Cape May County, New Jersey

Cape May County is a county in New Jersey, United States, occupying the southern tip of the Cape May Peninsula between the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population of 95,263 at the 2020 census and covers 620.3 square miles (1,606.6 km2), including 368.8 square miles of bay and ocean water, centred near 39°05′N 74°52′W.

Cape May Court House, an unincorporated community inside Middle Township, is the county seat; its postal code is 08210. The county is made up of 16 municipalities — 12 boroughs and cities and 4 townships — plus dozens of unincorporated communities within the townships. It lies in the Eastern time zone and its FIPS code is 34009.

Towns & Villages in Cape May County

Cape May County has no land outside its 16 incorporated municipalities: the four townships (Dennis, Lower, Middle and Upper) function as the base layer of local government, and the smaller resort boroughs and cities sit inside or alongside them. Dozens of older, non-municipal place names — mostly small bay-shore landings and beach hamlets — still appear on maps and mail inside those townships; the table below lists the incorporated places plus the best-known of those communities. Population and ZIP are marked — where no verified figure exists.

North Wildwood was known as Anglesea until it was renamed and incorporated as a city in 1906; the old name still turns up on older maps and deeds. Ocean View and Seaville straddle the Dennis–Upper township line and are counted with whichever township holds the larger share of each community.

ZIP Codes

• 08204 — Cape May (also serves West Cape May, Erma, North Cape May, Town Bank)
• 08210 — Cape May Court House (also serves Goshen, Green Creek, Clermont, Eldora)
• 08202 — Avalon (also serves Palermo)
• 08212 — Cape May Point
• 08214 — Dennisville (also serves Belleplain, South Dennis)
• 08223 — Marmora (also serves Beesleys Point)
• 08226 — Ocean City
• 08230 — Ocean View (also serves Seaville)
• 08242 — Rio Grande
• 08243 — Sea Isle City
• 08247 — Stone Harbor
• 08248 — Strathmere
• 08250 — Tuckahoe
• 08251 — Villas (also serves Fishing Creek)
• 08252 — Whitesboro
• 08260 — Wildwood, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, West Wildwood, Diamond Beach
• 08270 — Woodbine (also serves Petersburg)

A few very small bay-shore hamlets, including Town Bank and North Dennis, have no dedicated ZIP and use the code of their nearest post office town listed above.

Geography

Cape May County is the southernmost county in New Jersey and sits entirely on the Cape May Peninsula, a low, sandy landform separating the Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. The mainland side of the county is flat coastal plain, cut by tidal creeks and salt marsh; the ocean side carries a chain of barrier islands — Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbor and the Wildwoods — that hold the county’s resort towns and its beaches. Water makes up more than half the county’s total area, reflecting the bay, back-bay marshes and ocean frontage on three sides. Cape May County borders only two other New Jersey counties, both to the north: Atlantic County directly north and Cumberland County to the northwest.

Demographics

Cape May County had 95,263 residents at the 2020 census, spread over 251.5 square miles of land for a density of about 379 people per square mile — low for the New Jersey shore, since the population swells many times over with summer visitors. Lower Township (22,057) and Middle Township (20,380) are the county’s two most populous municipalities; Ocean City (11,701) is the largest of the resort cities. The county’s median household income was $69,980, well below the New Jersey median of $99,781, a gap tied to the seasonal, tourism-driven job base and a large share of retirees living on fixed incomes.

Economy & Local Life

Tourism drives the county’s economy: the barrier-island resort towns and Cape May city draw seasonal visitors for beaches, fishing charters and Cape May’s Victorian-era downtown, a National Historic Landmark district. Commercial and recreational fishing still operate out of the Wildwoods and Cape May Harbor, one of the largest scallop-landing ports on the East Coast. The U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, the service’s only enlisted boot camp, is a major year-round employer in Lower Township. Agriculture persists inland around Woodbine and Dennis Township, and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry links the county’s tip to Lewes, Delaware, across the bay.

History

The area was set off from Burlington County in 1685 and organized as one of New Jersey’s four original West Jersey counties by 1692. It takes its name from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen Mey, who charted the New Jersey coast in 1620–21. Cape May city, settled by Cape Cod whalers in the late 1600s, is often called America’s oldest seaside resort, drawing vacationers since the early 1800s. The Coast Guard training center opened at the tip of the peninsula in 1948, and Woodbine was founded in the 1890s as a planned agricultural colony for Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe.

Getting There

The Garden State Parkway runs the length of the county and ends at its southern tip in Lower Township; U.S. Route 9 parallels it along the mainland side.

• Atlantic City — 35 miles north
• Philadelphia — 90 miles northwest
• Vineland — 45 miles northwest
• Lewes, Delaware — 17 miles across the bay via the Cape May-Lewes Ferry

Cape May County Airport in Lower Township handles general aviation only; the nearest commercial airport is Atlantic City International Airport in neighboring Atlantic County.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Cape May County?
It occupies the southern tip of New Jersey, on the peninsula between the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

What is the population of Cape May County?
95,263 at the 2020 census, though the summer population is far higher with seasonal visitors.

How big is Cape May County?
620.3 square miles (1,606.6 km2) total, of which 251.5 square miles is land and the rest is bay and ocean water.

What is the county seat of Cape May County?
Cape May Court House, an unincorporated community inside Middle Township.

How many towns are in Cape May County?
16 municipalities — 12 boroughs and cities and 4 townships — plus numerous smaller unincorporated communities inside the townships.

What ZIP codes are in Cape May County?
They range from 08202 (Avalon) to 08270 (Woodbine); see the ZIP Codes section above for the full list.

Is Cape May County an island?
No, but its Atlantic-facing municipalities — Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbor and the Wildwoods — sit on separate barrier islands connected to the mainland by bridges.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in New Jersey.