EDISON GEOGRAPHY
Edison, New Jersey, has a topography that is basically flat with some hilly areas within the township. Its highest elevation is at Grandview Avenue which reaches a peak of about 220 feet. Its lowest point is at sea level on the Raritan River.
Edison is located somewhere in the middle between Midtown Manhattan and Trenton, the capital city of New Jersey state. It is approximately 30 miles from both locations, making it a great suburb for government workers in Trenton and employees working in New York City.
Edison is located on the east side of the Raritan Valley, and it completely encircles the borough of Metuchen, New Jersey, making it one part of 21 pairs of doughnut towns stuck together in the state. The township also borders 7 municipalities in Middlesex County, namely Highland Park, East Brunswick, New Brunswick, Piscataway, South Plainfield, Sayreville and Woodbridge Township. And also Scotch Plains and Plainfield in Union County.
CLIMATE
Edison has been classified a Humid Subtropical climate with a lot of rainfall all throughout the year. But the late summer months have more rain than the rest.
Summers are hot and humid with substantial rain and winters are cool to cold with snow an expected occurrence with it falling several times during the winter. Clearer days are expected during winter and fall compared to spring and summer.
DEMOGRAPHICS AND POPULATION
In 2019, Edison had a population of 100,000 of which nearly 20 percent count themselves as Indian Americans. This is one of the largest concentration of South Asians in any part of the US.
This makes Edison one of the country's main districts of Asian American diversity. Within the township is Little India, which is a South Asian dense commercial strip. On it is the Oak Tree Road strip (the Indian strip) which extends for one and a half miles throughout Edison and neighboring Iselin. This is also very close to the vast Chinatown and Koreatown in the area. There are also a number of temples serving the needs of the predominantly Hindu religion of the Indians.
Edison is basically middle class with more than 75 ethnic communities. Aside from the sizable Indian population, it also has a large Jewish community right beside Hyland Park, with multiple synagogues.
When there are elections, the ballots are printed in English, Spanish, Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati - respecting the diversity of races in Edison.
ORIGINS
The original name of the Edison township was Raritan Township when it was incorporated by the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870. It was officially changed to Edison Township on November 10, 1954 to honor Thomas Edison, the great inventor, who had a laboratory in the Menlo Park area of the township.
RECOGNITION FOR EDISON
Among the growing accolades for Edison are:
1) One of America's 10 best places to grow up in by US News and World Report.
2) The Number One Safest City in America by parenting.com.
3) The 28th most livable small city in the US by CNN Money Magazine.