Princeton, New Jersey is located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Princeton University has been sited in the town since 1756. Although Princeton is a "college town", there are other important institutions in the area, including the Institute for Advanced Study, Educational Testing Service (ETS), Opinion Research Corporation, Siemens Corporate Research, Sarnoff Corporation, FMC Corporation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Choir College, Church and Dwight and Dow Jones & Company. The town is roughly equidistant from Philadelphia and New York and, thanks to rail service and major highways, has served as a bedroom community for both since the turn of the century. Princeton receives TV and radio from both cities.
New Jersey's State capital is the city of Trenton, approximately 13 miles away, but the Governor's official residence has been in Princeton since 1945, when Morven became the first Governor's mansion. It was later replaced by the larger Drumthwacket, a larger colonial mansion also located in Princeton. Morven became a museum property of the New Jersey Historical Society.
Princeton was named #15 of the top 100 towns in the United States to Live and Work In by Money Magazine in 2005.
Although residents of Princeton (Princetonians) traditionally have a strong town-wide identity, legally there is not one municipality, but two: a township and a borough.The central borough is completely surrounded by the township. The Borough seceded from the Township in 1894 in a dispute over school taxes; the two municipalities later formed the Princeton Regional Schools, and some other public services are conducted together. There have been three referenda proposing to reunite the two Princetons, but they have all been narrowly defeated. The Borough contains Nassau Street, the main commercial street, most of the University campus, and incorporated most of the urban area until the postwar suburbanization. Borough and Township now have roughly equal populations, together approaching 30,000.
Princeton lies at latitude 40°21' North, longitude 74°40' West. United States Postal Zip Codes include 08540, 08542 (largely the Borough), and 08544 (the University).
