County Maps US

Essex County, New Jersey

A county in New Jersey, ranked 2 of 21 by population.

CountyFIPS 34013

Within New Jersey
Essex County, highlighted, with the areas around it. Boundaries generalised from the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file; neighbour fills carry no data. The dot marks Newark, the county seat, located via the 2025 Census Gazetteer.

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Population
896,379
+36,445 (+4.2%) since 2020
Land area
126.1
square miles. A further 2.6% of the total area is water
Population density
7,109
people per square mile, computed rather than published
County seat
Newark
Seat of county government.
Established
1683
342 years ago
Largest city
Newark city
Population 323,808.

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; Wikidata (CC0), Wikidata. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

Satellite view

Aerial imagery of Essex County with its boundary drawn on top. A map shows you the shape; this shows you what is inside it, and which side of the line a place falls on.

Aerial view of Essex County, New Jersey from the USGS National Map, with its boundary outlined
Imagery: USGS National Map, USGS Imagery Only, public domain, requested from USGS by your browser when you reach this point on the page, at 699 by 800 pixels. The boundary is the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file, reprojected to Web Mercator to match the imagery. You can also open the USGS National Map viewer.

Where Essex County ranks

Position among the 21 counties of New Jersey, and among all 3,144 US counties and county-equivalents. Computed from the figures on this page.

MeasureValueIn New JerseyNationally
Population896,3792nd of 2166th of 3,144
Land area126.1 sq mi19th of 213,078th of 3,144
Population density7,109 per sq mi2nd of 2114th of 3,144
Median household income$80,78918th of 21548th of 3,143

Full data for Essex County

Every figure below is attributed to the Census Bureau product it came from, with the vintage of that product.
MeasureValueSource and vintage
Population896,379Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Population in 2020859,934Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
2020 estimates base?862,775Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Land area126.1 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Water area3.3 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Total area129.4 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Population density?7,109 per sq miComputed: Vintage 2025 estimates divided by 2025 Gazetteer land area
Median household income$80,789American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median home value$524,100American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median age37.7American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Households319,788American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Housing units336,962American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates, released 29 January 2026. Population density is computed here, not published: it divides the Vintage 2025 population estimate by the 2025 Gazetteer land area, which are two different Census products. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

How the population changed

The Census Bureau publishes the components behind an estimate, not just the total. For the year to July 2025:

Births minus deaths
+3,830
9,826 births, 5,996 deaths
Net migration
+1,277
More people moved in than moved out.

Source: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

The 5 areas bordering Essex County

Ordered by the length of the border actually shared, which the Census Bureau publishes in its county adjacency file and which no other county reference presents.

Bordering areaStateShared borderPopulation
Morris CountyNew Jersey26 mi524,251
Union CountyNew Jersey15 mi601,863
Hudson CountyNew Jersey11 mi735,033
Passaic CountyNew Jersey9.7 mi531,624
Bergen CountyNew Jersey2.7 mi977,026

Source: US Census Bureau, County Adjacency File, 2025 County Adjacency File, released 15 September 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

Side by side

All 21 counties of New Jersey

Open the interactive New Jersey county map, or jump straight to any of them.

Data on this page last rebuilt 30 August 2026. How these figures are produced.