Best PlacesLakehurst, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lakehurst, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lakehurst ranks 17,594th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lakehurst
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Lakehurst's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lakehurst ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of towns
Where Lakehurst ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,478 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lakehurst
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lakehurst home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,678, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Lakehurst's effective rate of 1.87%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lakehurst
Lakehurst runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lakehurst.
Who works in Lakehurst, and how
Work in Lakehurst centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lakehurst
Lakehurst has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. The coast is about 17 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Lakehurst and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lakehurst, month by month
Lakehurst sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Lakehurst
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 48 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lakehurst
Schools across Lakehurst average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Switlik Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Manchester Township Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Whiting Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carl W. Goetz Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Manchester Township Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Jackson Memorial High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Manchester Township High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lakehurst school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lakehurst measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Lakehurst against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lakehurst
Is Lakehurst a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lakehurst ranks 17,594th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lakehurst expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,565. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $73,678 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Lakehurst safe?
Yes, Lakehurst is safer than 94% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $118 per resident a year.
Compare Lakehurst with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lakehurst. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lakehurst represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Lakehurst detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lakehurst: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lakehurst: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lakehurst: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lakehurst: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lakehurst detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.