New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey County Map , New Jersey Department of State. Accessed July 10, 2017. A regional commercial hub for Central New Jersey, the city is both a college town (the main campus of Rutgers University, the state's largest university) and a commuter town for residents working in New York City within the New York metropolitan area.Lynn, Kathleen. "Living In; New Brunswick, N.J.: Big-City Amenities With a Small-Town Feel" , The New York Times, October 7, 2020. Accessed June 14, 2022. The New Brunswick station is a major stop for NJ Transit on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of New York Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. The city is located on the southern banks of the Raritan River, in the heart of the Raritan Valley region.
As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 55,266, its highest decennial census count ever and an increase of 85 (+0.2%) from the 2010 census count of 55,181, which in turn reflected an increase of 6,608 (+13.6%) from the 48,573 counted in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010 , New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 57,487 for 2024, making it the 713th-most populous municipality in the nation.Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 20,000 or More, Ranked by July 1, 2024 Population: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024, United States Census Bureau, released May 2025. Accessed June 1, 2025. Note that townships (including Edison, Lakewood and Woodbridge, all of which have larger populations) are excluded from these rankings. Due to the concentration of medical facilities in the area, including the HELIX, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and medical school, Hackensack Meridian Health, and Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick is known as both the Hub City and the Healthcare City."7:30 a.m.—Filling cracks in the health care city" , Home News Tribune, September 23, 1999. "With two major hospitals and a medical school, New Brunswick proclaims itself The Healthcare City.""A wet day in the Hub City" , Home News Tribune, September 23, 1999. "A few days short of 60 years, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, a dreary, drizzly day just ahead of the deluge of Hurricane Floyd, the Home News Tribune sent 24 reporters, 9 photographers, and one artist into the Hub City, as it is known, to take a peek into life in New Brunswick as it is in 1999." The corporate headquarters and production facilities of several global pharmaceutical companies are situated in the city, including Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb. New Brunswick is continuing to evolve into a major center for the sciences, arts, and cultural activities. Downtown New Brunswick is developing a growing skyline, filling with new high-rise towers.
New Brunswick is noted for its ethnic diversity. At one time, one-quarter of the Hungarian population of New Jersey resided in the city, and in the 1930s one out of three city residents was Hungarian.Weiss, Jennifer. "Redevelopment; As New Brunswick Grows, City's Hungarians Adapt" , The New York Times, July 16, 2006. Accessed December 11, 2019. "While the Hungarian community has diminished over the years—in the 1930s it made up a third of New Brunswick's population—much of what it built remains." The Hungarian community continues as a cohesive community, with the 3,200 Hungarian residents accounting for 8% of the population of New Brunswick in 1992. Growing Asian and Hispanic communities have developed around French Street near Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
History Etymology The area around present-day New Brunswick was first inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans, whose Minisink Trail intersected the Raritan River and followed a route that would be taken by later colonial roads.Brennan, Ray. "Rutgers Historical Background" , Rutgers Rarities. Accessed December 12, 2019. "According to Virtual Field Trip, New Brunswick was '...the place where the very important Native American Minisink Trail crossed the Raritan River. This later, as was the case with many other Native American routeways, became one of the most important colonial roads – the main overland route between New York and Philadelphia'" The first European settlement at the site of New Brunswick was made in 1681. The settlement here was called Prigmore's Swamp (1681–1697), then known as Inian's Ferry (1691–1714).Staff. "New-Jersey.; Miscellaneous Notes about New-Brunswick." , The New York Times, July 27, 1854. Accessed December 11, 2019. "If the 'desperately hot' weather permit, I purpose to give you a few items of general interest respecting this ancient Dutch settlement. However, with the mercury ranging from 78° to 98° in the shade, during the sixteen hours of sunshine, you will not expect much exertion on my part. Daniel Cooper (says Gordon,) was the first recorded inhabitant of 'Prigmore's Swamp.'" In 1714, with the coronation of King George II of Great Britain, who was also the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg,Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names , New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 9, 2015.Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 223. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed September 9, 2015. the settlement was given the name New Brunswick, honoring the administrative capital of the duchy, Braunschweig (Brunswick in Low German), in the state of Lower Saxony, now located in Germany. Braunschweig was an influential and powerful city in the Hanseatic League.
Colonial and Early American periods Centrally located between New York City and Philadelphia along an early thoroughfare known as the King's Highway and situated along the Raritan River, New Brunswick became an important hub for Colonial travelers and traders. New Brunswick was incorporated as a town in 1736 and chartered as a city in 1784. It was incorporated into a town in 1798 as part of the Township Act of 1798. It was occupied by the British in the winter of 1776–1777 during the Revolutionary War.Revolutionary War Sites in New Brunswick , Revolutionary War New Jersey. Accessed August 18, 2013.
The Declaration of Independence received one of its first public readings, by Colonel John Neilson in New Brunswick on July 9, 1776, in the days following its promulgation by the Continental Congress.Heintze, James R. Declaration of Independence: First Public Readings, American University, backed up by the Internet Archive as of June 15, 2004. Accessed December 11, 2019. "July 9 or 10 – New Brunswick, N.J. Col. John Neilson; Harper's New Monthly Magazine, July 1892, 251."Lee, Eunice. "Statue of New Brunswick Revolutionary War figure planned" , The Star-Ledger, July 31, 2011. Accessed August 18, 2013. "New Brunswick Public Sculpture, a nonprofit, is commissioning a life-size bronze statue of Col. John Neilson, a New Jersey native who gave one of the earliest readings of the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776, while standing before a crowd in New Brunswick."Did You Know Answer 2 , City of New Brunswick. Accessed December 11, 2019. "The 3rd public reading of the Declaration of Independence took place outside a tavern on Albany Street on July 9, 1776. The document was en route from Philadelphia to New York when Col. John A. Neilson stood outside a tavern, atop a table, and read it to the townspeople!" A bronze statue marking the event was dedicated on July 9, 2017, in Monument Square, in front of the Heldrich Hotel.Makin, Cheryl. "Revolutionary moment comes to life, 241 years later" , Courier News, July 10, 2017. Accessed December 11, 2019. "Neilson was born March 11, 1745 in the city that now bears a street with his name, in addition to Neilson Hall on the Rutgers University campus and, as of Sunday, a sculpture depicting a defining moment in his life and the country's history. It also is the only statue depicting a reading of the Declaration of Independence in the U.S., Ritter said."