IT companies in New Jersey: 7,645 tech sites, the Middlesex corridor and how to find the right firm

This page is for people looking for IT and tech companies in New Jersey: a business choosing an IT provider or developer, a job seeker, a buyer at a public agency, or a B2B seller whose customers are tech firms. It covers the federal count, the county and industry split, the public companies headquartered in the state and the state records that name the rest.

New Jersey IT companies by the numbers

County Business Patterns (CBP), the Census Bureau's annual count of businesses with employees, puts 7,645 tech establishments in New Jersey for 2023, the seventh-highest count of any state. It sums four NAICS industry groups: software publishers (5112), computer systems design and related services (5415), data processing, hosting and related services (518) and other information services (5191).

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority says the state is home to "more than 10,000 technology companies". That's a broader definition than the four CBP groups here, which count only establishments with paid employees whose main business is software, IT services, hosting or information services.

An IT services state

IT services (the first three rows) are 6,369 establishments, 83% of the total, and 71% of the jobs. Custom programming alone employs 49,196 people, more than software publishers, hosting and information services combined. That's the profile of a consulting and staff augmentation market.

Where: the Middlesex corridor and North Jersey

These county figures come from the Census Bureau's county file for the same four industry groups:

Employee counts marked not reported carry the Census Bureau's high-noise flag: to protect confidentiality it changed them by 5% or more, so they're left out here.

Middlesex County, home to Edison, Piscataway and New Brunswick, has 28% of the state's tech establishments and about a third of its tech jobs, more than the next three counties combined. Choose New Jersey's technology page notes that Tata Consultancy Services has more than 3,700 IT employees at its Edison facility. Bergen and Hudson counties face Manhattan; Mercer and Somerset sit along the Route 1 and I-287 corridors.

Size

The Census Bureau withholds the 250-to-499 and larger cells for New Jersey to protect confidentiality, so the last row is the total less the published cells. In bands: 6,653 establishments with 1 to 19 employees, 784 with 20 to 99 and 208 with 100 or more.

Public tech companies headquartered in New Jersey

Headquarters and revenue are from each company's latest 10-K. The data file behind this page lists 14 SEC-registered companies in computer, electronics and software codes with New Jersey addresses; the four not shown are much smaller.

Finding New Jersey IT companies by name

NJSAVI is the fastest route to certified IT vendors if you buy for a public body or have supplier diversity goals; NJSTART shows who already holds state IT contracts.

Choosing a New Jersey IT company

1. Match the firm to the work. Staff augmentation and custom builds are 541511 firms; managed IT and infrastructure 541512 and 541513.
2. Confirm the entity in the Business Name Search and order a standing certificate for a large contract.
3. Ask how the team is staffed. In a consulting-heavy market, find out who are employees, who are subcontractors and where they work.
4. Check public-sector history on NJSTART if you're a public buyer.
5. Get two references from clients in your industry, ideally in New Jersey.

Prospecting New Jersey IT companies

Most of the market is small: 5,304 establishments have fewer than five employees, typically an owner who sells and delivers. The 784 with 20 to 99 have an operations or delivery head, and those that run staffing models have recruiting teams, so their buyers are recruiting, finance and HR as much as IT. The 208 with 100 or more add procurement. Start with Middlesex, Bergen and Morris, and watch for new client contracts, a new state contract award and recruiting surges.

Worked example: a PEO for IT consultancies

Illustrative example. The company, people and rates are fictional, to show the method.

Raritan Workforce (raritanworkforce.example) is a professional employer organization: it runs payroll, benefits and HR compliance for small firms. IT consultancies with 10 to 49 employees often have consultants working at client sites in several states, which makes payroll and benefits harder than their size suggests.

• New Jersey tech establishments with 10 to 49 employees: 564 + 568 = 1,132.
• IT services firms are 6,369 of 7,645 (83%), so about 940 of those.
• Middlesex County holds 28% of establishments: about 265 in Middlesex alone.
• Raritan assumes 40% have consultants in more than one state: about 105 accounts in its home county.

The research step is telling a staffing-model consultancy from a product shop. Bebop takes "Middlesex County IT consulting firms with 10 to 49 employees placing consultants in several states" and returns matching firms with a playbook for each.

Subject: Payroll for consultants in [number] states

Hi [first name],

I noticed [Company] is hiring consultants for client sites in [states]. Once a firm your size has people in several states, payroll registrations and benefits eligibility usually start taking a day a week of someone's time.

We run payroll, benefits and state registrations for New Jersey consultancies with 10 to 50 people. Would a short comparison against what you pay now be useful?

[Your name], Raritan Workforce

What the count covers

CBP counts establishments, single locations with at least one paid employee, for the week of March 12, 2023, so a firm with offices in Edison and Jersey City counts twice. Owner-only consultancies aren't counted, and IT teams at banks, insurers and drug makers count under their employers' industries. County rows total 7,628; the other 17 establishments aren't shown in the county file.

Next step: compare the market across the river in tech companies in NYC.