I like your map - I was a “Hill People” for 9 years. Was a great place to live. And that is an accurate depiction! NJ gets a bad rap as folks only think of the turnpike and Newark.
I was always amazed driving from Hill People country south through the Pine Barrens to Cape May how few people there were. Miles and miles and miles of nothing but woods and farmland. And thinking “NJ has the highest density of people - Newark must be REALLY crowded!”
People make jokes about NJ being the “Garden State” because their only experience with the state is exits 13 and 14 on the Turnpike. I grew up on “the shore” and it was also a great place to live. Hated when we had to wrestle the “Hill People” schools. Going to Phillipsburg, or having them come to you for that matter, was never good.
Whenever someone moves to NJ, from another state, their comments are always positive. They didn’t expect to see what they see because of the reputation from outsiders, or those who only saw that turnpike section.
I have to laugh at that NJ motto that once was seen as you came over the Delaware and into NJ. On the Tpke- “”welcome to NJ! You got a problem with that?””
Lol!
I was born in, and grew up in Mass. I married into NJ. When my Mother met my DH to be, she was surprised that he didn’t have an accent. The first time she visited, she couldn’t believe the nice areas she saw.