Carteret is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, home to about 25,496 people across 4.4 square miles. Its ZIP code is 07008.
Homes sold for a median of $355 per square foot in the three months ending August 2026, a balanced market.
Each card is that ZIP code’s whole market, including any part outside Carteret. Seller’s market: under 4 months of supply; buyer’s market: over 6. Methodology
Carteret sits on the Arthur Kill across from Staten Island, with the Rahway River along its northern edge. Before colonization the shoreline, later called Smoking Point, was used for hunting and fishing. Through the colonial era the area was part of Woodbridge Township, and by 1725 the neighborhood around today's Roosevelt and Washington Avenues was known as Blazing Star. By 1759 the Blazing Star Tavern stood on the waterfront and the Blazing Star Ferry crossed to Staten Island, a name that lasted into the mid-1800s; county atlases of the 1850s labeled the area Woodbridge Neck.
In the 1870s two ferry landings served the shore, and in the 1880s a rail line between Linden and Perth Amboy opened the waterfront to industry. Manufacturers of fertilizer, condensers and other goods arrived in that decade, and around 1905 steel, chemical and copper refining works opened; the section around them took the name Chrome. A schoolhouse from 1869, Rahway Neck No. 21, still stands on Roosevelt Avenue in West Carteret.
In 1906 the villages of Carteret and Chrome left Woodbridge Township and became the Borough of Roosevelt. In 1922 the borough took the name Carteret, honoring Sir George Carteret, one of the original proprietors of New Jersey, and his relative Philip Carteret, the province's first governor. As heavy industry declined, the borough turned to redevelopment of its former industrial land and waterfront.
Carteret is a compact borough split by the New Jersey Turnpike. East of the Turnpike are Chrome in the southeast, the Hill section, and the blocks around Roosevelt and Washington Avenues, where the colonial-era Blazing Star settlement stood; West Carteret lies west of the highway along Roosevelt Avenue. Other place names still used for parts of the borough include West Chrome, Canda, East Rahway, Lamar, Silvan Beach and South Carteret.
Roosevelt Avenue is the main street, and its lower end in Chrome has been rebuilt with a new streetscape and the Gateway apartment complex, nearly 400 rental units built in phases from 2006 to 2014 on former industrial land. Heavy truck traffic is part of daily life on some streets, and the borough has used state freight-impact funds to repair truck-worn roads in West Carteret.
The borough runs ten parks, including Civic Center Park, Carteret Park, Waterfront Park and smaller neighborhood parks such as Grant Avenue Park and Parkview Park, with ball fields, courts, ponds and walking paths. Joseph Medwick Park follows the Rahway River along the northern edge of the borough. Carteret Public Schools serve the borough.
There is no train station in Carteret. The nearest NJ Transit rail stations are in neighboring Rahway, on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines, and in Woodbridge. NJ Transit local buses serve the borough, including the 116 to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan and Perth Amboy and the 48 between Elizabeth and Perth Amboy.
The New Jersey Turnpike runs through the borough, with Interchange 12 connecting to Roosevelt Avenue; the interchange was rebuilt with added toll lanes and new ramps. Roosevelt Avenue is the main local road east to west. Newark Liberty International Airport is the nearest commercial airport, a few exits north on the Turnpike.
On the waterfront, a $50 million intermodal ferry terminal with four ferry slips is under construction beside Waterfront Park and Veteran's Pier, intended to link Carteret with Manhattan by water. As of August 2026 its frame was complete and the mayor projected an opening about a year later, with a federal grant through NJ Transit funding an electric ferry boat.
Carteret Waterfront Park along the Arthur Kill is the borough's main outdoor space, with Veteran's Pier, a fishing pier, a mini golf course and the 185-slip Carteret Municipal Marina, which leases seasonal slips. Joseph Medwick Park offers a greenway along the Rahway River on the borough's northern edge.
The Carteret Performing Arts Center at 46 Washington Avenue, opened in 2021, hosts concerts, comedy, plays, touring productions and expos, and also has a club space for comedy and jazz and gallery space for art. The Carteret Public Library at 100 Cooke Avenue offers programs for all ages, museum passes, online tutoring and borrowing across the STELLA library consortium.
Civic Center Park is the stage for the borough's large summer and fall events, including an Independence Day festival with fireworks and a September festival with concerts, a carnival and a car show that marked its 50th year in 2026. The Carteret Historical Committee collects local photographs and records and posts them online.
Researched and drafted from the public sources below. Updated October 2026. Spot something wrong or out of date? Tell us.
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Get matched| Nearest major airport | Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)8 miles away |
|---|---|
| Nearest city of 250,000+ | Newark, NJ10 miles away |
| Nearest city of 1 million+ | New York, NY16 miles away |
Straight-line distances from the center of Carteret; driving is longer.
Source: Airports from OurAirports (scheduled passenger service); city centers and populations from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Source: Members of Congress from the congress-legislators project; districts from the Census Bureau’s relationship files; governor and mayor from Wikidata.
Carteret had 25,326 residents in the 2020 census, up 22% since 2000.
It’s the 103rd largest of 565 towns in New Jersey by population.
Middlesex County grew from 79,762 residents in 1900 to 863,162 in 2020.
Middlesex County, 1900–2020
Source: U.S. Census Bureau decennial censuses (counties 1900–1990 from the Bureau’s historical county file).
Average highs peak around 86°F in summer, and winter lows average 25°F. About 50.4 inches of rain and melted snow fall in a typical year, with about 26 inches of snow.
Source: NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals, Cranford, NJ weather station (8 miles away).
434,143 jobs at 22,314 businesses in Middlesex County. The biggest industries by employees:
Source: U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 (private employers; jobs counted where people work).
76 doctors and other health care providers list an office in Carteret.
Nearest hospitals
Providers with an office here
| Primary care doctors | 7 |
|---|---|
| Specialist doctors | 7 |
| Dentists | 9 |
| Nurse practitioners and physician assistants | 16 |
| Mental health providers | 14 |
| Physical and occupational therapists | 17 |
| Chiropractors | 6 |
| Pharmacies | 9 |
Source: Hospitals from CMS Hospital General Information (ratings are CMS overall star ratings); straight-line distances; providers from the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), by practice address and primary specialty.
Parks (5 nearby)
Grocery stores (1 nearby)
Pharmacies
Libraries (1 nearby)
Museums
Theaters and performance venues
Counts are within about 1.5 miles of the center of town.
Source: Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (openstreetmap.org/copyright), as mapped by volunteers; it can miss places or include closed ones.
Established in 1906.
Source: Wikidata (wikidata.org), the free knowledge base; people are listed by place of birth.
Public schools here are run by Carteret Public School District. Check each district’s attendance zones for a specific address.
| School | Grades | Students | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus Elementary SchoolCarteret | Pre-K–4 | 642 | Public | 0.8 mi |
| Nathan Hale Elementary SchoolCarteret | Pre-K–4 | 436 | Public | 0.5 mi |
| Private Nicholas Minue Elementary SchoolCarteret | Pre-K–4 | 529 | Public | 1.2 mi |
| Carteret Middle SchoolCarteret | 5–6 | 540 | Public | 0.1 mi |
| Carteret Junior High SchoolCarteret | 7–8 | 568 | Public | 0.3 mi |
| Carteret High SchoolCarteret | 9–12 | 1,188 | Public | 0.2 mi |
| School | Grades | Students | Affiliation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph Elementary SchoolCarteret | Pre-K–8 | 83 | Roman Catholic | 0.6 mi |
| Gateway SchoolCarteret | 2–12 | 47 | Nonsectarian | 0.7 mi |
| Yeshiva Gedolah of Carteret Inc.Carteret | 9–12 | 37 | Jewish | 0.5 mi |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES: Common Core of Data (2024-2025) for public schools; Private School Universe Survey (2023-2024) for private schools. Listed by address; we don’t rate schools.
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Town boundaries don’t always match ZIP codes: a ZIP code can cross into neighboring towns, and a town can share a ZIP code with its neighbors. Facts describe the town itself; market figures describe whole ZIP codes.