Newark ( ,Newark – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary; , Merriam-Webster. Accessed September 10, 2015. "Newark". . Dictionary Reference. Accessed September 10, 2015.) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area.Table1. New Jersey Counties and Most Populous Cities and Townships: 2020 and 2010 Censuses; , New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Accessed December 1, 2022.New Jersey County Map; , New Jersey Department of State. Accessed December 27, 2022. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 311,549. The Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 323,808 for 2025, making it the 61st-most populous municipality in the nation.Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 20,000 or More, Ranked by July 1, 2025 Population: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025, United States Census Bureau, released May 2026. Accessed June 1, 2026.
Settled in 1666 by Puritans from New Haven Colony, Newark is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Its location at the mouth of the Passaic River, where it flows into Newark Bay, has made the city's waterfront an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Port Newark–Elizabeth is the primary container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the U.S. East Coast. Newark Liberty International Airport was the first municipal commercial airport in the United States and has become one of the busiest.History of Newark Liberty International Airport; , Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Accessed February 14, 2012.Facts & Information; , Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Accessed February 14, 2012.
Several companies are headquartered in Newark, including Prudential, PSEG, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Audible.com, IDT Corporation, Manischewitz, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and Mars Snacking. Higher education institutions in the city include the Newark campus of Rutgers University, which includes law and medical schools and the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies; University Hospital; the New Jersey Institute of Technology; and Seton Hall University's law school. Newark is home to numerous governmental offices, largely concentrated at Government Center and the Essex County Government Complex. Cultural venues include the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark Symphony Hall, the Prudential Center, The Newark Museum of Art, and the New Jersey Historical Society. Branch Brook Park is the oldest county park in the United States and is home to the nation's largest collection of ornamental cherry trees, numbering over 5,000.
Newark is divided into five political wards (East, West, South, North and Central).Neighborhoods and Wards; , Newark Community Economic Development Corporation. Accessed September 24, 2019. The majority of black residents reside in the South, Central, and West Wards of the city, while the North and East Wards are mostly populated by Latinos.Astudillo, Carla. "10 maps that show Newark's dramatic change since the riots"; , NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, July 14, 2017. Accessed April 10, 2024. "While Newark's white population dramatically declined, the city's black population expanded, especially in the Central, West and South wards.... The other big demographic change is the dramatic increase in the Hispanic population. The percent of Hispanics living in Newark more than doubled from 1970 to 2010. These residents mostly settled in the North and East wards." Ras Baraka has served as Mayor of Newark since 2014.
History
Newark was settled in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat from the New Haven Colony.Hartman, David; and Lewis, Barry. "History of Newark"; , WNET. Accessed March 17, 2024. "In May of 1666, Puritan settlers led by Treat purchased the land directly from the Hackensack Indians for goods -- including gunpowder, one hundred bars of lead, twenty axes, twenty coats, guns, pistols, swords, kettles, blankets, knives, beer, and ten pairs of breeches -- valued at $750, a percentage of which was assessed upon every family that arrived in the new colony within the first year of its settlement."1666 - The Founding of Newark; , Descendants of Founders of New Jersey. Accessed March 17, 2024. "In 1666, Captain Robert Treat, after scouting several locations, successfully completed arrangements with Governor Carteret to settle a plantation on the Passaic River, in the northern section of what was known as the Elizabethtown purchase." It was conceived as a theocratic assembly of the faithful, though this did not last for long as new settlers came with different ideas.Miller, Andy. Puritans in Search of a New Haven: 1630–1668 On October 31, 1693, it was organized as a New Jersey township based on the Newark Tract, which was first purchased on July 11, 1667. Newark was granted a royal charter on April 27, 1713. It was incorporated on February 21, 1798, by the New Jersey Legislature's Township Act of 1798, as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships. During its time as a township, portions were taken to form Springfield Township (April 14, 1794), Caldwell Township (February 16, 1798; now known as Fairfield Township), Orange Township (November 27, 1806), Bloomfield Township (March 23, 1812) and Clinton Township (April 14, 1834, remainder reabsorbed by Newark on March 5, 1902). Newark was reincorporated as a city on April 11, 1836, replacing Newark Township, based on the results of a referendum passed on March 18, 1836. The previously independent Vailsburg borough was annexed by Newark on January 1, 1905. In 1926, South Orange Township changed its name to Maplewood. As a result of this, a portion of Maplewood known as Ivy Hill was re-annexed to Newark's Vailsburg.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968; , Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 130. Accessed May 30, 2024.
The name of the city is thought to derive from Newark-on-Trent, England, because of the influence of the original pastor, Abraham Pierson, who came from Yorkshire but may have ministered in Newark, Nottinghamshire.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names; , New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 10, 2015.Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 222. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed September 10, 2015.Staff. "Newark on Trent Shows Interest in Newark, New Jersey", p. 123. Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Volume VI, 1921. Accessed September 10, 2015. "It seems to be understood that the name of Newark, New Jersey, is traceable to the influence of the first pastor of the settlement, Rev. Abraham Pierson, who was a native of Yorkshire, England, and is said to have probably ministered first to a church in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire." But Pierson is also supposed to have said that the community reflecting the new task at hand should be named "New Ark" for "New Ark of the Covenant"Princeton Alumni Weekly vol. 78; The Puritans in America: a narrative anthology, by Andrew Delbanco, Alan Heimert and some of the colonists saw it as "New-Work", the settlers' new work with God. Whatever the origins, the name was shortened to Newark, although references to the name "New Ark" are found in preserved letters written by historical figures such as David A. Ogden in his claim for compensation, and James McHenry, as late as 1787.National Archives, Kew, England, T 1/65261-64; Bernard C. Steiner and James McHenry, The life and correspondence of James McHenry (Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Co., 1907)
During the American Revolutionary War, British troops made several raids into the town.Munn, David C. Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Geology and Topography. The city saw tremendous industrial and population growth during the 19th century and early 20th century, and experienced racial tension and urban decline in the second half of the 20th century, culminating in the 1967 Newark riots, which led to an increase in white flight, with 100,000 white residents leaving the city in the 1960s, though the exodus of white residents from the city had started after World War II as housing availability was limited in the city, while white residents were able to buy homes in the western suburbs of Essex County, where the population grew rapidly.O'Dea, Colleen. "Newark Before the Comeback: A City Marked by White Flight, Poor Policy"; , NJ Spotlight News, September 4, 2019. Accessed January 3, 2024. "It's unclear where people who left Newark after the war went — Hughes said some suggest many from Newark and its neighboring towns moved down to Ocean County. But the suburbs along the north and western edges of Essex County experienced tremendous growth during the period. From 1950 to 1970, the population more than doubled in Roseland and West Caldwell, and it more than tripled in Fairfield, Livingston and North Caldwell.... 'The riots certainly accelerated' white flight, Hughes said. It drove some of the whites who had remained in Newark out to the suburbs. While the exact timing of when people left is unknown, another 100,000 whites left Newark between 1960 and 1970, and the city lost more than 5 percent of its population, according to U.S. Census data.
The city has experienced revitalization since the 1990s, with major office, arts and sports projects representing $2 billion in investment.Riche, Patrick. "Newark's Prudential Center: A Key Player in Newark's Re-Branding Efforts"; , Forbes, January 10, 2012. Accessed June 25, 2012. "Newark is currently undergoing a major revitalization. The Prudential Center, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Newark Symphony, Riverfront Stadium and Red Bull Park in nearby Harrison and home to Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls represent just part of the nearly $2 billion in construction underway." The city's population, which had dropped by more than a third from 1950 to its post-war low in 2000, has since rebounded, with 38,000 new residents added from 2000 to 2020.Arena, John. Expelling Public Schools: How Antiracist Politics Enable School Privatization in Newark, p. 41. University of Minnesota Press, 2023. . Accessed January 3, 2024.
Geography