Formed May 17, 1694 (9th county)
Salem County (64,834), Salem (5,298)
A Modern Colonial red brick and columned courthouse was built in 1968. It is located at Market Street and Martin Luther King Drive. Market Street is New Jersey State Highway 45 in the town. George Friedman provided the designs. A 1958 building was remodeled in 1997 to become the Administration Building. Edwards & Green are the architects. A 1736 and an 1818 version of the courthouse was there earlier in Salem, the only county seat. Salem County was established on May 17, 1694 as the 9th county. The county and county seat are derivatives of the Hebrew word for “peace.”
Salem County government consists of an executive, a sheriff, an administrator and a clerk (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Twenty-two Superior Court Judges serve Salem, Cumberland, and Gloucester counties and a prosecutor serves Salem County (judicial.) Salem County is located in the southwest corner of the state. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is north and Baltimore, Maryland is southwest of the county. The county center is 5 miles East of Salem nearer Penton. The county is surrounded clockwise by Gloucester and Cumberland counties and Delaware.
The area of the county is 338 square miles. It is 10 out of 21 in the state. It ranks 21 out of 21 in population in the state. It has a density of 191.8 persons per square mile making it 21 out of 21 in the state. Salem County has 23.4% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 295 crosses northeast to west in the county from Gloucester County to Delaware. United States Highway 130 parallels Interstate Highway 295 from Gloucester County but terminates. The county resembles the head of a hammer. The City of Salem is located in the western quarter of the county. Penns Grove is on the northwest border of the county. Salem is the county seat and the largest city. Salem is 8.2% of the county population. This county is in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Elmer
Penns Grove
Salem
Woodstown
