About the City of Camden

The City of Camden is located directly across the Delaware River from Center City Philadelphia. It is approximately 8 square miles and is bordered on the west by some of the wealthiest towns in the state of New Jersey. Camden itself has a rich past which includes periods of prosperity rarely rivaled in our country’s history. Camden is the birthplace of recorded sound and the resting place of Walt Whitman. The number of innovations over the years that can call Camden home is astonishing (CLICK HERE for details).

The last few decades have been very rough for the City of Camden. While the neighboring towns have flourished, Camden has been named the nation’s most dangerous city for the last two years and was recently crowned the poorest city in the country for its size. Cooper University Hospital, the city’s largest employer, plays a vital role in supporting this community. Cooper has several community outreach programs, many of which provide opportunities for housestaff to participate.

Cooper’s location provides residents with an incredible spectrum of patients. There is not only the mix of patients from the inner city and the suburbs, but the concert venue of the Susquehanna Bank Center, the visitors of the Adventure Aquarium, and the fans of the Camden Riversharks Minor League Baseball team. Over a million people a year visit the Camden Waterfront and that provides a stunning variety of cases in our emergency department.

The Cooper Campus is a beautiful, safe facility. In fact, Cooper is going through a period of substantial growth and prosperity. Learn more about plans for Cooper’s expansion and the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, which expects to seat its innaugural class in 2012. Camden is not only an advantage to residents because of the variety of cases, but its location is also attractive to many residents. About half of the residents at Cooper choose the city life in Philadelphia and relish in the fact that they don’t need to worry about driving a car. The other half choose to live in the suburbs of South Jersey and are happy to avoid the city while still getting to enjoy the advantages of the country’s 5th largest metropolis.