Orange, officially the City of Orange Township, is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, situated in the inner-ring suburbs west of Newark. It sits at the heart of "The Oranges," the cluster of similarly named municipalities — Orange, East Orange, West Orange, and South Orange — that grew out of a single colonial settlement. Its population was 34,447 in the 2020 census, and the township functions as a dense, transit-connected urban community within the New York metropolitan area. Orange's history is among the oldest in the region. The settlement traces its origins to families from Connecticut's New Haven Colony who arrived in 1666, part of the wave that founded Newark and its surrounding towns. As the area grew, East Orange and West Orange separated from Orange in 1863, and South Orange followed in 1869, leaving the original municipality as the urban core of the group. The township later adopted the formal name "City of Orange Township." Today Orange is defined by its transit access and its urban-suburban character. The township's NJ Transit station on the Morris & Essex Lines offers direct rail service to New York Penn Station, while Interstate 280 cuts through the community and connects to the Garden State Parkway and the wider northern New Jersey highway network. Newark and its airport, universities, and employment centers lie immediately adjacent. The township is home to the Orange Board of Education, which operates the public schools, and its recreation division runs youth sports and aquatics programs centered on facilities such as Monte Irvin Orange Park, named for the Baseball Hall of Famer who grew up in Orange. For households seeking an established Essex County community with genuine urban amenities, strong rail access to Manhattan, and a comparatively approachable housing market, Orange occupies a distinct position among its better-known neighbors.