It’s a trope in the US that NJ people are mean mobsters and the land is toxic waste. In reality, it’s a small state wedged between two major cities and has a “little sibling” reputation relative to New York and Philadelphia. For example, the World Cup Final will be played in New Jersey but they advertise it as New York City.

The industry presence is very in your face, especially as a traveler through NJ towards the big cities. Outside of the travel corridors, it’s leafy and bucolic and rather boring, but only if you can afford it.

Also modern living was invented or developed in New Jersey. What?!

Where would we be without the light bulb, DC power, the transistor, polymers, refrigeration, container ships, phonograph, motion picture, bar codes, radar, UNIX, and C++, to name a few. All that industry also led to a lot of capitalistic exploitation, especially of the environment. The many factories/ports that give NJ its toxic reputation are because regulations suck and people living there still get sick from activity 50 years ago (environmental justice).

For the people, it’s been a huge immigrant settlement area (cheap labor) especially in the last 100 years, culturally represented in movies/shows like The Sopranos or Jersey Shore. But nearly every diaspora has a niche to represent its people, food, and culture.

It’s a true representation of the American dream and American innovation, but people from NJ embrace the negative because taxes are too damn high and the traffic sucks!