New Brunswick is a city and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, situated on the Raritan River at the terminus of the old Delaware and Raritan Canal, about twenty-one miles south-southwest of Newark. The 2020 census counted 55,266 residents. The site was first settled in 1681, and the city developed through the nineteenth century as a transportation and manufacturing center before emerging as a regional commercial hub for central New Jersey. New Brunswick is best known today as the home of Rutgers University–New Brunswick, the flagship campus of the state's largest public university, whose students, faculty, and facilities are woven throughout the city and its neighbor Piscataway. The city is also the world headquarters of Johnson & Johnson, one of the state's most significant corporate employers, and a major healthcare center anchored by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and the broader medical and research institutions clustered nearby. New Brunswick functions simultaneously as a college town and a commuter city, with the New Brunswick train station serving as a major stop on the NJ Transit Northeast Corridor and Amtrak's Northeast Regional line, providing direct rail links to New York City and Trenton. Its dense downtown, diverse dining scene, and historic neighborhoods give the city a distinctly urban character within central New Jersey. The city's role as 'The Hub City' reflects its historic position at the center of the state's rail and road networks, and its economy spans education, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and the arts, with the State Theatre and Rutgers' cultural venues anchoring downtown.