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What's shaking, North Jersey?

If you were in or near Bergen County late on Aug. 2, chances are you felt the rumble — and maybe even heard a "boom" — from our region's most recent earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was the second tremor to hit the state in the past two weeks.

Here is what we know so far about the earthquake that surged through the New York metro area this weekend.

Hasbrouck Heights earthquake stats

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that a 3.0 magnitude earthquake was centered in Hasbrouck Heights at 10:18 p.m. on Aug. 2, and was felt throughout much of the region. The government agency registered the quake at a depth of 10 kilometers, or about 6.2 miles.

Earthquakes in the magnitude range of 1.4 to 3.9 are considered light in the agency's perceived shaking scale, and there is generally no risk of damage from such quakes.

"While this earthquake is relatively small globally, earthquakes of this magnitude are widely felt in the eastern United States because of efficient seismic wave propagation in the region," said Steven Sobieszćzyk, a public affairs specialist for the USGS.

Was this earthquake near a fault line?

The recent earthquake was caused by faulting at shallow depths in the Earth's crust, Sobieszćzyk said. Although it did not take place near a plate boundary, "intraplate" earthquakes such as this one can occur. Fault lines have also been previously identified where this earthquake occurred, he said, and can be reactivated at any time.

Overall, there have been 43 other earthquakes of a 3.0 magnitude and larger that have occurred within 250 kilometers, or about 155 miles, of the Aug. 2 earthquake since 1950, he said.

The largest of these was the 4.8 magnitude earthquake, centered near Tewskbury, that was widely felt throughout the Northeast on April 5, 2024. Sobieszćzyk said that although the most recent quake was not an aftershock of that earthquake, given their distance from one another, aftershocks from the April 2024 earthquake continue to occur.

Did you feel it?

As of 2 p.m. on Aug. 3, the USGS had received more than 10,500 responses to its "Did You Feel It?" survey regarding the weekend's earthquake. Respondents primarily reported that they felt weak to light shaking, or no shaking at all, when the earthquake happened.

You can share your own experience with the Aug. 2 earthquake by taking the agency's survey online.

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, New Jersey -- A small earthquake in New Jersey shook parts of the Tri-State Area on Saturday night.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the tremor with a magnitude of 3.0 hit in the New Jersey suburb of Hasbrouck Heights, less than 8 miles (13 kilometers) west of Central Park, at a depth of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).

A magnitude 3.0 earthquake is reported to have occurred in or near New Jersey. Tremors may have been felt in parts of New York City. NYC Emergency Management is monitoring for impacts and coordinating with agency partners.RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:USGS Earthquake Guidance:… https://t.co/zzaVZawoTc

— NYC Emergency Management (@nycemergencymgt) August 3, 2025

Mayor Ron Kistner of Hasbrouck Heights and Bergen County authorities both said there were no reports of damages or injuries.

One resident of New York's Brooklyn borough described it as a very brief tremor, just a slight swaying for a moment.

Nevertheless, social media quickly lit up with people who felt it. The official account of the Empire State Building posted on X to say: "I AM FINE."

New York City Emergency Management said there were no immediate reports of significant impacts.

USGS's tectonic summary said the quake was "a result of faulting at shallow depths in the crust," explaining that "'intraplate' earthquakes can and do occur" further from fault lines.

"While this earthquake is relatively small globally, earthquakes of this magnitude are commonly widely felt in the eastern United States because of efficient seismic wave propagation in the region," USGS added. Since 1950, 43 additional earthquakes of magnitude 3 and larger occurred within approximately 155 miles of Saturday's quake.

USGS does not consider earthquakes at 3.0 and below to be very dangerous or damaging.

"We would not expect there to be a lot of damage from a 3.0," USGS Analyst Xan Davidson told ABC News over the phone. "It would just be shaking... because the 3.0 is not really considered a significant earthquake."

"Earthquakes do happen here, but it's not something that happens frequently," Davidson said, referencing a 4.8 magnitude quake that hit southwest of Saturday's epicenter about a year and a half ago.

Davidson said the vast area of people who reported feeling the quake, reaching as far as Connecticut, is not unexpected.

"You're sitting quiet at home... You could see the light fixture swing or something like that," she explained.

Despite the shock of an unexpected quake, Davidson said there is no reason for alarm.

"I wouldn't be concerned with a three," he said. "It depends on what you want to be concerned about, but I do not see this being something to be concerned about."

In April 2024, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake centered in Northern New Jersey rattled the area with reports of at least 10 aftershocks.

---ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

The New York metropolitan area was struck by a 3.0-magnitude earthquake Saturday evening, its tremors felt throughout parts of the boroughs, Westchester County and Northern New Jersey.

Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, the quake’s epicenter, which is about eight miles from Manhattan, was hit around 10:18pm EST with a depth of 10.0 kilometers, or 6.2 miles from the earth’s surface.

While the earthquake was relatively mild and there have not been reports of serious damage or injuries, more than 10,000 people reported feeling the quake, according to the United States Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It?” page. People also quickly took to Reddit to make sure the shake they felt wasn’t their neighbor or just in their heads.

“Anyone else feel that just now? It wasn’t strong but still noticeable. Think it was an earthquake?” asked akaenragedgoddess.

Pretty immediately, folks began corroborating the message.

“Felt it too up here Inwood/Washington Heights. Thought it was a big truck outside but didn’t see anything,” wrote bay-to-the-apple. “Felt it in Astoria!” said Asleep_Net5458. And, “Felt it in the Bronx. The whole floor shook for about 2 seconds,” reported wholevodka.

Although residents in the northern parts of Jersey and NYC felt it the most, the shakes were still noticed by some farther south.

“Felt it in Clinton Hill,” said Used_Apartment_5982. “In Brooklyn myself and I did feel it,” wrote kzrmer_41.

While Northeast earthquakes are infrequent and usually mild, they aren’t unexpected. Since 1950, 43 other earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or higher have struck within 250 kilometers (around 155 miles) of Hasbrouck Heights. The largest of the 43 was the 4.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Tewksbury and the metropolitan area just last April.

The low magnitude of Saturday’s earthquake makes it difficult for scientists to predict the possibility of an aftershock.

“At just 3.0, the chances are there will not be another felt event,” said seismologist Lucy Jones, according to AP News. She also estimated that there’s about a 50-50 chance that there will be no activity that can be recorded. “Most likely is an unfelt, magnitude 1 or 2 aftershock.”

The Empire State Building’s social media team took to X at 10:34pm to play at the mildness of the earthquake, reporting in all caps, “I AM FINE.”

“Felt it in the Bronx. The whole floor shook for about 2 seconds.” — wholevodka on Reddit

Light magnitude 3.0 earthquake at unknown depth

Numerous people reported to have felt the quake. Attached is an updated map showing the shaking felt (and reported) by this earthquake.

We are receiving unverified early reports of ground shaking possibly caused by seismic activity in or near New York, New York, USA on 3 Aug 2025 (GMT) at approximately 02:29 GMT.There are no details yet on the magnitude or depth of this possible quake. If confirmed, we can expect more accurate data to emerge in the next few minutes. The location, magnitude and time mentioned are indicative, based on our best-fit seismic model. They are temporary until our AllQuakes monitoring service receives more exact scientific data from a national or international seismological agency. Check back here shortly and stay safe.

If you were or still are in this area during the quake help others with your feedback and report it here.

Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Android | iOS

Earthquake details

Nearby places

The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is New York, a city of 8.8 million people in the United States, in 17.7 km (11 mi) distance south of the epicenter. People likely experienced very weak shaking there. Many smaller towns and villages are located closer to the epicenter and might have experienced stronger shaking. In the capital of the United States, Washington, 335 km (208 mi) away from the epicenter, the earthquake could not be felt.The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.

User-reports for this quake (1809)

The first report about ground shaking reached us after only 1 minute, before other agencies reported it. So far, we have received 1809 reports for this quake from the United States. Out of these, 1753 people indicated they felt it. The quake was reported to have been felt in up to approx. 30–170 km (18.6–106 mi) distance.

The majority of reports came from New York (496 reports), a city of 8.8 million people in 17.7 km (11 mi) distance south of the epicenter, United States, Paterson (88 reports), a city with more than 150,000 inhabitants in New Jersey in 10.2 km (6 mi) distance northwest of the epicenter, and Newark (69 reports) (16.6 km or 10 mi to the southwest). See the list of places where most people reported this quake further below. This section is being updated as new data comes in.

Translate

Englewood, New Jersey just west of Englewood Cliff (8.8 km E of epicenter) [Map] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump : It was sudden and felt like a Huge trailer truck hit my house. Or an airplane. I was shaken. Then I looked outside to see what hit my house. Nothing was out of order. Then I inspected my house for a crash as I described. There was nothing wrong. I was frightened anyway. Then a daughter who lives in Englewood called me and she felt the impact also. She told me there was an earthquake. | 2 users found this interesting.

Montclair, nj - south end (184.3 km SW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : While falling asleep, a significant jolt/thud woke me. I thought, "Front door? Too strong ... Earthquake? Too brief" - but I did consider it. I waited and listened, then went back to sleep. | One user found this interesting.

The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs.Read more about the MMI scale!

If you were near the epicenter and felt it, please share your experience and submit a short "I felt it" report! Other users would love to hear about it!If you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it as well! Your contribution is valuable to earthquake science and seismic hazard analysis.

Compare Quake Data

The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Earthquake statistics

Based on data from the past 55 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 37.4 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi):

The area where this quake occurred has very few earthquakes and most of them are very small (below magnitude 3). Larger quakes with magnitudes above 3 might occur from time to time. However, It has had at least 1 quakes above magnitude 4 since 2018, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 5 to 10 years.

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

The earthquake was the strongest to hit this part of the United States in over 1 year 17 weeks. Earlier, the last quake of equal or greater strength near the present epicenter had been a magnitude 3.7 earthquake on Friday, Apr 5, 2024, at 05:59 pm local time (America/New York GMT -4) in 60 km (37 mi) distance to the west: The strongest-ever (since 1900) recorded quake in this area measured magnitude 4.8. It had occurred 1 year 17 weeks ago earlier, on Friday, Apr 5, 2024, at 10:23 am local time (America/New York GMT -4) in New Jersey, United States: Below is a list and map of larger or recent quakes that had occurred near the epicenter before this earthquake (within up to 100 km/61 mi distance, up to 300 km/183 mi for very large quakes above mag. 7). Filter and sort the list by magnitude or time.

Oldest quakes are shown in yellow, most recent in red.

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a 3.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, New Jersey at around 10:15 p.m. on Saturday.

No injuries or structural damage was reported, but the earthquake caught everyone off guard.

Officials said the quake was felt up to 100 miles away from the epicenter, including in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, New York's lower Hudson Valley, and western Connecticut. Some said they felt tremors in New York City.

"I was in bed and it actually woke me up. Just like I kind of felt it like a little bit and you could kind of like hear it more than anything," said Sally Garcia of Upper Manhattan.

On Saturday night, the Empire State Building's X account posting "I am fine" after the quake.

Recent earthquake activity in New Jersey

A magnitude 3 out of 9 on the Richter Scale is considered minor. Last month, a magnitude 1.6 earthquake hit the Morris Plains, New Jersey area, with no damage reported.

Back in early April of 2024, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake rocked New Jersey, splitting a road and bursting an underground pipe. Officials say that quake was felt by 42 million people -- and as far away as Maine and Virginia.

There were also reports of smaller earthquakes in Morris Plains earlier this summer.

Should there be any aftershocks or future earthquakes, the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management says to drop to the ground under something sturdy and hold on until the shaking stops. If you're in bed, it's best to stay there and protect your head with a pillow.

Tri-State Area residents react following "sharp boom"

Two pets named Hazel and Ginger were napping in the bottom right corner of a pet cam video at their Hasbrouck Heights home when they were startled. Their neighbors were also left wondering what happened.

"My neighbor called. She thought maybe a plane crashed or something," resident Donna Moran said.

"A sharp boom, like maybe something hit the house," resident Cynthia Saltos added.

Saltos' neighbors walked over and asked if they felt and heard the same thing Saturday night.

"Yeah, I was watching Hallmark Channel with the dog on my lap," Moran said.

"I was like, 'Whoa, the effects of this TV is awesome.' Then I'm thinking, like a TV can't do that," Ethan Saltos said.

"Now it worries me because we have to have a plan, we have to be prepared because we don't know when's the next one. Is it gonna be like this? Is it gonna be stronger?" Cynthia Saltos said.