Best PlacesPine Lake Park, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pine Lake Park, 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.
Pine Lake Park ranks 7,874th 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 Pine Lake Park
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.
Pine Lake Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pine Lake Park ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$105,370 median, better than 88% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
Where Pine Lake Park ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,478 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Short commute36.5 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pine Lake Park
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pine Lake Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $105,370; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Pine Lake Park's effective rate of 1.47%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pine Lake Park
Pine Lake Park's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pine Lake Park.
Who works in Pine Lake Park, and how
Work in Pine Lake Park centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Pine Lake Park
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Pine Lake Park, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pine Lake Park, month by month
Pine Lake Park sees roughly 59 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 Pine Lake Park
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 35 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 Pine Lake Park
Schools across Pine Lake Park average a C−, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Manchester Township Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Ridgeway Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- West Dover Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Toms River Intermediate School NorthC− · 28% proficient
- Manchester Township Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Toms River High School NorthC+ · 35% proficient
- Manchester Township High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pine Lake Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pine Lake Park 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 Pine Lake Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pine Lake Park
Is Pine Lake Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pine Lake Park ranks 7,874th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, biking, 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 Pine Lake Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $408,372. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $105,370 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Pine Lake Park safe?
Yes, Pine Lake Park is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $58 per resident a year.
Compare Pine Lake Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pine Lake Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pine Lake Park 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.
Pine Lake Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pine Lake Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pine Lake Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pine Lake Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pine Lake Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pine Lake Park 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.