Elizabeth is a city in and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city retained its ranking as the state's fourth-most-populous city behind neighboring Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson, with a population of 137,298, an increase of 12,329 (+9.9%) from the 2010 census count of 124,969, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,401 (3.7%) from the 120,568 counted in the 2000 census. The Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 135,829 for 2023, making it the 206th-most populous municipality in the nation and the fifth-most populous municipality of any type in the state, falling behind Lakewood Township, where the population that year was estimated to be 139,866.