Elizabeth is the seat of Union County, New Jersey, just south of Newark and across Newark Bay from Staten Island. The 2020 census counted about 137,000 people, making it the state's fourth-largest city, within the New York metropolitan area of some twenty million.
English settlers from Long Island bought land from the Lenape in 1664, the masthead year, and founded Elizabethtown, the first English town in what became New Jersey, naming it after the wife of Sir George Carteret, one of the colony's proprietors. It served as the colony's first capital. The College of New Jersey, later Princeton University, held its first classes here in 1747 before moving away, and a young Alexander Hamilton studied at the town's academy. During the Revolution the town, on the front line facing British-held Staten Island, was raided repeatedly, and Elias Boudinot, a president of the Continental Congress, lived at Boxwood Hall, which still stands. In the nineteenth century the railway and the waterfront brought industry, above all the Singer sewing-machine works at Elizabethport, for decades one of the largest factories in the world.
The city is flat and dense, hemmed in by transport. Midtown, around Broad Street, the county courthouse and the rebuilt railway station, is the old centre and main shopping street. To the east, Elizabethport, the Port, runs towards Newark Bay, an old industrial and working-class district. Along the bay, Port Elizabeth forms half of the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container port on the East Coast, and part of Newark Liberty International Airport lies within the city limits. The New Jersey Turnpike and Routes 1 and 9 slice through. West of Midtown, Elmora and Westminster are quieter districts of larger houses, Peterstown is the old Italian quarter, and the North End borders Newark and Hillside.
Elizabeth is one of the most immigrant cities in the United States: well over a third of residents were born abroad, and the majority are Hispanic, with large Colombian, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Ecuadorian and Guatemalan communities, alongside Portuguese, Brazilian and Haitian ones. Elizabeth Avenue and Broad Street are lined with bakeries, Colombian and Peruvian restaurants and shops selling goods from across Latin America. Peterstown keeps its Italian clubs and delis. The First Presbyterian Church, whose congregation dates to the town's founding, stands among the colonial graves of its churchyard on Broad Street. Shoppers from across the region come to the large outlet mall by the Turnpike, close to the port.
The port and the airport give Elizabeth jobs and also trucks, noise and air pollution, and the neighbourhoods closest to the bay carry a heavy environmental burden. The city has been steadily rebuilding Midtown, including a reconstructed NJ Transit station that reopened in stages from 2023, and new apartment buildings have gone up nearby as people priced out of New York and Hudson County look for homes on the rail line. Federal immigration enforcement weighs heavily here: an immigration detention centre operates in the city, and many families have mixed status. Schools, housing costs, flooding along the low streets near the bay and the steady churn of newcomers define local politics.
The old centre around Broad Street, the Union County Courthouse, City Hall and the rebuilt train station, with shops, restaurants and the colonial First Presbyterian churchyard.
The district by Newark Bay, once home to the Singer works, now a working-class neighbourhood of mostly Latino families beside the port and the waterfront.
A residential neighbourhood west of Midtown with tree-lined streets, larger houses and a busy shopping strip along Elmora Avenue.
The old Italian quarter in the south of the city, with social clubs, delis, bakeries and a well-known summer feast.
Westminster is a quieter district of older houses near the Hillside line; Elizabeth Avenue, running through the city, is its liveliest Latin American commercial street.
Mixed residential neighbourhoods near the North Elizabeth station and the Newark line, with many Portuguese, Brazilian and Latin American households.
The container terminals, warehouses and logistics yards along the bay, the outlet mall, big-box stores and the airport's southern fringe.
750 W Edgar Rd, Linden, NJ 07036 · ihg.com
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427 Allen St, Elizabeth, NJ 07202 · budgetinnelizabeth.top
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87 International Blvd, Elizabeth, NJ 07201 · marriott.com
95 International Blvd, Elizabeth, NJ 07201 · hilton.com
1170 Spring St, Elizabeth, NJ 07201 · hilton.com
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178 Spring St, Elizabeth, NJ 07201 · essenceexpresselizabeth.top
501 W Edgar Rd, Linden, NJ 07036 · hilton.com
1000 Spring St, Elizabeth, NJ 07201 · marriott.com
100 International Blvd, Elizabeth, NJ 07201 · hilton.com
2520 E Edgar Rd, Linden, NJ 07036
454 Maple Ave, Elizabeth, NJ 07202
725 US-1, Elizabeth, NJ 07202
New York, NY, US — You board from the indoor waiting area — no need to plan for the weather. ✈ 74 airlines (Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, US Airways…) · direct flights to 162 destinations incl. London, New Orleans, Paris, Milano, Barcelona… (OpenFlights route data).
Routes and aircraft from OpenFlights (open data; a point-in-time snapshot). * = codeshare. Linked destinations open their own guidebook. Flight numbers are not in the open data — they come from the airline or a paid schedule feed.
Newark, NJ, US — You board from the indoor waiting area — no need to plan for the weather. ✈ 35 airlines (United Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines…) · direct flights to 153 destinations incl. London, Atlanta, Brussels, New Orleans, Amsterdam… (OpenFlights route data).
Routes and aircraft from OpenFlights (open data; a point-in-time snapshot). * = codeshare. Linked destinations open their own guidebook. Flight numbers are not in the open data — they come from the airline or a paid schedule feed.
New York, NY, US — You board from the indoor waiting area — no need to plan for the weather. ✈ 15 airlines (Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, US Airways, Southwest Airlines…) · direct flights to 70 destinations incl. Atlanta, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth… (OpenFlights route data).
Routes and aircraft from OpenFlights (open data; a point-in-time snapshot). * = codeshare. Linked destinations open their own guidebook. Flight numbers are not in the open data — they come from the airline or a paid schedule feed.
Morristown, NJ, US — Indoor waiting areas, but some gates board by bus or on foot across the apron — plan for the weather on the day. ✈ direct flights to 2 destinations incl. Cincinnati, Cincinnati (OpenFlights route data).
Teterboro, NJ, US — Indoor waiting areas, but some gates board by bus or on foot across the apron — plan for the weather on the day. ✈ 1 airline (T.J. Air) · direct flights to 1 destination incl. Nantucket (OpenFlights route data).
Routes and aircraft from OpenFlights (open data; a point-in-time snapshot). * = codeshare. Linked destinations open their own guidebook. Flight numbers are not in the open data — they come from the airline or a paid schedule feed.
Linden, NJ, US — Indoor waiting area, but you walk out to the aircraft to board — bring an umbrella or a coat if the forecast is poor.
Ferry terminal · 6.2 mi from the centre
Ferry terminal · 7.2 mi from the centre
Ferry terminal · 7.3 mi from the centre · New York New Jersey Rail
Ferry terminal · 7.3 mi from the centre
Ferry terminal · 7.3 mi from the centre · NY Waterway
Ferry terminal · 7.4 mi from the centre · NYCDOT
Ferry route · NY Waterway
Ferry route · Hornblower Cruises
Ferry route · New York New Jersey Rail
Ferry route · NYCDOT
Ferry route · NYCDOT
Ferry route · NYCDOT
Ferry route · Hornblower Cruises
Ferry route · Hornblower Cruises
Bus, Rail · New Jersey · Schedules & GTFS data (official feed)
Bus, Metro · New York City, New York · Schedules & GTFS data (official feed)
Bus, Rail · New Jersey · Schedules & GTFS data (official feed)
National rail
Intercity coach
Intercity coach
Intercity coach
Intercity coach
On-demand charter, jet cards and the semi-private scheduled carriers that serve this city.
Semi-private scheduled · Embraer 135/145, 30 seats · Scheduled "hop-on" jet service from private terminals in the western US and Texas — no TSA lines.
Fractional, jet card · Cessna Citation, Embraer Phenom, Bombardier Challenger & Global · The largest private-jet operator in the world; fractional shares and the NetJets card, US and Europe.
Fractional, jet card · Embraer Praetor, Bombardier Challenger & Global, Gulfstream · Fractional ownership and jet cards in North America and Europe.
Jet card, charter · Partner fleet · Jet cards and on-demand charter from Boston.
Jet card · Partner fleet, light to heavy · One of the first jet-card programmes; guaranteed availability on partner aircraft.