Living in Atlantic City & the Cape May Shore

This region -- Atlantic and Cape May Counties' shore towns -- covers New Jersey's southernmost, most historically distinctive stretch of coastline. Atlantic City is home to the world's first boardwalk (opened 1870) and the Miss America pageant (founded 1921), and its real, current casino economy posted more than $4.2 billion in revenue through July 2026 across nine operating casinos. Cape May, the nation's oldest seaside resort, is the only U.S. city wholly designated a National Historic Landmark, for more than 600 preserved Victorian structures. Ocean City, genuinely founded in 1879 by Methodist ministers as a Christian family resort, remains a real, still-popular dry town today -- alcohol sales have been banned since 1909, reaffirmed by nearly 70% of voters as recently as 2012. Wildwood preserves the largest surviving concentration of 1950s-60s 'Doo Wop' motel architecture in the country, a real, colorful, and honestly disclosed still-endangered heritage. Housing here runs from Atlantic City's genuinely low, casino-economy-influenced market up to Ocean City's near-$1 million average.

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Last reviewed: 2026-09-05. Independent research; see individual place pages for metric-level source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.