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Welcome to Paterson ...

The city of Paterson is located in Passaic County<1> and is the County Seat for Passaic County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Paterson, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1846.

When the people of Paterson refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Patersonian<2>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Paterson has a population of 145,234 people<3> (see below for details).

Paterson is 100 feet [30 m] above sea level.<4>.

Time Zone: Paterson lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Paterson: 973 & 862<5>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Paterson had an population of 145,234 people. This is a decrease of 0.66% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 2.67% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Paterson had a population of 146,199 people (or 29.12% of the total population of Passaic County). This makes Paterson the county's most populous community.

The population of Paterson represents 1.66% of the population of New Jersey (which has 8,791,894 people), making it the state's 3rd most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 146,199 people, the population of Paterson decreased 2.03% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 149,222 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Paterson.

Communities Also Named Paterson ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 3 communities that are also named Paterson - they are located in British Columbia, Manitoba and Washington.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Paterson.

Websites for Paterson ...

Official Website: www.patcity.com/

Communities near Paterson ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Paterson.

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Paterson. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Paterson.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Paterson. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Paterson.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Paterson. Our list includes 73 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Paterson.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Paterson ...

Looking for more information about Paterson? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Paterson, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Paterson.

Adding Paterson to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Paterson in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Paterson was in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (Oct. 1846).

We also found Paterson in the book titled Table of U.S. Post Offices in the United States (Jan. 1851).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Paterson.

The official website for Paterson: www.patcity.com/

The official website for Passaic County: www.passaiccountynj.org/

The official website for State of New Jersey: https://www.nj.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of New Jersey's counties, including Passaic, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Paterson refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a city's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Paterson may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<3>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Paterson.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Paterson - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 973 code has been Overlayed with the 862 area code. New phone numbers in the Paterson area will be assigned with one of these codes: 973 or 862. As a result, placing a call in the Paterson area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025