Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wildwood grades D− overall, 456th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey, mostly because of schools and health. Its schools rank behind 97% of the state's. Residents are less healthy than 82% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. In its favor, few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 94% of U.S. towns, with 4 places on the National Register. Wildwood’s property crime rate is 39.5 per 1,000 residents, where New Jersey’s towns sit at 7.4 and U.S. towns at 9.9. On hazard risk, just 16 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do worse. Its National Register listings include J. Thompson Baker House and Marine National Bank.
Where Wildwood beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
J. Thompson Baker House| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Glenwood Avenue Elementary School | PK–5 | 367 |
| Wildwood Middle School | 6–8 | 157 |
| Wildwood High School | 9–12 | 261 |
Its founding year, 1609, is the earliest of any New Jersey town we grade.
Census counts: 150 in 1900, 5,157 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1914 and 5 maps from 1888 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Wildwood is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D− for schools (better than 3%), so the D− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wildwood, 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 Wildwood.
Wildwood trades workers with Middle Township and other neighbors, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New Jersey (mostly coastal flooding) and has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
Each of its 4 graded neighbors has a higher School Grade than its D−, Wildwood Crest highest at B.
Its public schools are run by the Wildwood City School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glenwood Avenue Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 367 | D |
| Wildwood High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 261 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of New Jersey towns, with expected losses of about $1,726 per resident a year; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on. 1,893 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 252 properties have flooded more than once.
The FEMA risk score in Wildwood is 90 of 100. Since 1978, 1,893 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Wildwood.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
All 4 graded neighbors score healthier than its C−, from Lower Township (B) to Wildwood Crest (A−).
40% of Wildwood adults have obesity. Wildwood beats the New Jersey average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 21. 14% of Wildwood adults have diabetes.
| Wildwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 12% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 28% | 35% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 15% | 19% |
| What stands out | Wildwood | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 8.5% | 5.1% |
| More smokers | 17.3% | 10.9% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14.9% | 9.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Wildwood has mild winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 28° and about 15 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0.5 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. Wildwood’s trail density is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wildwood Recreation Center | — | 11 |
| 2. Fox Park | — | 3 |
| 3. Byrne Plaza | 0.2 mi | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Wildwood has about as many jobs (2,053) as working residents, but only 315 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 23.1 minutes, against 30.5 across New Jersey.
18% of working residents work locally in Wildwood. Jobs based in Wildwood grew to 2,053 in 2023, 117 more than in 2013. 14% of residents live below the poverty line in Wildwood.
| Wildwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $75,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 7.9 years of the Atlantic City metro’s $82K median household income, the typical home (about $649K) costs more against local pay than in 79% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living.
The typical Wildwood home is worth about $649,000, up 8.5% in a year, 13% above the New Jersey typical home. Only 7 of the 463 New Jersey towns we compare have a lower median rent than Wildwood.
| Wildwood | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 44% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $997 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Wildwood's reported crime rate is well above New Jersey's. Among 394 New Jersey towns, just 10 have a higher violent crime rate than Wildwood. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wildwood. Close and well known come first.
in town Theme parkMorey's Piers
33 mi Stadium & arenaBoardwalk Hall
28 mi LandmarkLucy the Elephantin town Theme parkHunt's Pier
33 mi Theme parkSteel Pier8 mi Zoo & aquariumCape May County Park & ZooMorey's Piers: Smallbones, CC0 · 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
None within 15 miles of Wildwood; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Wildwood residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
Coastal flooding makes up 54% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
51.8% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, so the town is fuller in summer than its census count suggests.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
4 places in Wildwood on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Wildwood.
City in Cape May County, New Jersey, US
Wildwood is a city in Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The city, 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 city's year-round population was 5,157, a decrease of 168 (−3.2%) from the 2010 census count of 5,325, which in turn reflected a decline of 111 (−2.0%) from the 5,436 counted in the 2000 census. A popular Jersey Shore resort destination, the population can swell to 250,000 during the summer. Wildwood was the first city in New Jersey to have a female mayor, Doris W. Bradway, who was ousted in a 1938 recall election. The city of Wildwood p…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Wildwood.
All 4 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its D−; North Wildwood (D) is closest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildwood | #456 | D− | C− | — | D− | C− |
| West Wildwood | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lower Township | #376 | C− | C− | B+ | D | B |
| Middle Township | #405 | C− | D | C | C+ | B+ |
| Wildwood Crest | #347 | C | D | C+ | B | A− |
| North Wildwood | #417 | D | D | C− | C− | B |
Wildwood reports no FBI crime data of its own. West Wildwood isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Wildwood with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Wildwood grades D− overall, in the bottom 2% of U.S. towns and #456 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades C− for health and D− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. That is 7.9 years of the area's median household income ($82,105 across the Atlantic City-Hammonton, 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 C−.
8 notable people were born here, including Frank Vogel and Jordan Hall.
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