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Central Jersey either doesn't exist (I lean in that direction) or is just the lower half of North Jersey. For whatever reason a lot of people have a problem with the moniker 'North Jersey'. I'm a resident of South Orange and along with Maplewood we're firmly voted in that map as being 'North Jersey', but cross the border into Millburn or Union and all of a sudden we're in a different region? I don't buy it!
Central Jersey either doesn't exist (I lean in that direction) or is just the lower half of North Jersey. For whatever reason a lot of people have a problem with the moniker 'North Jersey'. I'm a resident of South Orange and along with Maplewood we're firmly voted in that map as being 'North Jersey', but cross the border into Millburn or Union and all of a sudden we're in a different region? I don't buy it!
I think the reason this creates confusion is because (no offense) many North Jerseyans and South Jerseyans live and spend most of their time in their own regional bubble, thus you have a lot of North Jerseyans who would say outright crazy things like, "Anything south of Raritan River is South Jersey!" or South Jerseyans saying "I have relatives in North Jersey, they live in Trenton!".
I live in Monmouth County which is widely considered New York Metro Area meaning we typically root for NY Teams, watch NY channels, have relatives in New York, we refer to NY as 'the city', and use terminology like 'Subs', 'Sprinkles', or 'Heros', etc. However if you were to ask your average Bergen County person what a town like Belmar would be geographically seen as, they would most likely see it as South Jersey because quite frankly it is objectively a far drive south for someone in North Jersey. So if they only are exposed to NY Regional things they would never or rarely ever experience the REAL South Jersey shore towns like Barnegat.
So it's really just a matter of perspective in all honesty. While people in my region are more tied to New York than Philly we still have some noticeable ties to both regions that would be foreign to your average North Jerseyan and thus may create confusion. For instance when I was a kid in elementary & middle school we would take school trips to both NY & Philly, we have both NY and Philly sport fans (NY fans still outnumber Philly fans, but we are more open minded about that crap in all honesty) we order subs at our local deli but we could also order hoagies at our local Wawa, we have tons of urban towns like Trenton & New Brunswick but we also have tons of agricultural towns like Holmdel and Monroe, and of course most notably suburbs like Edison, The Brunswicks, Woodbridge, Middletown, etc. It's Suburbia with 'Jersey' Attitude!
Now with the whole Union County debate, I agree that a town like Union seems more North but a town like Rahway seems more Central, if that makes any sense. So don't worry your nearby Unionnites (town wise) are solidly in North Jersey lol.
I honestly would call all of Union County North Jersey, no debate. I would even call a decent chunk of Middlesex County North Jersey at this point - Edison, Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, etc. for example. New Brunswick, Piscataway, etc. are still Central Jersey in my book though.
I think the reason this creates confusion is because (no offense) many North Jerseyans and South Jerseyans live and spend most of their time in their own regional bubble, thus you have a lot of North Jerseyans who would say outright crazy things like, "Anything south of Raritan River is South Jersey!" or South Jerseyans saying "I have relatives in North Jersey, they live in Trenton!".
I live in Monmouth County which is widely considered New York Metro Area meaning we typically root for NY Teams, watch NY channels, have relatives in New York, we refer to NY as 'the city', and use terminology like 'Subs', 'Sprinkles', or 'Heros', etc. However if you were to ask your average Bergen County person what a town like Belmar would be geographically seen as, they would most likely see it as South Jersey because quite frankly it is objectively a far drive south for someone in North Jersey. So if they only are exposed to NY Regional things they would never or rarely ever experience the REAL South Jersey shore towns like Barnegat.
So it's really just a matter of perspective in all honesty. While people in my region are more tied to New York than Philly we still have some noticeable ties to both regions that would be foreign to your average North Jerseyan and thus may create confusion. For instance when I was a kid in elementary & middle school we would take school trips to both NY & Philly, we have both NY and Philly sport fans (NY fans still outnumber Philly fans, but we are more open minded about that crap in all honesty) we order subs at our local deli but we could also order hoagies at our local Wawa, we have tons of urban towns like Trenton & New Brunswick but we also have tons of agricultural towns like Holmdel and Monroe, and of course most notably suburbs like Edison, The Brunswicks, Woodbridge, Middletown, etc. It's Suburbia with 'Jersey' Attitude!
True about the whole depends on where you live thing. I went to college with a girl from Orange County NY who frequented Bergen County for shopping and hanging out. Another classmate was actually also from a Union County town, like me, but we didn't meet until college. Anyway, when the girl from NY asked where in NJ we were from, we said Union County, and she said, "Oh, that's central right?" To her, Union County is south enough to be central. To us, and honestly most people I know from around here, it's north. It's all relative.
I honestly would call all of Union County North Jersey, no debate. I would even call a decent chunk of Middlesex County North Jersey at this point - Edison, Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, etc. for example. New Brunswick, Piscataway, etc. are still Central Jersey in my book though.
From looking at a map and drawing a line I can see that as the crow flies the border of Edison is a who 3.5 miles from New York City (Staten Island). Since I generally think of 'North Jersey' as meaning the NYC sphere of influence and 'South Jersey' as the Philly sphere of influence I have a hard time buying that Edison and those nearby areas are somewhere different.
Plenty of people list those towns as sensible daily commuting options for NYC. My dad lived in Red Bank in the 60s (worked at Bell Labs) and it was very much the same 'world' as my mother's world from Bayonne and visiting 'the city' was pretty normal for them.
From looking at a map and drawing a line I can see that as the crow flies the border of Edison is a who 3.5 miles from New York City (Staten Island). Since I generally think of 'North Jersey' as meaning the NYC sphere of influence and 'South Jersey' as the Philly sphere of influence I have a hard time buying that Edison and those nearby areas are somewhere different.
Plenty of people list those towns as sensible daily commuting options for NYC. My dad lived in Red Bank in the 60s (worked at Bell Labs) and it was very much the same 'world' as my mother's world from Bayonne and visiting 'the city' was pretty normal for them.
I agree! If this was a perfect world I agree that the division between spheres of influence would be my determining factor.
If you live in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, or Warren Counties you'd be North Jersey/More tied with NY
While if you live in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, or Salem Counties you'd be South Jersey/More tied with Philly
Mercer & Ocean Counties would be cusp counties having spheres of influence from both cities although Mercer would lean slightly towards Philly, while Ocean would be evenly split.
IMO this is how it should be geographically, but we don't live in a perfect world now do we? Hence why Central Jersey to some extent does exist.
Union county is certainly North. Having also lived in Woodbridge (Middlesex) for a time, and being able to see the downtown Manhattan skyline in the distance from my apartment complex, I would say it feels more north than central. I always considered Central NJ beginning once you crossed the Raritan River, or south of Turnpike exit 10. And the poster above makes a great point...on the Woodbridge & Perth Amboy waterfronts, Staten Island sits directly across the Arthur Kill. Thus they are actually further north than the southern end of NYC. But it seems everyone has a different opinion. Which is OK!
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