862 Area Code 🌍☎️

Newark is the most populous city in New Jersey with a 2020 census population of 311,549 and an estimated 317,303 residents in 2024, making it the 64th-most populous municipality in the United States and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat and incorporated as a city on April 11, 1836, Newark is one of the oldest cities in America, strategically located at the mouth of the Passaic River where it meets Newark Bay. The city serves as the county seat of Essex County and is home to Port Newark-Elizabeth, the primary container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the U.S. East Coast, as well as Newark Liberty International Airport, the first municipal commercial airport in the United States. Major corporations headquartered in Newark include Prudential, PSEG, Panasonic Corporation of North America, and Audible.com, while educational institutions include Rutgers University's Newark campus with law and medical schools, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Seton Hall University's law school. The city features cultural landmarks such as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Newark Museum of Art, and Branch Brook Park, which contains over 5,000 ornamental cherry trees - the nation's largest collection and the oldest county park in the United States. Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, with a 2020 population of 70,537, making it the state's 16th-most-populous municipality and the fifth-most densely populated city over 50,000 people in the nation with more than 22,000 residents per square mile. Located north of Newark on the Passaic River, the city was first settled by Dutch traders in 1678 as Acquackanonk Township, with its name deriving from the Lenape word "pahsayèk" meaning "valley" or "place where the land splits." Originally incorporated as a village in 1869 and chartered as a city in 1873, Passaic became a major 19th-century textile and metalworking center, famously hosting the 1926 Passaic Textile Strike led by organizer Albert Weisbord, which involved 36,000 mill workers. The Okonite company operated its headquarters and primary manufacturing plant in Passaic from 1878 to 1993, producing insulated wires for Thomas Edison's Pearl Street Station and early telegraph cables. Passaic earned the nickname "The Birthplace of Television" after experimental television station W2XCD began transmitting from DeForest Radio Corporation in 1931, becoming the first television station to broadcast to homes and feature films. Orange is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, with a population of 34,447 as of the 2020 census, representing a 14.3% increase from 2010. Originally incorporated as a township on November 27, 1806, from parts of Newark, Orange was reincorporated as a city on January 31, 1860, before reverting to township status in 1982 to benefit from federal revenue-sharing policies; the municipality subsequently fragmented into smaller communities including East Orange (1863), West Orange (1863), and Maplewood (1861), collectively known as The Oranges. Named after William III of England or William IV, Prince of Orange, the township has historical significance as an early transportation hub on the Newark and Mount-Pleasant Turnpike, where the Morris and Essex Railroad introduced steam locomotives in October 1837. Orange has Essex County's 12th-highest property tax rate at 4.679% as of 2020, substantially exceeding both the county average of 2.824% and state average of 2.279%.