Paterson is the largest city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third-most-populous city. Paterson has the second-highest density of any U.S. city with over 100,000 people, behind only New York City. For 2015, the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 147,754, an increase of 1.1% from the 2010 enumeration, ranking the city the 177th-largest in the nation.Paterson is known as the "Silk City" for its dominant role in silk production during the latter half of the 19th century. The city has since evolved into a major destination for Hispanic emigrants as well as for immigrants from the Arab and Muslim world. Paterson has the second-largest Muslim population in the United States by percentage.