I came across an article on APP.com discussing which Monmouth County towns at the Jersey Shore saw the biggest increase in population in 2020.

Any guesses on the top 2??

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My mind immediately went to towns along the shore line because according to our Promotion Coordinator Kory Koch, "civilizations, for millennia, have congregated around bodies of water."

In laments terms, people have gravitated towards water since the beginning of time.

So my mind immediately thought of towns like Asbury Park, Long Branch, Sea Bright, Belmar, Bradley Beach....you pick up the trend I'm putting down here, right?

Well if any of these towns were your answer, YOU'RE WRONG!

Don't worry, I was wrong with my guesses too because the top two towns with the biggest population increase in 2020 were ones that I was not expecting.

The top two Monmouth County towns with the biggest population increase were.....*drum roll please*.....

Aberdeen & Matawan!

There are a few factors as to why according to APP.com:

1. Both of these towns are easily accessible from the Garden State Parkway or New Jersey Transit.

2. These towns were not hit as hard during Hurricane Sandy back in 2012 because towns who saw the most damage are, believe it or not, still making up for it and therefore have continued to see a slow and steady decline in their population.

And then I am going to add my own #3: Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, people are migrating away from cities and moving to the suburbs. The Aberdeen and Matawan area brings people juuuuust South enough to escape the NYC-adjacent chaos.

But keeping this whole "people love to be near water" idea, I would have thought towns surrounding some of the Shore's most well-known beach towns would have made the top of this list.

For example, Asbury Park has basically gone through the most ultimate face lift and has become one of the most hip and happening shore towns.

But to live right ON the coast is very expensive and people are still financially hurting after the COVID-19 Pandemic.

So why wouldn't towns like Neptune see a bigger spike? You are still down at the Shore but you are occupying real estate that isn't QUITE as expensive...well, in theory.

If you put this theory to the test, then fans of Long Branch & West Long Branch would move to Eatontown and fans of Red Bank would move to Eatontown or Shrewsbury.

Uh....what am I missing here?

Maybe I am overestimating the power of the beach or a lot of folks are choosing to stay away from towns that are tourist central.

But anyways...if you want to jump on the bandwagon, it looks like Aberdeen and Matawan are the places to move to right now.

Shout out to APP.com for being the inspiration behind this piece.

Now these two towns may have grown big time, but do you know any of these teeny tiny New Jersey cities?

Let's find out:

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