Ocean County, New Jersey
Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Toms River. Since 1990, Ocean County has been one of New Jersey's fastest-growing counties. As of the 2019 Census estimate, the county's population was 607,186, a 5.3% increase from the 576,567 enumerated in the 2010 United States Census, making Ocean the state's sixth-most populous county. The 2010 population figure represented an increase of 65,651 from the 2000 Census population of 510,916, as Ocean surpassed Union County to become the sixth-most populous county in the state. Ocean County was also the fastest growing county in New Jersey between 2000 and 2010 in terms of increase in the number of residents and second-highest in percentage growth. Ocean County was established on February 15, 1850, from portions of Monmouth County, with the addition of Little Egg Harbor Township which was annexed from Burlington County on March 30, 1891. The most populous place is Lakewood Township, with an estimated 102,682 residents as of 2017, up 10.6% from 92,843 at the 2010 Census ; while Jackson Township covers, the largest total area of any municipality in the county.
Ocean County is located east of Philadelphia, south of New York City, and north of Atlantic City, making it a prime destination for residents of these cities during the summer. As with the entire Jersey Shore, summer traffic routinely clogs local roadways throughout the season.
Ocean County is part of the New York metropolitan area but is also home to many tourist attractions frequently visited by Delaware Valley residents, especially the beachfront communities of Seaside Heights, Long Beach Island, Point Pleasant Beach, as well as Six Flags Great Adventure, which is the home of the world's tallest and second-fastest roller coaster, Kingda Ka. Ocean County is also a gateway to New Jersey's Pine Barrens, one of the largest protected pieces of land on the East Coast.
Ocean County is part of both New York City's and Philadelphia's media markets.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county had as of the 2010 Census a total area of, making it the largest county in New Jersey in terms of total area, total 819.84 sq mi of which of land and of water.Much of the county is flat and coastal, with many beaches. The highest point is one of three unnamed hills that reach at least in elevation. The lowest elevation in the county is sea level.
It is also home to many beaches on the Jersey Shore, such as Beach Haven, Ship Bottom, Surf City, Harvey Cedars and Barnegat Light.
Adjacent counties
- Monmouth County – north
- Atlantic County – south
- Burlington County – west
National protected area
- Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge covers of coastal habitat in Atlantic and Ocean counties.
Climate and weather
Demographics
Census 2010
Census 2000
As of the 2000 United States Census there were 510,916 people, 200,402 households, and 137,876 families residing in the county. The population density was 803 people per square mile. There were 248,711 housing units at an average density of 151/km². The racial makeup of the county was 93.05% White, 2.99% Black or African American, 0.14% Native American, 1.28% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.24% from other races, and 1.29% from two or more races. 5.02% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Among those who listed their ancestry, 25.3% were of Italian, 23.6% Irish, 18.7% German, 8.8% Polish and 8.5% English ancestry according to Census 2000.There were 200,402 households out of which 28.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.40% were married couples living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.20% were non-families. 27.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.06.
In the county, the population was spread out with 23.30% under the age of 18, 6.60% from 18 to 24, 26.00% from 25 to 44, 21.90% from 45 to 64, and 22.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.40 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $46,443, and the median income for a family was $56,420. Males had a median income of $44,822 versus $30,717 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,054. About 4.8% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.0% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.
As of the 2000 Census, Mantoloking was the wealthiest community in the state of New Jersey with a per capita money income of $114,017 as of 1999.
Economy
Ocean County is home to the Ocean County Mall in Toms River, featuring a gross leasable area of. The now-closed Sears site will be replaces with of retail space.Government
Ocean County is governed by a Board of Chosen Freeholders consisting of five members, elected on an at-large basis in partisan elections and serving staggered three-year terms of office, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election. At an annual reorganization held in the beginning of January, the board chooses a Director and a Deputy Director from among its members. In 2016, freeholders were paid $30,000 and the freeholder director was paid an annual salary of $31,000., Ocean County's Freeholders are:
- Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little
- Freeholder Deputy Director John C. Bartlett Jr.
- Virginia E. Haines
- John P. Kelly
- Joseph H. Vicari
- County Clerk Scott M. Colabella
- Sheriff Michael Mastronardy
- Surrogate Jeffrey Moran
Ocean County constitutes Vicinage 14 of the New Jersey Superior Court and is seated at the Ocean County Courthouse Complex in Toms River; the Assignment Judge for Vicinage 14 is Marlene Lynch Ford.
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts cover the county.
The county is part of the 9th, 10th, 12th and 30th Districts in the New Jersey Legislature.
Ocean County operates the Ocean County Southern Service Center in Manahawkin. This center offers access to all of the Ocean County government services without the need for residents to travel to the county seat some 20 miles to the north.
Politics
Ocean County is one of the few Republican strongholds in New Jersey. Since 1900, it has only failed to support a Republican for president three times. All of its state legislators, County Freeholders and countywide constitutional officers are Republicans.Doug Forrester carried Ocean County by 12 points in the 2005 New Jersey gubernatorial election, winning every municipality but Lakewood Township and South Toms River In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Republican George W. Bush carried the county by a 21.2% margin over Democrat John Kerry. In 2008, the county voted for Republican John McCain by an 18.4% margin over Democrat Barack Obama, making it McCain's second-strongest county in New Jersey behind Sussex County, with Obama winning the Garden State by 15.5% margin over McCain, who carried Ocean County's every municipality except South Toms River. The last Democratic presidential candidate to win Ocean County was Bill Clinton in 1996, however, the last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 364,597 registered voters in Ocean, of which 74,795 were registered as Democrats, 103,517 were registered as Republicans and 186,089 were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 196 voters registered to other parties. Among the county's 2010 Census population, 63.2% were registered to vote, including 82.6% of those ages 18 and over.
In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 58.4% of the vote here, ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 40.1% among the 276,544 ballots cast by the county's 380,712 registered voters, for a turnout of 72.6%. In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 60.1% of the vote here, outpolling Democrat John Kerry with 38.9% among the 257,364 ballots cast by the county's 353,085 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 72.9. The vote totals were significantly down in 2012 due to damage and displacement caused by Hurricane Sandy just days before the election. In 2016, it was New Jersey's reddest county.
In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 65.6% of the vote here, ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 28.4%, Independent Chris Daggett with 4.8% and other candidates with 1.2%, among the 193,186 ballots cast by the county's 371,066 registered voters, yielding a 52.1% turnout.
Education
is the two-year community college for Ocean County, one of a network of 19 :Category:New Jersey County Colleges|county colleges statewide. The school is in Toms River and was founded in 1964.Georgian Court University in Lakewood Township is a private Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy college, which opened in 1908 on the former winter estate of millionaire George Jay Gould I, son of railroad tycoon Jay Gould. Lakewood is also home to Beth Medrash Govoha, a Haredi yeshiva with 5,000 students, making it one of the largest yeshivas in the world and the largest outside the State of Israel.
Stockton University has a campus located in Manahawkin offering undergraduate and graduate colleges of the arts, sciences and professional studies of the New Jersey state system of higher education.
New Jersey's largest suburban school district, Toms River Regional Schools, is located in Ocean County. Toms River is also home to the county's only Roman Catholic high school, Monsignor Donovan High School, operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, which also has six elementary schools located in the county.
In addition to multiple public high schools, the county has an extensive vocational high school program, known as the Ocean County Vocational Technical School district. In addition to its campuses in Brick, Toms River, Waretown, and Jackson, it contains two magnet schools:
- Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science
- OCVTS Performing Arts Academy – theater, dance, and vocal
Attractions
Six Flags Great Adventure, America's largest Six Flags theme park, is home to the world's tallest and formerly fastest roller coaster, Kingda Ka. The park also contains Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, New Jersey's largest water park, and the Six Flags Wild Safari, the largest drive-thru animal safari outside of Africa.
Forty miles of barrier beaches form the Barnegat and Little Egg Harbor Bays, offering ample watersports. It also is home of the Tuckerton Seaport, a maritime history village in Tuckerton. In addition to being the northeast gateway to New Jersey's Pine Barrens, Ocean County is also home to several state parks:
- Barnegat Lighthouse State Park covers surrounding Barnegat Lighthouse at the northern tip of Long Beach Island.
- Island Beach State Park has of coastal dunes.
- Double Trouble State Park includes of land in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
- Brendan T. Byrne State Forest includes and was formerly known as Lebanon State Forest.
- Forked River State Marina
Media
The Asbury Park Press provides daily news coverage of the county as does The Press of Atlantic City. Micromedia Publications publishes six weekly local newspapers in the county; their seventh covers Howell Township, New Jersey in Monmouth County, New Jersey.92.7 WOBM provides news, traffic and weather updates.
91.9 WBNJ provides local news, PSAs and events; as well as weather updates.
Infrastructure
Roads and highways
Ocean County has various major roads that pass through. State routes that go through include Route 13, Route 35, Route 37, Route 70, Route 72, Route 88, and Route 166. Other major routes that pass through are U.S. Route 9, the Garden State Parkway and Interstate 195.The county had a total of of roadways, of which are maintained by the municipality, by Ocean County and by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
Public transportation
Train
's North Jersey Coast Line railway line, which serves New York Penn Station, passing through Middlesex and Monmouth counties, offering service at the Bay Head and Point Pleasant Beach stations, located at the northernmost corner of the county. The Monmouth Ocean Middlesex Line is a passenger rail project proposed by NJT to serve he northern central part of the county. Southern Ocean County is also located about than 25 miles to the Atlantic City Line which provides service to Philadelphia.Bus
NJ Transit
Bus service is provided on NJ Transit bus routes 130, 132, 136, and 139 to and from Lakewood Bus Terminal on the U.S. Route 9 corridor. Expanded use Route 9 BBS is under study.Bus route 559 provides service along Route 9 between Lakewood and Pleasantville before continuing to Atlantic City.
Bus route 137 provides service in three variants. One is a nonstop express between Toms River and New York that operates seven days a week. The other two are rush hour only services, one operating along County Route 549 between Toms River and Brick before continuing onto New York while the other begins and ends in Lakewood operating via County Line Road to the Brick park & rides before continuing to New York.
Bus route 67 operates between Toms River and Newark providing service along County Route 549 between Toms River and Brick before continuing onto Lakewood and points north.
Bus Route 317 crosses the county in an east–west fashion on its route between Philadelphia and Asbury Park. This route also provides service to Fort Dix and Camden among other destinations.
Bus route 319 makes a single stop in Toms River on its route between Atlantic City and New York.
Ocean Ride
Ocean Ride is a county wide system with 12 regular routes, many serving Ocean County Mall, which acts as transfer hub. Of these routes, only the OC 10 operates Monday-Saturday, with the OC 4 operating Monday-Friday. All other routes run 2–3 days a week. Ocean Ride also provides paratransit service throughout the county.Other services
provides service between various areas in the northern part of the county and New York.Many of the retirement communities contract for the operation of shuttle buses to connect the communities with various shopping centers in the county.
Municipalities
Municipalities in Ocean County are: Other, unincorporated communities in the county are listed alongside their parent municipality. Most of these areas are census-designated places that have been created by the United States Census Bureau for enumeration purposes within a Township. The numbers in parentheses stand for the numbers on the map.| Municipality | Mun. type | Pop. | Housing units | Total area | Water area | Land area | Pop. density | Housing density | School district | Unincorporated communities/notes |
| Barnegat Light | borough | 574 | 1,282 | 0.85 | 0.12 | 0.73 | 785.1 | 1,753.6 | Southern Regional Long Beach Island | |
| Barnegat | township | 20,936 | 9,085 | 40.78 | 6.41 | 34.38 | 609.0 | 264.35 | Barnegat Township | Barnegat CDP, Howardsville, Ocean Acres, Warren Grove |
| Bay Head | borough | 968 | 1,023 | 0.70 | 0.12 | 0.58 | 1,662.8 | 1,757.3 | Point Pleasant Beach Bay Head | |
| Beach Haven | borough | 1,170 | 2,667 | 2.32 | 1.34 | 0.98 | 1,196.0 | 2,726.2 | Southern Regional Beach Haven | |
| Beachwood | borough | 11,045 | 3,826 | 2.85 | 0.00 | 2.85 | 3,878.4 | 1,343.5 | Toms River | |
| Berkeley Township | township | 41,255 | 23,818 | 56.00 | 13.13 | 42.86 | 962.5 | 555.7 | Central Regional Berkeley Township | Bayville, Cedar Beach, Crossley, Glen Cove, Holiday City-Berkeley, Holiday City South, Holiday Heights, Holly Park, Pelican Island, Silver Ridge |
| Brick | township | 75,072 | 33,677 | 32.32 | 6.60 | 25.72 | 2,919.4 | 1,309.6 | Brick | Adamston, Breton Woods, Burrsville, Herbertsville, Laurelton, Osbornsville, Parkway Pines |
| Eagleswood | township | 1,603 | 760 | 18.86 | 2.80 | 16.06 | 99.8 | 47.3 | Pinelands Regional Eagleswood | West Creek |
| Harvey Cedars | borough | 337 | 1,214 | 1.19 | 0.63 | 0.56 | 604.6 | 2,178.0 | Southern Regional Long Beach Island | |
| Island Heights | borough | 1,673 | 831 | 0.91 | 0.30 | 0.61 | 2,738.3 | 1,360.2 | Central Regional Islands Heights | |
| Jackson | township | 54,856 | 20,342 | 100.62 | 1.38 | 99.24 | 552.7 | 205.0 | Jackson | Bennetts Mills, Cassville, Harmony, Holmeson, Jackson Mills, Prospertown, Vista Center, Whitesville |
| Lacey Township | township | 27,644 | 11,573 | 98.53 | 15.27 | 83.26 | 332.0 | 139.0 | Lacey Township | Aserdaten, Barnegat Pines, Forked River, Lanoka Harbor |
| Lakehurst | borough | 2,654 | 943 | 1.01 | 0.09 | 0.91 | 2,900.8 | 1,030.7 | Manchester Lakehurst | |
| Lakewood | township | 92,843 | 26,337 | 24.98 | 0.41 | 24.58 | 3,777.7 | 1,071.6 | Lakewood | Lakewood CDP, Leisure Village, Leisure Village East |
| Lavallette | borough | 1,875 | 3,207 | 0.95 | 0.15 | 0.81 | 2,319.2 | 3,966.8 | Point Pleasant Beach Lavallette | |
| Little Egg Harbor | township | 20,065 | 10,324 | 73.05 | 25.69 | 47.37 | 423.6 | 218.0 | Pinelands Regional Little Egg Harbor | Mystic Island, Nugentown, Parkertown Warren Grove, West Tuckerton |
| Long Beach | township | 3,051 | 9,216 | 22.04 | 16.59 | 5.44 | 560.5 | 1,693.0 | Southern Regional Long Beach Island | High Bar Harbor, Loveladies, North Beach Haven |
| Manchester | township | 43,070 | 25,886 | 82.69 | 1.07 | 81.62 | 527.7 | 317.2 | Manchester | Bullock, Cedar Glen Lakes, Cedar Glen West, Crestwood Village, Leisure Knoll, Leisure Village West, Pine Lake Park, Pine Ridge at Crestwood , Ridgeway, Roosevelt City, Wheatland, Whiting |
| Mantoloking | borough | 296 | 535 | 0.64 | 0.26 | 0.39 | 767.9 | 1,387.9 | Point Pleasant Beach | |
| Ocean Gate | borough | 2,011 | 1,203 | 0.45 | 0.01 | 0.45 | 4,490.3 | 2,686.1 | Central Regional Ocean Gate | |
| Ocean Township | township | 8,332 | 4,291 | 32.04 | 11.49 | 20.56 | 405.3 | 208.8 | Southern Regional Ocean Township | Brookville, Waretown |
| Pine Beach | borough | 2,127 | 903 | 0.62 | 0.00 | 0.61 | 3,465.4 | 1,471.2 | Toms River | |
| Plumsted Township | township | 8,421 | 3,067 | 40.15 | 0.44 | 39.71 | 212.1 | 77.2 | Plumsted Township | Archertown, Brindletown, New Egypt |
| Point Pleasant | borough | 18,392 | 8,331 | 4.17 | 0.68 | 3.49 | 5,272.1 | 2,388.1 | Point Pleasant | |
| Point Pleasant Beach | borough | 4,665 | 3,373 | 1.74 | 0.32 | 1.43 | 3,270.1 | 2,364.4 | Point Pleasant Beach | Clark's Landing |
| Seaside Heights | borough | 2,887 | 3,003 | 0.75 | 0.13 | 0.62 | 4,662.9 | 4,850.2 | Central Regional Seaside Heights | |
| Seaside Park | borough | 1,579 | 2,703 | 0.77 | 0.12 | 0.65 | 2,429.4 | 4,158.7 | Central Regional Lavallette Toms River | |
| Ship Bottom | borough | 1,156 | 2,066 | 1.00 | 0.29 | 0.71 | 1,620.6 | 2,896.3 | Southern Regional Long Beach Island | |
| South Toms River | borough | 3,684 | 1,160 | 1.23 | 0.06 | 1.17 | 3,146.7 | 990.8 | Toms River | |
| Stafford Township | township | 26,535 | 13,604 | 54.88 | 9.03 | 45.85 | 578.8 | 296.7 | Southern Regional Stafford Township | Beach Haven West, Cedar Run, Manahawkin, Mayetta, Ocean Acres, Warren Grove |
| Surf City | borough | 1,205 | 2,566 | 0.92 | 0.17 | 0.75 | 1,616.5 | 3,442.4 | Southern Regional Long Beach Island | |
| Toms River | township | 91,239 | 43,334 | 52.88 | 12.40 | 40.49 | 2,253.5 | 1,070.3 | Toms River | Cattus Island, Chadwick Beach Island, Dover Beaches North, Dover Beaches South, Gilford Park, Pelican Island, Silverton |
| Tuckerton | borough | 3,347 | 1,902 | 3.80 | 0.44 | 3.36 | 995.1 | 565.5 | Pinelands Regional Tuckerton | |
| Ocean County | county | 576,567 | 278,052 | 915.40 | 286.62 | 628.78 | 917.0 | 442.2 |