Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lacey Township's standout: it has 192 miles of trail and 53% conserved land. Overall it grades B−, 295th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 79% of the country. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $409K, 4.1 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 53% of the land in Lacey Township is conserved, against 11% in New Jersey’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area, at 16,155 acres with 87.8 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Only 14 of New Jersey’s 530 towns score lower on history.
Where Lacey Township beats most towns.
53.2% of the town is conserved land, across 10 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Lacey Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 814 in 1880, a low of 504 in 1920, 28,655 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 4 maps from 1884 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lacey Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Lacey Township.
Lacey Township keeps more of its land conserved than most of New Jersey, is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in New Jersey.
Its 33,775 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 98% of New Jersey towns. Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #6 of 468 in New Jersey.
192 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. At 1.9 miles per square mile, Lacey Township’s trail density is where New Jersey’s towns sit at 0.7 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area | 87.8 mi | 16,155 |
| 2. Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area | 43.1 mi | 10,400 |
| 3. Double Trouble State Park | 13.4 mi | 4,450 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Lacey Township School District. Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lacey Township Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 819 | C+ |
| Lacey Township High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,119 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 63% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
17% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Lacey Township. Lacey Township beats the New Jersey average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 30% of adults feel lonely in Lacey Township.
| Lacey Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 28% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 78% | 79% |
| What stands out | Lacey Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.3% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8.9% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.5% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Lacey Township for work: only 12% work in town. Lacey Township’s average trip to work is 32 minutes. Since 2013, Lacey Township has added 811 jobs, to 6,059 in 2023.
| Lacey Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $103,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.1% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
1,767 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 89 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 76% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 1,767 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lacey Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 11.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 55% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 20 reported in 2025, 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Lacey Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 24° and about 10 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lacey Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw21 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great Adventure2.2M visitors a year
Big draw27 mi Park & preservePine Barrens15 mi BeachLong Beach Island
36 mi Stadium & arenaBoardwalk Hall
40 mi LandmarkLucy the Elephant
11 mi LighthouseBarnegat LighthouseSix Flags Great Adventure: Unknown, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Pine Barrens: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Boardwalk Hall: Jack Boucher, Public domain · Lucy the Elephant: User:dtcdthingy 3:30 pm 30th July 2004 (Minolta Dimage X20), Public domain · Barnegat Lighthouse: L'Aquatique, CC BY-SA 3.0
6 within 15 miles of the center of Lacey Township
About 7 of every 100 Lacey Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Where Lacey Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, US
Lacey Township is a township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is considered part of the Jersey Shore and South Jersey regions, as well as the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 28,655, an increase of 1,011 (+3.7%) from the 2010 census count of 27,644, which in turn reflected an increase of 2,298 (+9.1%) from the 25,346 counted in the 2000 census. The 2010 population was the highest recorded in any decennial census. It was named for Continental Army General John Lacey. Lacey Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 23, 1871, from portions of Dover Township (now know…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Lacey Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lacey Township | #295 | B− | D | B+ | C+ | A− |
| Berkeley Township | #354 | C | C | B+ | C | B+ |
| Ocean Township | #245 | B | C− | A+ | C | A− |
| Manchester Township | #305 | B− | B− | A | C | B− |
| Forked River | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Barnegat Township | #310 | B− | D | A | C+ | B+ |
| Woodland Township | — | — | C | — | B− | B− |
Woodland Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Woodland Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Forked River isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lacey Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lacey Township grades B− overall, better than 49% of U.S. towns and #295 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A− for health, B+ for safety and C+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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