Asbury Park keeps on winning awards for the best place to live and visit

Asbury Park is like a cat, but with more than nine lives, and lands on its feet.

Once again, Asbury Park has received accolades and was named the second-best place to live in New Jersey. That is from Travel & Leisure, which in August of 2025 named Asbury Park the Best Small Beach Town in the U.S.

I know, they were named best small town, but they are really a city. That is outstanding recognition for a city that only a few years ago was struggling to find its groove yet again.

Asbury Park has received accolades because the city is enjoying a controlled meteoric rise. Things are working. The entertainment venues are bustling, and the outstanding restaurants and bars are thriving because they offer unique choices with well-prepared offerings. The community, while diverse, seems to work together to enjoy and guarantee success.

Diversity is part of the success of Asbury Park

The key to Asbury Park’s success has been its diversity. The welcoming of everybody into a melting pot of hard-working people who enjoy and take pride in their cherished beach community. You can see and feel it from the people who live in Asbury Park to the people who work there.

The city is getting cleaner by the minute; there is tremendous pride in all those who live in this enjoyable Jersey Shore “beach town”. The boardwalk is stellar, clean, and packed with businesses that offer up everything from classic boardwalk fare to other choices not usually found on a Jersey boardwalk.

Asbury Park beach has returned as a destination for so many to enjoy the sun, surf, and fun. It is a clean, expansive beach with many services available.

Asbury Park, where music lives

While locals and tourists embrace the fact that this is the town where Bruce Springsteen began his long, successful run as a music superstar, it is also the home of great New Jersey musicians who share their talent with those fortunate enough to listen.

The Wonder Bar and Stone Pony have been named the best bar and best music venue in New Jersey.

Asbury Park was, and is, a historic place to see music legends. Back in the day, you could see Duke Ellington, The Beach Boys, The Four Seasons, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Grand Funk Railroad, and other diverse, wonderful music performances.

The gigantic, well-produced See, Hear and Now music festival broke all kinds of records. The reported crowd was over 70,000 people who saw the festival on the beach over the incredibly special weekend.

Major events are happening in Asbury Park

The Zombie Walk, The Santa Run, Asbury Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Light of Day music festival. They all take place in this great Shore Beach city. Each one of these events would be huge for a town with a population of only 16,000 people, and frankly, very few would try to implement them. Yes, only 16,000 live in the city of Asbury Park.

Like every town or city, Asbury Park is not perfect; there are drawbacks and struggles, but they are being addressed. Those who need to fix the problems are working hard. Parking is a huge contention for the city. They are working on it with plans for more parking.

I am thrilled that Asbury Park is finally receiving the accolades they so rightfully deserve. I am a huge fan of the city; I continue to support the city and its businesses. I hope you do too.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.

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