Toms River is a township in Ocean County with a total area of 52.884 square miles, 70 miles south of Manhattan and 55 miles east of Philadelphia. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County. As of the 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 91,239, the 8th-most-populous municipality in the state in 2010.
While most of Toms River is on the mainland, Dover Beaches North and South are situated on the Barnegat Peninsula, a long, narrow barrier peninsula that separates Barnegat Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Dover Beaches South adjoins the independent municipalities of Lavallette to the north and Seaside Heights to the south. Toms River is also home to many beaches located along the Jersey Shore, including Ortley Beach, Normandy Beach, Monterey Beach, Ocean Beach, Chadwick Beach and Silver Beach.
In 2006, Toms River was ranked by Morgan Quitno Press as the 15th safest city in the United States, of 369 cities nationwide. In 2007, Toms River was again ranked as the 14th-safest city in the United States of 371 cities nationwide. The village of Toms River is listed on both the national and state registers of historic places.
Students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade attend the Toms River Regional Schools, the largest suburban school district in New Jersey. In addition to students from Toms River, the district also serves the adjoining boroughs of Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River. As of the 2014–15 school year, the district and its 18 schools had an enrollment of 16,125 students and 1,177.2 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 13.7:1.
Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
