United Kingdom vs. New Jersey | Just the Stats

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, the United States is an extraordinarily large place. It is so large, in fact, that 11 of its states separately possess a total area larger than that of the entire United Kingdom.

This is truly mind-boggling, especially given that the UK is itself comprised of four nations. That is precisely why I have undertaken this weekly project: tabulating the statistical differences (and sometimes similarities) between each of the fifty states and the United Kingdom. This week, we're going to assess how the state of New Jersey shapes up against the UK in each of the data areas listed below. 

Please keep in mind that the contents of the following table do not serve any social or political agenda. Moreover, this table—as well as those of the other 49 states—is subject to revision, correction, and/or updates as and when such alterations are needed.

	NEW JERSEY	UK
POPULATION	8,958,013	64,100,000
POPULATION DENSITY	1210.10 people per sq. mile	662 people per sq. mile
TOTAL AREA (SQ. MILES)	8,723	94,060
YEAR OF FORMATION	1787	1707
TIME ZONE(S)	Eastern	GMT and BST
LARGEST CITY	Newark	London
HIGHEST POINT	1,803 ft (High Point)	4,406 ft (Ben Nevis)
HIGHEST REC. TEMP	110 °F (43 °C)	101.3°F (38.5°C)
LOWEST REC. TEMP	−34 °F (−37 °C)	-17°F (-27.2°C)
MALE LIFE EXPECTANCY	77.84	79.5
FEMALE LIFE EXPECTANCY	82.5	82.5
MURDER RATE (PER 100,000 PEOPLE)	4.4 (Statistics recorded in 2012)	1 (Statistics recorded in 2012)
TALLEST BUILDING	781ft (Goldman Sachs Tower)	1004ft (The Shard in London)
INCARCERATION RATE (PER 100,000 PEOPLE)	421	147
MINIMUM WAGE	$8.38	$9.96 (for workers over 21)
VEHICLES PER 1,000 PEOPLE	690	519
ADULT OBESITY RATE	22.9%	23.1%
AGE OF CONSENT	16	16
MINIMUM AGE FOR FULL, UNRESTRICTED DRIVING LICENSES	18	17 (or 16 for some people claiming mobility benefit).

Sometimes, it's better hearing me in a British accent. Click the red button below.

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Laurence Brown is a British man writing his way through the truly bizarre world of America - a place he sometimes accidentally calls home and a place he still hasn't quite figured out after seven years. Thankfully, his journey is made 12% easier by the fact that his accent makes him sound much smarter than he is. For evidence of this, subscribe to his popular Lost in the Pond web series over on YouTube.