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North Jersey is an informal and indefinite name for the northern or northeastern part of the U.S. State of New Jersey, which is sandwiched between two important cities: New York City (which North Jersey locals refer to as "The City") and Philadelphia (which South Jersey locals refer to as "The City"). Benjamin Franklin described New Jersey as "a barrel tapped at both ends," and things haven't changed much since. North Jersey is theoretically the area within the New York City sphere of influence.
Some define North Jersey as all points in New Jersey north of Interstate 195. Others, primarily those who live in the northern tier of counties, count only that area north of the mouth of the Raritan River.
The traditional definition of North Jersey is the geo-cultural boundary known as the "Gateway Region": the towns enclosed by the Hudson River Bay and Interstate 287 (which runs south from the north border with Upstate New York and then curves east to the coast). This boundary has more urbanized areas, a mix of wealthy New York City commuters and working class, ethnically and politically diverse, and primarily Jewish, Catholic, or Secular. It is what most in the United States think of when they hear "New Jersey" or see it portrayed on television. The rest of the State has a more suburban or rural "WASP" influence, although diversity is still a hallmark for the entire State.
Counties surrounding the Gateway are becoming a cultural extension of North Jersey in recent years and many people now include them in their definition of the region. These include Ocean County, along with Monmouth, Hunterdon, Sussex, Warren, west Morris, and Mercer counties (interestingly, Mercer is closer to Philadelphia than it is to New York and gets it's television stations from Philadelphia, but more of its populace is from and commutes to the New York influenced part of the state). As late as the 1980's these counties contained only a fraction of the population and sprawl that they currently experience. Traditionally, these counties were vacation areas and farmland. The western counties (known as the "Skylands Region") included lakes, woods and mountains that the urban population used for activities such as camping and skiing. Ocean and Monmouth counties ("The Shore") were generally open land and beach that northerners used only as places for summer homes. Presently, however, more and more people are choosing to permanently live in these once-rural counties in order to escape the high taxes, urban crowding, and high-crime towns scattered throughout the Gateway section. The establishment of ''Midtown Direct'' train service in the 1990's (using Amtrak's North River Tunnels) encouraged this migration.
The historic province of East Jersey in roughly the same area as the contemporary North Jersey.
See also: Jersey