Best PlacesSurf City, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Surf City, 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.
Surf City ranks 21,454th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Surf City
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.
Surf City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Surf City ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
Where Surf City ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- 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
What it costs to buy a home in Surf City
A household needs to earn about $275,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Surf City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $117,673, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Surf City's effective rate of 0.68%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Surf City
Surf City runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Surf City.
Who works in Surf City, and how
Work in Surf City centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 59%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Surf City
Surf City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Surf City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Surf City, month by month
Surf City 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 Surf City
The nearest airport, Atlantic City International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Surf City
Schools across Surf City average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Long Beach Island Grade SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern Regional Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Southern Regional High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Surf City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Surf City 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 Surf City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Surf City
Is Surf City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Surf City ranks 21,454th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, walkability, and an educated workforce, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Surf City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,070,366. The overall cost of living runs about 86% above the national average. Set against a $117,673 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Surf City safe?
Yes, Surf City is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
Compare Surf City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Surf City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Surf City 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.
Surf City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Surf City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Surf City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Surf City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Surf City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Surf City 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.