About Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city retained its ranking as the state's fourth-most-populous city (behind neighboring Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson), with a population of 137,298, an increase of 12,329 (+9.9%) from the 2010 census count of 124,969, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,401 (3.7%) from the 120,568 counted in the 2000 census. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 134,283 in 2022, ranking the city the 210th-most populous in the country, making it the fifth-most populous municipality of any type in the state, falling behind Lakewood Township, where the population was estimated to be 139,506, as of that year. == History == Elizabeth, originally called "Elizabethtown" and part of the Elizabethtown Tract, was founded in 1664 by English settlers. The town was not named for Queen Elizabeth I as many people may assume, but rather for Elizabeth, wife of Sir George Carteret, one of the two original Proprietors of the colony of New Jersey.