Burlington County, New Jersey

Burlington County is a county in New Jersey, United States, about 20 miles northeast of
Philadelphia along the Delaware River. It had a population of 461,860 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 481,439 by 2025, and covers 799.29 square miles of land (2,070.2 km2) centred near
39°53′N 74°40′W.

Mount Holly is the county seat; its postal code is 08060. The county holds 40 incorporated
municipalities — townships, boroughs and cities — plus 19 census-designated places
that have no government of their own, and it runs on Eastern Time. It is the largest county by
land area in New Jersey.

Towns & Villages in Burlington County

Burlington County has no unincorporated land: every acre lies inside one of its 40
municipalities, all of which are Townships, Boroughs or a City in New Jersey’s municipal system.
The table below lists all 40. City · seat marks Mount Holly’s host township.

Fort Dix and McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst’s built-up areas split across township lines: the Fort Dix
census-designated place spans New Hanover, Pemberton and Springfield townships, and the McGuire
Air Force Base CDP spans New Hanover and North Hanover townships, so neither is counted as its
own municipality above. Moorestown’s downtown neighborhood, Moorestown-Lenola, is a separate CDP
inside Moorestown Township, not a township of its own.

Beyond the 40 municipalities, the Census Bureau recognizes 19 census-designated places —
built-up communities with no local government — inside those townships. The largest:

Two more CDPs, Florence and Florence-Roebling, sit inside Florence Township and are not broken
out separately here. Beyond these 19, hundreds of local place names — crossroads, mill
sites and Pine Barrens hamlets such as Chatsworth, Atsion, Batsto, Harrisville and Whitesbog
— appear on old maps and postal records but carry no Census population of their own.

ZIP Codes

• 08060 — Mount Holly (also covers Eastampton and part of Westampton)
• 08046 — Willingboro
• 08016 — Burlington City and Burlington Township
• 08053 — Marlton (Evesham Township)
• 08054 — Mount Laurel
• 08055 — Medford and Medford Lakes
• 08057 — Moorestown
• 08052 — Maple Shade
• 08077 — Cinnaminson and Riverton
• 08075 — Riverside, Delran, Delanco
• 08048 — Lumberton
• 08088 — Southampton (Vincentown), Shamong and Tabernacle
• 08068 — Pemberton Borough and Pemberton Township
• 08015 — Browns Mills, within Pemberton Township
• 08010 — Beverly and Edgewater Park
• 08505 — Bordentown City, Bordentown Township and Fieldsboro
• 08518 — Florence and Roebling
• 08065 — Palmyra
• 08640 — New Hanover Township and Fort Dix
• 08562 — Wrightstown
• 08087 — Bass River Township and New Gretna
• 08019 — Chatsworth, serving both Woodland and Washington townships

Fieldsboro, Riverton and several Pine Barrens hamlets share a ZIP with a larger neighbor rather
than carrying one of their own; Chatsworth’s single 08019 code is the only ZIP covering all of
Washington Township, one of the state’s least populated municipalities.

Geography

Burlington County stretches from the Delaware River in the west across the Inner Coastal Plain
to the New Jersey Pine Barrens in the south and east, the largest tract of open space in the
state’s heavily developed corridor. Of its 820.19 square miles of total area, 799.29 are land and
20.89 are water, about 2.5 percent. The Rancocas Creek, with its North and South branches, drains
the county’s western townships into the Delaware; Wading River and Oswego River, both federally
designated Wild and Scenic waterways, cut through the sandy Pine Barrens in the county’s eastern
half.

Mercer County lies to the north, Ocean County to the east, Atlantic County to the southeast,
Camden County to the south and Gloucester County touches a short stretch to the southwest. Across
the Delaware River sit Bucks County and Philadelphia, both in Pennsylvania. Mercer County, Ocean County, Atlantic County, Camden County and Gloucester County all border Burlington
directly, and across the river, Bucks
County and Philadelphia face
it from the Pennsylvania shore.

Demographics

Burlington County had a population of 461,860 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 481,439 residents. Evesham Township is the largest municipality at 46,826 people,
followed by Mount Laurel Township at 44,633; together the two hold about a fifth of the county’s
population. Median household income runs $88,797, above New Jersey’s statewide figure. Density
works out to roughly 578 people per square mile of land, moderate for a county that stretches deep
into the sparsely settled Pine Barrens — Washington Township, at the low end, holds under 7
people per square mile, while Maple Shade Township, at the high end, tops 5,000.

Economy & Local Life

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, a roughly 42,000-acre installation spanning New Hanover, North
Hanover, Pemberton and Springfield townships, is the county’s largest single employer and one of
the largest military bases on the East Coast. Lockheed Martin runs a major systems-engineering
campus in Moorestown, center of its work on the Navy’s Aegis Combat System. Healthcare is a
second major sector, anchored by Virtua Health’s hospital in Mount Holly and Deborah Heart and
Lung Center in Browns Mills. Retail and logistics cluster around the Route 38 and Route 73
corridors in Moorestown, Mount Laurel and Maple Shade, and cranberry and blueberry farming
continues in the Pine Barrens townships of Chatsworth, Tabernacle and Woodland. The county’s
gross domestic product reached $27.4 billion in 2021, tenth-highest among New Jersey’s 21
counties.

History

The New Jersey General Assembly formed Burlington County on 17 May 1694 as one of the colony’s
first two counties, named for Bridlington, a town in Yorkshire, England, where many of the
colony’s first Quaker settlers had sailed from. Burlington City served as the seat of West Jersey’s
provincial government before New Jersey’s two provinces merged in 1702, and it remained the
county seat until Mount Holly took over in 1793.

On 23 June 1778, New Jersey militia under Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson and Continental
troops under Brigadier General William Maxwell fought British forces at the bridge over Crosswicks
Creek, delaying General Henry Clinton’s army as it marched across the county toward New York five
days before the Battle of Monmouth. The county’s Quaker meetings, strongest in Moorestown and
Mount Laurel, were early centers of organized abolitionism in the decades before the Civil War.

Getting There

Interstate 295 runs the length of the county’s western side, parallel to the Delaware River, and
the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95) crosses its northwest corner near Bordentown and Mansfield.
Route 38 and Route 70 run east–west across the county’s populated center, and Route 206 runs
north–south through Southampton, Shamong and Tabernacle.

• Philadelphia — about 20 miles west of Mount Holly
• Trenton — about 15 miles north of Bordentown
• Atlantic City — about 40 miles southeast of Mount Holly
• Camden — about 20 miles southwest of Mount Holly

Philadelphia International Airport, roughly 25 miles southwest of Mount Holly, is the nearest
major commercial airport. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains stop at Trenton Transit Center to the
north and Philadelphia 30th Street Station across the river; NJ Transit’s River Line light rail
runs along the county’s western edge, serving Burlington City, Beverly, Delanco, Riverside,
Riverton, Palmyra and Florence on its way between Trenton and Camden.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Burlington County located?
It sits in South Jersey along the Delaware River, about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia,
bordered by Mercer, Ocean, Atlantic, Camden and Gloucester counties.

What is the population of Burlington County?
461,860 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 481,439.

How big is Burlington County?
799.29 square miles of land (2,070.2 km2) plus 20.89 square miles of water — the largest
county by land area in New Jersey.

What is the county seat of Burlington County?
Mount Holly Township, county seat since 1793, when it took over from Burlington City.

How many towns are in Burlington County?
40 incorporated municipalities — townships, boroughs and cities — plus 19 unincorporated
census-designated places such as Browns Mills, Marlton and Moorestown-Lenola.

What ZIP codes does Burlington County use?
Around two dozen, led by 08060 (Mount Holly), 08046 (Willingboro), 08053 (Marlton) and 08016
(Burlington), with rural Pine Barrens townships sharing 08088 or 08019.

What is Burlington County known for?
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, one of the largest military installations on the East Coast, and
the New Jersey Pine Barrens, which cover much of the county’s eastern half.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in New Jersey.