Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For a city of 100,899, Toms River Township does unevenly: it grades C+, 317th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. The median household earns $100K and residents are healthier than 78% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The trade-off: homes are expensive, about $463K for a typical one and 4.7 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Its National Register listings include Stoutenburgh-Minturn House and A.A. Brant House. 22% of working residents work locally in Toms River Township, above both New Jersey’s towns (6.3%) and U.S. towns (8%). Toms River Township is home to Ocean County College.
Where Toms River Township beats most towns.
Census counts: 910 in 1790, 95,438 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1824 and 6 maps from 1888 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Toms River Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Toms River Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great Adventure2.2M visitors a year
Big draw35 mi Park & preservePine Barrens23 mi BeachLong Beach Island
39 mi Stadium & arenaSHI Stadium
6 mi Theme parkCasino Pier
16 mi LighthouseBarnegat LighthouseSix 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 · Casino Pier: User:Jimmypitt1234, Public domain · Barnegat Lighthouse: L'Aquatique, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Toms River 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 Toms River Township.
Toms River Township trades workers with Lakewood Township and other neighbors, is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in New Jersey.
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 63% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
Among adults in Toms River Township, 15% report frequent mental distress. Of 32 CDC measures, Toms River Township beats the New Jersey average on 5 and trails it on 3. In Toms River Township, 30% of adults feel lonely, and 15% binge drink.
| Toms River Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 28% | 35% |
| What stands out | Toms River Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.6% | 12.3% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.3% | 14.3% |
| More adults with arthritis | 27.9% | 22.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Three of the 23 schools are below, and why each made the list. The public schools here belong to the Toms River Regional School District. 6 public schools serve Toms River Township, with 4,031 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toms River Intermediate School EastLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,271 | C+ |
| Toms River High School NorthLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,861 | B |
| OCVTS Grunin Performing Arts AcademyTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 259 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
31 miles of trail wind through 14 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Cattus Island County Park, 492 acres with 6.9 miles of trail. For Toms River Township, the concentration of trails is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Toms River Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.6% | 11% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cattus Island County Park | 6.9 mi | 492 |
| 2. Winding River Park | 1.7 mi | 368 |
| 3. Toms River Veterans Recretion Complex | 1.1 mi | 24 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
July afternoons reach 85° and January nights drop to 25°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
On the market in Toms River Township: a median 21 days to sell. A typical home in the town is worth about $463,000, up 3.8% in a year, 20% below the New Jersey typical home. For Toms River Township, the median rent is $1,726 a month.
| Toms River Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 82% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,726 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 48% | 52% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Toms River Township has about as many jobs (35,549) as working residents, but only 8,690 people both live and work here.
Roughly one working resident in five has a job in Toms River Township itself. The top destinations are Lakewood Township (10%), Brick Township (5%) and New York (3%). Half the trips to work are shorter than 14 miles. The town’s typical journey to work comes in at 30 minutes.
| Toms River Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $100,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.8% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 13% | 17% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
8,425 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 286 properties have flooded more than once.
Federal aid has come to Toms River Township households in 8 declared disasters; the latest was in 2021. Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in three fifths of U.S. communities. The town has had 8,425 paid flood insurance claims since 1978. FEMA puts 54% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 19% to strong winds.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Four-year graduates: 37% of adults 25 and older here, 44% across New Jersey. By age, Toms River Township looks like New Jersey: each broad group is within 4 points. The town has grown 5.7% since 2020, to 100,899 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. The share of residents in Toms River Township who are 65 or older: 21%.
| Toms River Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 45% | 29% |
| Median age | 42.5 years | 42 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.1 points). Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women. Median age: women 43.9, men 41.1.
| Toms River Township | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.3% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.4% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.3% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.1% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.2% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.7% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.1% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.9% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.8% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.6% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.7% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.9% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.2% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.8% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At 16 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 61% of New Jersey’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 1,358 to 1,109 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
In Toms River Township, the violent offense rate is 1.2 per 1,000 residents. The town’s rate of thefts and burglaries stands at 9.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Toms River Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
20 within 15 miles of the center of Toms River Township
About 5 of every 100 Toms River Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
10 places in Toms River Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, US
Toms River is a township located on the Jersey Shore in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County. Formerly known as the Township of Dover, voters in a 2006 referendum approved a change of the official name to the Township of Toms River, adopting the name of the largest unincorporated community within the township. The township is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area, and a regional commercial hub in central New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was the state's eighth-most-populous municipality, with a population…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Toms River Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toms River Township | #317 | C+ | D | B | C+ | A− |
| Manchester Township | #305 | B− | B− | A | C | B− |
| Lavallette | — | — | D | A− | B− | A |
| Dover Beaches South | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Berkeley Township | #354 | C | C | B+ | C | B+ |
| Brick Township | #308 | B− | D | B− | C+ | A− |
| Island Heights | — | — | D | — | C+ | A |
| Dover Beaches North | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Lavallette and Island Heights have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Island Heights reports no FBI crime data of its own. Dover Beaches South and Dover Beaches North aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Toms River Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Toms River Township grades C+ overall, better than 43% of U.S. towns and #317 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.
