93,875 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.2% since 2020)
252 square miles of land · 373 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
25 active community water systems list Cape May County in the area they serve, reporting 501,407 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| WILDWOOD CITY WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · NJ0514001 | 218,472 served |
| NJ AMERICAN WATER - OCEAN CITY groundwater · private · NJ0508001 | 127,000 served |
| AVALON WATER AND SEWERAGE UTILITIES groundwater · local government · NJ0501001 | 39,839 served |
| CAPE MAY WATER & SEWER U groundwater · local government · NJ0502001 | 35,000 served |
| STONE HARBOR WATER DEPT groundwater · local government · NJ0510001 | 30,850 served |
| SEA ISLE CITY WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · NJ0509001 | 15,800 served |
| LOWER TWP MUA groundwater · local government · NJ0505002 | 12,416 served |
| NJ AMERICAN WATER - CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE groundwater · private · NJ0506010 | 5,625 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 210 people were held in Cape May County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 383 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 239.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
15 school districts have their office in Cape May County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $65.1 million — $59.1 million to run schools, about $22,207 per student, plus $382,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $35.2 million local (mostly property tax), $25.1 million state, $6 million federal. Long-term debt: $20.9 million.
Spent $55.5 million — $54.8 million to run schools, about $29,180 per student, plus $269,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $37.3 million local (mostly property tax), $16 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $652,000.
Spent $46.2 million — $39.3 million to run schools, about $26,840 per student, plus $5.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $20.8 million local (mostly property tax), $15.7 million state, $6 million federal. Long-term debt: $19.8 million.
Spent $42.8 million — $30.9 million to run schools, about $21,945 per student, plus $2.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $28.9 million local (mostly property tax), $12.9 million state, $2 million federal.
Spent $52 million — $36.2 million to run schools, about $29,585 per student, plus $13 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25.7 million local (mostly property tax), $13.1 million state, $4.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $19.3 million.
Spent $28.9 million — $26 million to run schools, about $30,036 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $15.3 million local (mostly property tax), $11.2 million state, $3 million federal.
Spent $22 million — $17.9 million to run schools, about $26,667 per student, plus $468,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.5 million local (mostly property tax), $7.3 million state, $3 million federal.
Spent $27.8 million — $19.7 million to run schools, about $35,454 per student, plus $7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $15.3 million local (mostly property tax), $4.6 million state, $1.3 million federal.
And 7 more.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Cape May County about $99.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
74 bridges in Cape May County: 16 in good condition, 50 fair, and 8 poor (10.8%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| CR633(LAFAYETTE S) over CAPE ISLAND CREEK · built 1927 | 15,085 vehicles a day |
| OCEAN DRIVE CR 621 over MIDDLE THOROFARE · built 1939 | 9,502 vehicles a day |
| CR657(STONE HARBR) over GREAT CHANNEL · built 1930 | 7,800 vehicles a day |
| NJ 49-DELSEA DRIVE over MILL CREEK · built 1930 | 6,971 vehicles a day |
| OCEAN DRIVE CR 619 over TOWNSENDS INLET · built 1939 | 6,548 vehicles a day |
| OCEAN DRIVE CR 619 over CORSONS INLET · built 1948 | 2,410 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $81.5 million of work in Cape May County in fiscal 2025, about $855 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for New Jersey are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Cape May County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Cape May County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of New Jersey: the state government and every county in New Jersey.
Nearby counties: Cumberland County (22 mi) · Atlantic County (29 mi) · Kent County, DE (35 mi) · Sussex County, DE (39 mi) · Salem County (43 mi) · Gloucester County (47 mi).