Best PlacesOcean Acres, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ocean Acres, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ocean Acres ranks 4,400th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ocean Acres
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.
Ocean Acres' strengths and weaknesses
Where Ocean Acres ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$124,303 median, better than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of towns
Where Ocean Acres ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 51 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,478 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ocean Acres
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ocean Acres home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $124,303, 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 Ocean Acres' effective rate of 1.56%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ocean Acres
Ocean Acres runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ocean Acres.
Who works in Ocean Acres, and how
Work in Ocean Acres centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ocean Acres
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ocean Acres, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ocean Acres, month by month
Ocean Acres sees roughly 51 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Ocean Acres
The nearest airport, Atlantic City International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ocean Acres
Schools across Ocean Acres average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mckinley Avenue Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stafford Intermediate SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Russell O. Brackman Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Southern Regional High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Barnegat High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ocean Acres school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ocean Acres 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 Ocean Acres against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ocean Acres
Is Ocean Acres a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ocean Acres ranks 4,400th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on state finances and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ocean Acres expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $385,208. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $124,303 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Ocean Acres safe?
Yes, Ocean Acres is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $67 per resident a year.
Compare Ocean Acres with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ocean Acres. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ocean Acres 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.
Ocean Acres detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ocean Acres: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ocean Acres: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ocean Acres: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ocean Acres: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ocean Acres 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.