Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Manchester Township's standout: it has 162 miles of trail and 36% conserved land. Overall it grades B−, 305th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. Crime is low: it reports less per resident than 85% of U.S. towns. 48% of residents are 65 or older in Manchester Township, above both the New Jersey town median (18%) and the median of U.S. towns (18%). On cost of living, just 9 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do better. Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, at 10,881 acres with 74.6 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Manchester Township beats most towns.
Hangar No. 1, Lakehurst Naval Air Station35.6% of the town is conserved land, across 5 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Manchester Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Hangar No. 1, Lakehurst Naval Air Station is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,102 in 1870, 45,115 in 2020. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 2 maps from 1884 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Manchester Township takes its name from Manchester in Greater Manchester, England, 3,390 miles across the Atlantic.
UKUK editionManchester Township, settled in 1841, takes its name from Manchester, a city in Greater Manchester, England.
9 more U.S. towns are named after Manchester:Manchester, CT59,773Manchester, MO18,069Manchester, TN13,776Manchester, WA5,956North Manchester, IN5,230+4 more
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Manchester Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw13 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great Adventure2.2M visitors a year
Big draw25 mi Park & preservePine Barrens24 mi BeachLong Beach Island
38 mi Stadium & arenaSHI Stadium
31 mi Theme parkSesame Place Philadelphia34 mi Theme parkClementon Amusement ParkSix Flags Great Adventure: Unknown, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Pine Barrens: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · SHI Stadium: Zeete, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sesame Place Philadelphia: Transity (talk • contribs), CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Manchester 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 Manchester Township.
Manchester Township keeps more of its land conserved than most of New Jersey and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it trails Jackson Township and its other neighbors on schools.
Each of its 3 graded neighbors has a higher School Grade than its C, Jackson Township highest at B−.
Its public schools are run by the Manchester Township School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Manchester Township High School, with 947 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester Township Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 586 | B− |
| Manchester Township High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 947 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its 18,689 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 91% of New Jersey towns.
163 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The trail density in Manchester Township is 2.0 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brendan T. Byrne State Forest | 74.6 mi | 10,881 |
| 2. Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area | 27.2 mi | 4,274 |
| 3. Pine Lake Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Manchester Township’s property crime rate is 4.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Manchester Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.2 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The median property tax bill is $3,617, against $9,590 across New Jersey, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Manchester Township home is worth about $343,000, down 1.4% in a year, 40% below the New Jersey typical home. 87% of households own their home in Manchester Township.
| Manchester Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 87% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,477 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most working residents leave Manchester Township for work: only 6% work in town. Jobs based in Manchester Township grew to 5,555 in 2023, 828 more than in 2013. 11% of Manchester Township residents live below the poverty line.
| Manchester Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $57,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 12% | 17% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Manchester Township has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 24° and about 24 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 59% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 15 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Manchester Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 7,986 U.S. towns with household incomes like Manchester Township’s, it is healthier than 82%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income. Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 87% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
Of the 468 New Jersey towns we compare, none has a lower share of adults who binge drink than Manchester Township. Manchester Township beats the New Jersey average on 13 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12. Among 468 New Jersey towns, just 1 have a higher share of adults who have high blood pressure than Manchester Township.
| Manchester Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 16% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 32% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 9.7% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Manchester Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.5% | 12.3% |
| Fewer binge drinkers | 10.5% | 15.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 14.4% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
20 within 15 miles of the center of Manchester Township
About 4 of every 100 Manchester Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
Where Manchester Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, US
Manchester Township is a township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is noted for containing the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, the site of the infamous Hindenburg disaster of May 6, 1937. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 45,115, the highest recorded in any decennial count and an increase of 2,045 (+4.7%) from the 2010 census count of 43,070, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,142 (+10.6%) from the 38,928 counted in the 2000 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Manchester Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester Township | #305 | B− | B− | A | C | B− |
| Toms River Township | #317 | C+ | D | B | C+ | A− |
| Lacey Township | #295 | B− | D | B+ | C+ | A− |
| Jackson Township | #231 | B | D | A | B− | A− |
| Pine Lake Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pine Ridge at Crestwood | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Holiday City-Berkeley | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cedar Glen West | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Pine Lake Park, Pine Ridge at Crestwood, Holiday City-Berkeley and Cedar Glen West aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Manchester Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Manchester Township grades B− overall, better than 47% of U.S. towns and #305 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades B− for health, A for safety and C for schools.
That is 3.5 years of the area's median household income ($99,155 across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
