About Newark
Newark, which is the largest city in New Jersey, is one of the nation's major air, shipping, and rail hubs. It is the second largest city in the New York metropolitan area, only 8 miles west of Manhattan. As of 2014, Newark population was 276,478. On a typical weekday, over 100,000 people commute to Newark, making Newark New Jersey’s largest employment center with many white-collar jobs in insurance, healthcare, import-export, finance, and government.
Newark and New York Metropolitan Area
Newark is the third (after New York City and Hartford) largest insurance center in country. Prudential Financial, Mutual Benefit Life, Fireman's Insurance, and American Insurance Company all originated in Newark. Specifically, Prudential Financial is one of the largest insurance companies in the world and it has its "home office” in Newark and is constructing a new office tower that is scheduled to open in August 2015. Newark also is the headquarters to several companies, including New Jersey Transit, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), IDT Corporation, Audible.com, Panasonic Corporation of North America, and Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey.
According to the Census Bureau, Newark’s total area of land and water is 26.107 square miles, with 24.187 square miles of land (the 3rd smallest land area among the 100 most populous cities in the Country) and 1.920 square miles of water. Newark’s altitude ranges from 0 in the east to almost 230 feet above sea level in the west. Basically, the City is a large basin sloping towards the Passaic River, with a few valleys formed by winding streams. During the 20th century, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was able to reclaim 68 acres of the marshland to further expand the Newark Airport and grow the port lands. The Port Newark, which is the largest cargo facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey, is located on Newark Bay and it is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and serves as the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving the New York metropolitan region and the north eastern quadrant of North America. In 2003, the Port moved over $100 billion in goods, making it then the 15th busiest in the world.

Newark is home of several universities, including Rutgers University-Newark, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ) – the largest health science university in the country, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Seton Hall University Law School.
A number of festivals and parades are held in Newark annually/bi-annually. The following are among these festivals and parades: the Cherry Blossom Festival (April) in Branch Brook Park; the Lincoln Park Music Festival (July) at Lincoln Park; the Newark Black Film Festival (summer); the Portugal Day Festival (June) in the Ironbound; and Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival (October).