Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Little Egg Harbor Township's standout: it has 93 miles of trail and 34% conserved land. Overall it grades C+, 339th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. Its weakest subject is schools: its schools rank behind 86% of the state's. 34% of the land in Little Egg Harbor Township is conserved, against 11% in New Jersey’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, at 23,401 acres. Only 1 of New Jersey’s 530 towns score lower on history.
Where Little Egg Harbor Township beats most towns.
Its founding year, 1614, is the earliest of any New Jersey town we grade.
Census counts: 1,160 in 1800, a low of 388 in 1910, 20,784 in 2020. The archive holds 22 old photos and papers going back to 1933 and 5 maps from 1888 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Little Egg Harbor Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Little Egg Harbor 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 Little Egg Harbor Township.
Little Egg Harbor 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 behind most towns in New Jersey.
Its 15,873 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 89% of New Jersey towns.
93 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. At 1.3 miles per square mile, Little Egg Harbor 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. Bass River State Forest | 24.3 mi | 4,785 |
| 2. East Plains Natural Area | 17.3 mi | 2,244 |
| 3. Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve | 0.3 mi | 23,401 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Little Egg Harbor Township School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Pinelands Regional High School, with 1,063 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frog Pond Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–6 | Grades 3–6 | 780 | C− |
| Pinelands Regional High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,063 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Little Egg Harbor Township for work: only 9% work in town. Little Egg Harbor Township’s average trip to work is 33 minutes. Jobs based in Little Egg Harbor Township grew to 2,700 in 2023, 521 more than in 2013.
| Little Egg Harbor Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 10% | 17% | 11% |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 8.5% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 10.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 58% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 257 to 101 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Little Egg Harbor Township is 4.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Little Egg Harbor Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 74% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
Little Egg Harbor Township beats the New Jersey average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 29% of adults feel lonely in Little Egg Harbor Township.
| Little Egg Harbor Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Little Egg Harbor Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8.9% | 12.3% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.7% | 14.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Little Egg Harbor Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 26° and about 10 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
3,837 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 133 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 3,837 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Little Egg Harbor Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Little Egg Harbor Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw24 mi Park & preservePine Barrens
Big draw35 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great Adventure2.2M visitors a year9 mi BeachLong Beach Island
20 mi Stadium & arenaBoardwalk Hall
24 mi LandmarkLucy the Elephant
20 mi Theme parkSteel PierPine Barrens: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Six Flags Great Adventure: Unknown, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Boardwalk Hall: Jack Boucher, Public domain · Lucy the Elephant: User:dtcdthingy 3:30 pm 30th July 2004 (Minolta Dimage X20), Public domain · Steel Pier: Make Lemons, CC BY-SA 2.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Little Egg Harbor Township
About 6 of every 100 Little Egg Harbor Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Coastal flooding makes up 15% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, US
Little Egg Harbor Township is a township situated on the Jersey Shore, within Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is the southernmost municipality in both Ocean County and the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 20,784, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 719 (+3.6%) from the 2010 census count of 20,065, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,120 (+25.8%) from the 15,945 counted in the 2000 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Little Egg Harbor Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Egg Harbor Township | #339 | C+ | D | B+ | D | B+ |
| Bass River Township | — | — | D | — | D | B+ |
| Mystic Island | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Galloway Township | #378 | C− | D | B− | C− | B+ |
| Long Beach Township | #336 | C+ | D− | B− | C+ | A |
| Beach Haven | — | — | D− | — | C+ | A |
| Eagleswood Township | — | — | C | — | D | A− |
Bass River Township, Beach Haven and Eagleswood Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Bass River Township, Beach Haven and Eagleswood Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Mystic Island isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Little Egg Harbor Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Little Egg Harbor Township grades C+ overall, better than 37% of U.S. towns and #339 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades B+ for health, B+ for safety and D for schools. Schools 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.
.jpg){kind=link}
