Wayne is a township in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Home to William Paterson University and located less than 20 miles (32 km) from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New York City and regional commercial hub of North Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 54,838, an increase of 121 (+0.2%) from the 2010 census count of 54,717, which in turn reflected an increase of 648 (+1.2%) from the 54,069 counted in the 2000 census.