Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Middle Township grades C− overall, 405th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It has 25 miles of trail and 46% conserved land and it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 78% of U.S. towns. On the other side, homes are expensive, about $342K for a typical one and 4.2 times the Atlantic City metro’s $82K median household income. 46% of the land in Middle Township is conserved, against 11% in New Jersey’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, at 4,895 acres with 3.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Among 468 New Jersey towns, just 3 have a higher share of working residents who work in town than Middle Township.
Where Middle Township beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,106 in 1810, 20,380 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1850 and 6 maps from 1888 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Middle Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Middle Township. Close and well known come first.
28 mi Stadium & arenaBoardwalk Hall
24 mi LandmarkLucy the Elephant
8 mi Theme parkMorey's Piersin town Zoo & aquariumCape May County Park & Zoo
29 mi Theme parkSteel Pier
19 mi Theme parkGillians Wonderland Pier and Island WaterparkBoardwalk Hall: Jack Boucher, Public domain · Lucy the Elephant: User:dtcdthingy 3:30 pm 30th July 2004 (Minolta Dimage X20), Public domain · Morey's Piers: Smallbones, CC0 · Steel Pier: Make Lemons, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gillians Wonderland Pier and Island Waterpark: Kevin Jarrett from Northfield, NJ, USA, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Middle 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 Middle Township.
Middle Township keeps more of its land conserved than most of New Jersey, trades workers with Lower Township and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s.
Its 24,233 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 97% of New Jersey towns.
25 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. Middle Township’s trail density is 0.3 miles per square mile, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 0.7 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cape May National Wildlife Refuge | 3.7 mi | 4,895 |
| 2. Cape May County Park & Zoo | 1.8 mi | 117 |
| 3. Dennis Creek Wildlife Management Area | 1.1 mi | 3,264 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Middle Township Public School District. Two of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Middle Township High School, with 821 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle Township Elementary #1Largest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 688 | – |
| Middle Township High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 821 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 72% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
Middle Township beats the New Jersey average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 29% of Middle Township adults feel lonely.
| Middle Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 36% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 32% | 35% |
| What stands out | Middle Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.5% | 11.3% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.5% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.6% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 28.3 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 83% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
The property crime rate in Middle Township is 15.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Middle Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15.8 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Middle Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 27° and about 15 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Middle Township has about as many jobs (9,220) as working residents, but only 2,393 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 20 minutes, against 30.5 across New Jersey.
About one in 3 of Middle Township’s working residents works in town. Middle Township’s average trip to work is 20 minutes. The top destinations are Lower Township (9%), Wildwood (4%) and Cape May (4%).
| Middle Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 9.7% | 17% | 11% |
| Median household income | $84,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
738 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 82 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 738 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Middle Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
None within 15 miles of Middle Township; the nearest are
About 6 of every 100 Middle Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Coastal flooding makes up 21% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
7 places in Middle Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
Township in Cape May County, New Jersey, US
Middle Township is a township in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township, and all of Cape May County, is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, and is part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 20,380, its highest decennial census count ever and an increase of 1,469 (+7.8%) from the 2010 census count of 18,911, which in turn had reflected an increase of 2,506 (+15.3%) from the 16,405 counted at the 2000 census. The township's Cape May Court House section is the county seat of Cape May County.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Middle Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middle Township | #405 | C− | D | C | C+ | B+ |
| Dennis Township | #356 | C | C | — | C | B |
| Avalon | — | — | D− | — | A | A+ |
| North Wildwood | #417 | D | D | C− | C− | B |
| South Dennis | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lower Township | #376 | C− | C− | B+ | D | B |
| Villas | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| West Wildwood | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Avalon has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Dennis Township and Avalon report no FBI crime data of their own. South Dennis, Villas and West Wildwood aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Middle Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Middle Township grades C− overall, better than 16% of U.S. towns and #405 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades B+ for health, C 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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