bergen County	Hackensack	955,732	232.8
Burlington County	Mount Holly	461,860	799.3
Camden County	Camden	523,485	221.4
Cape May County	Cape May Court House	95,263	251.5
Cumberland County	Bridgeton	154,152	483.4
Essex County	Newark	863,728	126.1
Gloucester County	Woodbury	302,294	322.0
Hudson County	Jersey City	724,854	46.2
Hunterdon County	Flemington	128,947	427.8
Mercer County	Trenton	387,340	224.4
Middlesex County	New Brunswick	863,162	309.2
Monmouth County	Freehold	643,615	468.2
Morris County	Morristown	509,285	461.0
Ocean County	Toms River	637,229	628.3
Passaic County	Paterson	524,118	186.0
Salem County	Salem	64,837	331.9
Somerset County	Somerville	345,361	301.9
Sussex County	Newton	144,221	518.7
Union County	Elizabeth	575,345	102.8
Warren County	Belvidere	109,632	356.5

Population: 2020 Census. Land area excludes water. Click a column heading to sort.

Most populous counties

The five most populous counties hold 43.6% of New Jersey’s 9,288,994 residents:

Bergen County (Hackensack): 955,732, 10.3% of the state
Essex County (Newark): 863,728, 9.3% of the state
Middlesex County (New Brunswick): 863,162, 9.3% of the state
Hudson County (Jersey City): 724,854, 7.8% of the state
Monmouth County (Freehold): 643,615, 6.9% of the state

Essex County and Middlesex County were separated by just 566 people in 2020. Of the 21 counties, 10 had at least 500,000 residents. The least populous is Salem County (64,837), followed by Cape May County (95,263) and Warren County (109,632).

Largest and smallest counties

Burlington County, which stretches from the Delaware River into the Pine Barrens, is the largest at 799.3 sq mi of land, followed by Ocean County (628.3 sq mi) and Atlantic County (555.5 sq mi). Including bays and ocean waters, Ocean County totals 914.8 sq mi.

Hudson County, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, is the smallest at 46.2 sq mi, yet it had 724,854 residents, about 15,700 people per square mile of land. Union County (102.8 sq mi) and Essex County (126.1 sq mi) are next.

How counties work in New Jersey

Every New Jersey county is governed by an elected Board of County Commissioners. Until 2021 these boards were called boards of chosen freeholders. All of the state’s land lies within incorporated municipalities (cities, boroughs, towns, townships and villages), so counties have no unincorporated areas to administer.

The four largest cities are all county seats: Newark (Essex County), Jersey City (Hudson County), Paterson (Passaic County) and Elizabeth (Union County). The seat of Cape May County, Cape May Court House, is an unincorporated community in Middle Township, not the city of Cape May.