Cranbury is a township in southern Middlesex County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 3,842,
Located within the Raritan Valley region, Cranbury is roughly equidistant between New York City and Philadelphia, contributing to it being a regional historical, cultural, and commercial hub of Central New Jersey (the township is known for its logistics industry) and as an outer-ring commuter suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. The municipal taxes generated by warehouse and industrial properties have helped to keep residential property taxes steady over time.
History
A deed for a sale of land and improvements dated March 1, 1698, is the earliest evidence of buildings constructed in present-day Cranbury. A home in Cranbury was used by Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette as a headquarters during the American Revolutionary War, and they were visited by General George Washington on June 26, 1778. It was during this visit, when George Washington hedged out plans to intercept the British's retreat from Philadelphia to New York City, during the tail end of Britain's Philadelphia campaign. This continued pursuit led to the fated events of the Battle of Monmouth (which took place nearby in modern-day Freehold Township and Manalapan Township, preserved currently as Monmouth Battlefield State Park), a major turning point for the Revolutionary War. As part of orders issued during the presidency of George Washington, maps of Cranbury were made showing the presence of a church, a mill and 25 other buildings. Fleeing after he killed Alexander Hamilton in their 1804 duel, Aaron Burr stopped in Cranbury to exchange horses and eat a local inn.
During its earliest years, the location was usually spelled as "Cranberry". Rev. Joseph G. Symmes argued in 1857 that the name was spelled improperly and that the suffix "bury" was more appropriate, leading the name of the community and brook to be changed to "Cranbury" in 1869. The name has been attributed to wild cranberries that grew in the area. The so-called Hightstown rail accident occurred in or near Cranbury, in 1833. According to John Quincy Adams, who was aboard the train and who wrote in his diary about it, the train was from Hightstown when the disaster struck, putting the accident near what is now Cranbury Station. Among the passengers aboard were Tyrone Power and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Cranbury was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 7, 1872, from portions of both Monroe Township and South Brunswick Township. Portions of the township were taken on April 1, 1919, to form Plainsboro Township. The township celebrated its tricentennial in 1998. Updike Parsonage Barn, originally constructed 1759, was disassembled, relocated and reconstructed in 2010 at its current location in Barn Park.
Cranbury, along with the municipalities of Bellmawr, Egg Harbor Township, Montclair, and Woodbridge Township, were the original five municipalities that had authorized dispensaries for the sale of medical cannabis in their municipality in 2017, years before the legal sale of recreational cannabis began in 2022. In July 2021 the township unanimously passed a new ordinance that banned all types of recreational cannabis licenses within the municipality.
The Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society saved the 1713 East Jersey Cottage from demolition and had the building relocated across Old Trenton Road, onto its original 1693 Fullerton tract, the 1752 Philipse property and the 1760 Bodine farm in 2019. The building retained its intact hand-hewn post and beam structure with pegged mortise and tenon joints and rubble nogging.
The township committee voted unanimously on May 12, 2025 to use eminent domain to seize a 175-year-old family farm in order to allow the construction of affordable housing. The Mount Laurel doctrine established by the Supreme Court of New Jersey in 1975 requires municipalities in New Jersey to change their zoning laws to enable the construction of low and middle income housing. The family is fighting the decision and the legal battle is ongoing. The town has been working with the state of New Jersey to alleviate the affordable housing restrictions that led to this property being necessary for affordable housing, and on October 23, 2025, Governor Murphy announced that an agreement was reached.
Geography
thumb|Brainerd Lake in the center of the township
thumb|[[U.S. Route 130 is a major commercial and light-industrial highway in Cranbury. Despite the match between the name of the Township and the CDP, the two are not one and the same, as was the case for most paired Township / CDP combinations (i.e., a CDP with the same as its parent township) before the 2010 Census, when most such paired CDPs were coextensive with a township of the same name.
The township borders Monroe Township, Plainsboro Township and South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County; and East Windsor Township in Mercer County.