ZIP code 08226

ZIP 08226 is a mid-size town in Cape May County, New Jersey, with 11,260 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #279 of 598 ranked by population — larger than 53% of them. The median age here is 57.3 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 08226 earn a median of $101,782 a year, 29.6% above the national figure of $78,538. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 7.9% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 08226 is valued at $719,100, 137% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,670 a month, 18.8% above the national figure, or roughly $20,040 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.7% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 7.1×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 72.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

Home values sit at 7.1× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. A median age of 57.3 puts ZIP 08226 well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

ZIP 08226 is tabulated inside Cape May County, New Jersey, one of 16 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 598 across New Jersey. This is a mid-sized suburban ZIP inside a county that is split across many delivery areas. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 08226 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 08226 reports a median household income of $101,782, 3% above the $98,346 county median, and 7% below the $109,182 typical NJ ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $719,100, 70% above the county figure and 70% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,670 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

New Jersey charges 6.625% statewide, and no local sales tax is layered on top, so the state rate is the full amount collected in 08226.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 08226 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.