The Star-Ledger

The Star-Ledger was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition.

In 2007, The Star-Ledger's daily circulation was reportedly more than the next two largest New Jersey newspapers combined, and its Sunday circulation was larger than the next three papers combined. It suffered great declines in print circulation in recent years, to 180,000 daily in 2013, then to 114,000 "individually paid print circulation," which is the number of copies being bought by subscription or at newsstands, in 2015.

In July 2013, the paper announced that it would sell its headquarters building in Newark. In the same year, Advance Publications announced it was exploring cost-saving changes among its New Jersey properties, but was not considering mergers or changes in publication frequency at any of the newspapers, nor the elimination of home delivery. On February 2, 2025, daily print operation ceased, but online coverage continued.

The Star-Ledger is a sister paper to The Times of Trenton and the South Jersey Times, both of which are owned by Advance Publications, headquartered in One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

The Newark Daily Advertiser, founded in 1832, was Newark's first daily newspaper. It subsequently evolved into the Newark Star-Eagle, owned by what eventually became Block Communications.

In 1939, S. I. Newhouse bought the Star-Eagle from Block and merged it with the Newark Ledger to become the Newark Star-Ledger. The paper dropped Newark from its masthead sometime in the 1970s, but is still popularly called the Newark Star-Ledger by many residents of New Jersey.

During the 1960s The Star-Ledger's chief competitor was the Newark Evening News, once the most popular newspaper in New Jersey. In March 1971, the Star-Ledger surpassed the Evening News in daily circulation, because the Newark News was on strike. The Evening News shut down in 1972.

After the Newark Evening News moved to a high-traffic area (with the potential of trapping its delivery trucks in inner-city traffic) the Star-Ledger opened a satellite plant in Piscataway. The Piscataway location offered quick access to Union, Monmouth, Somerset, and Middlesex counties.