New Jersey falls into the mid-atlantic and northeastern regions of the U.S. It lies largely within the sprawling metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia. New Jersey's position at the center of the Northeast Corridor, between Metro Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., fueled its rapid growth through the suburban boom of the 1950s and beyond. Today, New Jersey has the highest population density in the states and is the eleventh-most populous state in the United States.