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Yep...I think I've been looking at this NY/Philly divide in NJ the wrong way.
It's not that Cranbury/Jamesburg or Highstown are suburban NYC versus Philly....it's that the areas surrounding Trenton are the suburbs of Trenton, which are orientated towards Philly/the DE river...whereas north of I-195, those areas really are suburbs of New Brunswick, which is orientated towards NY harbor not the DE river and NY.
As others have said, this is correct. I think it also reflects the the NY/Philly thing in NJ is an east/west thing in addition to being a north/south thing - at least as far as the central areas are concerned.
Fascinating thread. Here's my take on how I've thought about it since I was a kid:
3-digit Interstates represent loop/spur routes around a nearby 2-digit Interstate for a given metropolitan area. NYC has an I-295 in the form of the Clearview Expressway. Trenton also has an I-295 looping around it, but it can't belong to NYC metro since they already have one. Therefore it belongs to Philly Metro.
Following US1 along the Northeast Corridor, I always considered anything south of the I-295 loop to be firmly Philly suburb, and anything north of the I-287 loop (which belongs to the NYC metro area) to be firmly NYC suburb. The 24.5 miles in-between is a bit gray area, but tradition makes most of that stretch NYC suburb, since Princeton tends to be considered as such. This is the first time I've read about the "Keith Line", but it does pretty much line up with my longtime throry. The line falls right in-between Princeton and Philly's I-295.
I'm from Brooklyn but now I live on the northern edge of Central Jersey (which in my mind the border is the Raritan River), and when I was looking for a job a few years back, I was instinctively turning down jobs in areas like Lawrenceville since I saw that it was near Philly's I-295, and in my mind too far since it's another city's metro area. Maybe that wasn't smart, but I grew up with that demarkation!
Trenton is 29 miles from Philly, 52 miles from New York. It's ridiculous that it's in New York's Metro. Who ever heard of a satellite city of one big city being in the metro area of another big city. Philly's metro area is about to fall to #9 behind Atlanta when it would be comfortably at #6 with Mercer County.
Trenton proper, culturally it's Philly, commuting it is more NYC.
Of course this also depends on what we define as greater Trenton (Highstown or is that is New Brunswick)?
Yep...I think I've been looking at this NY/Philly divide in NJ the wrong way.
It's not that Cranbury/Jamesburg or Highstown are suburban NYC versus Philly....it's that the areas surrounding Trenton are the suburbs of Trenton, which are orientated towards Philly/the DE river...whereas north of I-195, those areas really are suburbs of New Brunswick, which is orientated towards NY harbor not the DE river and NY.
I agree. A good way of looking at the NY/North Jersey Influenced and Phila/South Jersey Influenced divide are the Interstates of 195/295.
For those east of the Turnpike (around exit 7), generally speaking if one lives north of Interstate 195 then they are more oriented towards New Brunswick, a satellite city of NYC. South of Interstate 195 is typically associated with the Pine Barrens and the southern half of the Jersey Shore (south of Point Pleasant), which is more connected to Phila rather than NYC.
For those west of the Turnpike, generally speaking if one lives north of Interstate 195/295 then they are more oriented towards Princeton, which is also a satellite city of NYC (akin to how New Haven despite being located deep within Connecticut is still generally considered part of the NYC Metropolitan area with it's Ivy League University of Yale, is how Princeon is viewed despite being located deep within New Jersey with it's aforementioned Ivy League University). South of Interstate 195/295 across the Crosswicks becomes very rural and lush with farmland and army bases, not to mention working class suburbs close to the Delaware River, aka the start of the Philly Metropolitan area.
Communities that are located right along State Route 29/Interstates 195/295 are at the crossroads between Philly and NYC (thus, the epitome of 'Central Jersey', in many ways); Ewing, Trenton, Hopewell, Lawrence, Hamilton, Robbinsville, Bordentown, Allentown, Upper Freehold, Millstone, Jackson, Howell, and Wall. In fact, I am pretty sure that Interstate 195 is also alternatively called "Central Jersey Express" for that very reason, the unique geographical location within the state.
I wanted to add that, during the election here in New Jersey in 2021, either the Primary or General I wish I could remember, but it was either ABC6 or CBS3 that referenced Camden, Burlington and Mercer counties I think as being the Democratic strongholds for the Philly metro area of NJ or something like that. It was a brief update on the election, f I can find a video I'll be sure to post it.
And, at least going by YouTube TV, the zip-code for Princeton is placed in the Philadelphia TV market. Not sure how much different Xfinity is or isn't in this regard.
Mercer County HAS to be Central Jersey nowadays however it has a much longer history being tied to Philadelphia, and if you had to pick would still lean towards Philly. Definitely NOT New York metro at all (aside from the Census).
I wanted to add that, during the election here in New Jersey in 2021, either the Primary or General I wish I could remember, but it was either ABC6 or CBS3 that referenced Camden, Burlington and Mercer counties I think as being the Democratic strongholds for the Philly metro area of NJ or something like that. It was a brief update on the election, f I can find a video I'll be sure to post it.
And, at least going by YouTube TV, the zip-code for Princeton is placed in the Philadelphia TV market. Not sure how much different Xfinity is or isn't in this regard.
Mercer County HAS to be Central Jersey nowadays however it has a much longer history being tied to Philadelphia, and if you had to pick would still lean towards Philly. Definitely NOT New York metro at all (aside from the Census).
Talk about an old thread, 2007...
My son used to work for DirecTV when we lived in Burlington County in 2006, he serviced Trenton, his home office was next to Moorestown, also in Burlington County.
He's now with Comcast. I'm not sure if they service Trenton too, I'll have to ask him if I remember. We live farther South in Gloucester County now.
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