Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Spring Lake is one of the best-graded places in America: an A, 61st of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. Its schools score near the top of New Jersey on tests and graduation, it is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates, and the median household earns $216K. The exception is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $1.5 million for a typical one and 15.3 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. 84% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Spring Lake, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 45% and U.S. towns at 29%. Spring Lake is among the most walkable places in the country. On the outdoors, just 13 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do better.
Where Spring Lake beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| H W Mountz Elementary School | PK–8 | 130 |
| St. Catharine School | PK–8 | 309 |
| Widest gap | Spring Lake | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 3.9% | 14.3% |
18.1% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Spring Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 526 in 1900, a peak of 4,215 in 1980, 2,789 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1883 and 8 maps from 1888 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Spring Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw29 mi BeachConey Island
Big draw39 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & Museum
Big draw22 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great Adventure2.2M visitors a year
Big draw37 mi Stadium & arenaBarclays Center
38 mi GardenThe Battery
30 mi LandmarkVanderbilt Family Cemetery and MausoleumConey Island: OptimumPx, Public domain · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0 · Six Flags Great Adventure: Unknown, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Barclays Center: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · The Battery: Gryffindor, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum: Vanderbilt_Mausoleum.jpg: Staten Island post cards / Bridges derivative work: Jb, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Spring Lake, 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 Spring Lake.
Spring Lake has schools in the top 5% of New Jersey, is a second-home town and sends many workers across the state line to New York City.
At 15.3 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $1.52M) costs more against local pay than in 98% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to its D− for cost of living. Home values rose 57% in five years, to about $1.52M, against 35% across New Jersey.
The median rent in Spring Lake is $2,175 a month. Typical home values rose 17% in the year to September 2026. 92% of households own their home in Spring Lake.
| Spring Lake | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,175 a month | $1,778 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 92% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A+ ranks #2 of the 465 New Jersey towns we grade for schools. Its A+ for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.52M.
Its public schools are run by the Spring Lake Borough school district. One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| H W Mountz Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 130 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #11 of 468 in New Jersey.
2.9 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. Spring Lake’s trail density is 1.7 miles per square mile. Devine Park, at 30 acres with 1.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Devine Park | 1.5 mi | 30 |
| 2. Marucci Memorial Park | 0.3 mi | 24 |
| 3. Potter Park | 0.2 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 777 U.S. towns with household incomes like Spring Lake’s, it is healthier than 77%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
10% of Spring Lake adults report frequent mental distress. Of the 468 New Jersey towns we compare, none has a lower share of adults who feel lonely than Spring Lake. 9.5% of Spring Lake adults report frequent physical distress.
| Spring Lake | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 15% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 32% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 36% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 23% |
| What stands out | Spring Lake | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 3.9% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 3.5% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 13.6% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Spring Lake has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 85° and January nights drop to 26°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
24% of working residents cross a state line to work, New York City among the top destinations. 29.2% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
Only 5 of the 468 New Jersey towns we compare have a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Spring Lake. Most working residents leave Spring Lake for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Wall Township (8%), New York (8%) and Spring Lake Heights (2%).
| Spring Lake | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $216,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 1% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.5% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
431 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 101 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 60% of U.S. communities. Since 1980, 431 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Spring Lake.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 15.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 60% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 0 reported in 2025, 0 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
23 within 15 miles of the center of Spring Lake
About 5 of every 100 Spring Lake residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
4 places in Spring Lake on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Spring Lake.
Borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, US
Spring Lake is a borough situated on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 2,789, a decrease of 204 (−6.8%) from the 2010 census count of 2,993, which in turn reflected a decline of 574 (−16.1%) from the 3,567 counted in the 2000 census. New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Spring Lake as the 240th best place to live in New Jersey in its 2010 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey. In 2012, Forbes.com listed Spring Lake as 187th in its listing of "America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes", with a median home price of $1,190,586.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Spring Lake.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Lake | #61 | A | D− | B | A+ | A+ |
| Sea Girt | — | — | D | A | A+ | A+ |
| Lake Como | — | — | D− | — | — | A− |
| Belmar | #303 | B− | D− | B− | B− | A |
| Spring Lake Heights | #56 | A | D− | A+ | B+ | A+ |
Sea Girt and Lake Como have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Lake Como reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Spring Lake with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Spring Lake grades A overall, better than 93% of U.S. towns and #61 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, B for safety and A+ 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−.
3 notable people were born here, including Robert Folger Thorne and Khigh Dhiegh.
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