Demographics
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2/13/2008
Of course statistical data for items such as population count, unemployment, home values, etc. are a constantly moving numerical description of an area. None the less, I found the numbers reported here quite deceptive. A few for instances:
This site's figures: Figures from Yahoo website:
Population - 68,082 91,927
Median income - $63,191 $68,880
Home median cost - $379,500 $387,000
Per student expense - $8,053 $8,417
Unemployment rate - 4.20% 4.1%
Having lived in Toms River for 24 years (incidentallly, with no intentions of moving away) I find the Yahoo website numbers much more current. Bottom line is that we have gone from a mostly spread out community of country roads, poultry and egg farmers, with a bit of tourist industry on the shore (Seaside Boardwalk, Ortley Beach) mostly blue collar population, but one heck of an excellent school system in the Toms River Regional area, to an older population with a large number of age restricted communities, more crowded four lane highways than you can count and condos mixed with "McMansions" that took over all the beautiful farmland to be had.
I don't like to drive too far these days, especially in the summer, because there is grid-lock everywhere, bumper to bumper traffic on Route 37 from the Garden State Parkway to the bridge over the bay to the barrier islands, standstill traffic on Hooper Ave. from Brick, the town to the north, all the way to the Ocean County Mall, a distance of about 5 miles or so.
I bemoan the disappearance of the "back country" feel, the disproportionate number of senior citizens that should have given up their driver's licenses long ago, the teenage and young adult drivers that do not know the meaning of courtesy or consideration for those older drivers, and the tourists that take over our town in the summer. A local saying is "Welcome to the Jersey Shore Bennies - Now Please go Home!"
I have to add, one thing has not changed; we still have the very best schools in all of New Jersey! Indeed, my daughter is now working on her second Masters degree and living in a beautiful custom built home on a five acre wooded lot, albeit in Pennsylvania, but I raised her and she got her education here, in Toms River.
I really love my town, so for all its problems, that's why I'm staying.
Respectfully,
Sharon Kramer
Sharon | Toms River, NJ