Like many large U.S. cities, Newark has spent the better part of the last 40 years struggling with unemployment, crime, and a flight of residents to the suburbs. The once-thriving metropolis mirrored the freefall that stalled similar-sized cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis.
But Newark’s advantageous geographical position – near the heart of the greater New York City region and with one of the nation’s largest international ports – may give the city a leg up on the rest of the country’s struggling metropolitan areas that are attempting to revive themselves.