What Exactly Is Central New Jersey? (Camden, Teaneck: live in, shop, activities)

[pucked]

I was curious, I hear Central New Jersey referenced as a place.
What exactly is this place, what makes it a specific spot in NJ, and what counties/towns does it include?


1) Does Central Jersey mean the area supports/gets/is affiliated with both NY and Philly?
-Does it refer to a less industrious, flatter landscape?
-What characteristics separate it from North and South Jersey?

2) What counties are part of it?
-I have heard Middlesex being called "Central Jersey" which makes little sense.
-Middlesex county borders Staten Island, NY, so any county which borders NY, doesn't seem "central" since NY is to the north.

[kalim2008]

Originally Posted by pucked

I was curious, I hear Central New Jersey referenced as a place.
What exactly is this place, what makes it a specific spot in NJ, and what counties/towns does it include?


1) Does Central Jersey mean the area supports/gets/is affiliated with both NY and Philly?
-Does it refer to a less industrious, flatter landscape?
-What characteristics separate it from North and South Jersey?

2) What counties are part of it?
-I have heard Middlesex being called "Central Jersey" which makes little sense.
-Middlesex county borders Staten Island, NY, so any county which borders NY, doesn't seem "central" since NY is to the north.

Middlesex is considered Central Jersey, probably the northernmost part of that area. Look in a map. Looks like it's near centered along the long plane of NJ, right?

[snowgurl]

Central N.J. is about location only; not characteristics of the landscape.

[lwnj]

Originally Posted by pucked

I was curious, I hear Central New Jersey referenced as a place.
What exactly is this place, what makes it a specific spot in NJ, and what counties/towns does it include?

County-wise: Middlesex, Monmouth, Mercer, part of Somerset (e.g. Franklin, Montgomery...), I know some people would count northern part of Ocean County. There is no exact boundaries. And it doesn't really matter.

1) Does Central Jersey mean the area supports/gets/is affiliated with both NY and Philly?

If you are talking about the cellphone or TV marketing kind of market, it's more affiliated with NY. Mercer is more affiliated with Philly.

-Does it refer to a less industrious, flatter landscape?

Not exactly. Part of it have been industrious. But many of the factories were closed.

-What characteristics separate it from North and South Jersey?

Nothing really special. It's just too far from the north Jersey (think Teaneck) and South Jersey (think Camden and Cape May) to be counted as either. Think human activities (e.g. how far would people drive to go shopping, or which one of the 3 Rutgers is closer.)

-I have heard Middlesex being called "Central Jersey" which makes little sense.
-Middlesex county borders Staten Island, NY, so any county which borders NY, doesn't seem "central" since NY is to the north.

If the terms "Mid-West" or "Middle East" make sense to you, then so should "Central Jersey".

[PDD]

This pretty much defines Central NJ

Central Jersey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[STrapani1105]

it's arguable but this is Central Jersey in my book (the yellow part):

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/STrapani1105/nj.jpg (broken link)

[Jerseyt719]

Strapani has it right with the map.

That's always how those of us that do live in Central Jersey would divide it.

[Shwa]

Originally Posted by STrapani1105

it's arguable but this is Central Jersey in my book (the yellow part):

Arguable? Absolutely! How can you say Monmouth County is South Jersey? Perhaps to someone who is from Sussex or Bergen, maybe!

In my opinion, central Jersey runs as north as Middlesex County, as south as parts of Ocean County, as east as Monmouth County and as west as Mercer County. Anything north is North Jersey, anything south is South Jersey. Again, just an opinion... but I like it!

[AnthonyB]

Originally Posted by STrapani1105

it's arguable but this is Central Jersey in my book (the yellow part):

I would add in Mercer and Monmouth and maybe chop off the top part of Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon counties.

To me Central Jersey is what it sound like - the Central part of the State.

[Older&Wiser]

Central NJ = I-195/295 to I-78