NJ’s Fastest Growing Town Is In Ocean County

If you feel like you've been seeing a lot more people in and around Ocean County in roughly the last 10 years, well, you're right. Not only are there more people, but we're home to the fastest growing town in New Jersey, period.

NJ.com undertook a sweeping study of the major population centers in the Garden State. They were looking at which areas have grown the most since the Great Recession, roughly in the last 10 years or so.

There are a number of towns on the list that you'd probably expect; New York City suburbs like Hoboken, Jersey City, and Bayonne.

Rutgers and its associated education and healthcare fields has also spurred on major growth in Central Jersey communities like New Brunswick (of course), and neighboring Franklin Township.

But #1 on the list, and #1 by a considerable margin is further south from the others on the list.

Lakewood takes the top spot.

According to NJ.com:

Lakewood stands head and shoulders above all others on our list of raw population growth. It is home to the largest yeshiva in North America and has become home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities on the east coast. 

Lakewood actually lands in their study twice.

It's not only #1 for population growth by straight up number of people, but it also lands at #4 on the list of population growth by percentage, having grown by over a third (37.87% to be exact).

To put that into perspective, they wrap it up by saying, "Before long, what was once a sleepy retirement community could find itself as one of the state's five largest towns."

There's a lot of interesting data and insight on the study, which you can check out over at NJ.com by clicking here.

Up Next - A night that many in Lakewood won't soon forget, the Cowboy Monkey Rodeo at FirstEnergy Park: