The urban population, that is, the number residing in towns of more than 2500 people, was 2,486,378 in 1920, or 79 per cent, of the total population. This still leaves a rural population of 669,522, or about 90 per square mile, who are largely engaged in cultivation of the soil or the raising of stock. The chief occupations of the people of the state are agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, and commerce. Many thousands of people of New Jersey are engaged in commercial and industrial enterprises and other business pursuits, in the large cities of the neighboring states. Many opportunities for comfortable residence with all conveniences and advantages and unsurpassed facilities for rapidly traveling back and forth attract many to this state who are employed in the cities of New York and Philadelphia. [Illustration: Population of New Jersey] According to the United States Census of 1920 the population of the New York City Metropolitan District was 7,750,237. Included in this district are the cities and towns in Hudson County and in parts of Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Union, and Middlesex counties, with a population of 1,795,590. In the Metropolitan District of Philadelphia, with a population of over 2,000,000, are parts of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties with a population of 239,740. It is clear, therefore, that the occupations of two thirds of our people, at least, are subject to the direct influence of the commercial and industrial activities of these cities. (The United States Census Bureau defines a Metropolitan District as that which embraces the central city and all cities or parts of cities which lie within ten miles of its boundaries.) [Illustration: Broad and Market Streets, Newark] CITIES, TOWNS, BOROUGHS, AND VILLAGES The cities, towns, boroughs, and villages of New Jersey may be placed in six groups: first, those in the New York City Metropolitan District; second, places lying just outside the Metropolitan District of New York; third, Trenton and the towns of the Upper Delaware Valley; fourth, places in the Philadelphia Metropolitan District; fifth, places in the southern part of the state, near Delaware Bay; sixth, cities and towns on the Atlantic coast. =Metropolitan District of New York.=--The following are the chief cities of New Jersey in the Metropolitan District of New York: Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Paterson, Elizabeth, and Perth Amboy.