Beach Erosion Reality: Longport, New Jersey
Longport is a borough of just 1.56 square miles on the southwest corner of Absecon Island in Atlantic County, New Jersey, an 8.1-mile barrier island it shares with Margate City, Ventnor City, and Atlantic City. Per Wikipedia, only 0.40 square miles of that total is land -- the remaining 1.16 square miles, or 74.49 percent, is water. That is among the highest water-to-land ratios of any market covered on this site, and it did not happen by accident. Between 1900 and 1916, a series of storms eroded 180 acres of the barrier island comprising ten numbered streets on Longport's southern end, permanently reshaping the town's geography. This is not an active, ongoing erosion crisis or a pending lawsuit -- it is a documented historical loss, over a century old, whose scale is still written directly into the shape of the map today. What follows lays out what is confirmed about that loss, how it connects to Longport's present-day geography, and what the town is doing now, in a small and current way, to protect the dunes it has left.
The Storms That Reshaped Longport, 1900-1916
Wikipedia's own entry on Longport confirms that between 1900 and 1916, storms eroded 180 acres of the barrier island, comprising ten numbered streets on its southern end, and that this loss significantly reshaped the town's geography. That is not a vague or general description of "beach narrowing" -- it is a specific, dated account of platted, numbered streets being taken by the sea over roughly a sixteen-year span. Longport had only just incorporated as a borough on March 7, 1898, carved from Egg Harbor Township, when this stretch of storms began reworking its southern shoreline. The exact former locations and original numbering of those ten streets were not confirmed in the research behind this page, and none is invented here -- Wikipedia's account establishes the scale and the outcome of the loss, not a street-by-street map of it.
This history sits apart from the erosion stories at other Jersey Shore towns covered on this site. It is not an ongoing legal fight over a beach-replenishment project, and it is not a current-year storm emergency. It is a settled, century-old event -- but one whose consequences were permanent. Land that storms erode gradually can sometimes be rebuilt through replenishment; land that is fully lost, as Longport's ten streets were, simply becomes part of the water on the map, and stays that way.
Why Longport Is 74.49 Percent Water Today
The direct, present-day evidence of that early-1900s loss is Longport's own geography. Per Wikipedia, the borough's total area is 1.56 square miles, of which only 0.40 square miles is land and 1.16 square miles is water -- a water share of 74.49 percent. That ratio is not simply a function of Longport sitting on a barrier island next to back bays, the way most Jersey Shore towns do; it is also a direct legacy of a documented, 180-acre reduction in the town's own land area during the 1900-1916 storms. Ten numbered streets that once existed on the southern end of the island are, today, water rather than land, and that is a meaningful share of why Longport's water-to-land ratio stands out even among other barrier-island boroughs on this site.
This cause-and-effect is worth stating plainly because it is easy to read a bare statistic like "74.49 percent water" without knowing why it is so extreme. In Longport's case, the answer is not abstract erosion risk or a future projection -- it is a specific, dated, already-completed loss of land, still reflected in the shape of the borough more than a century later.
A Small, Current Dune-Protection Effort -- Not a Crisis Response
Longport's present-day approach to its beaches and dunes is modest in scale and does not read as crisis management. In July 2025, per DownBeach's own coverage, the borough installed seven educational signs along its beach crossovers after officials observed beachgoers standing on protective dunes -- including a July 4th Facebook post showing people using the dunes as a vantage point to watch fireworks. Each sign, one of four designs, carries a QR code linking to a dedicated website called "Our Dunes." Longport's Zoning Officer, Bruce Funk, was quoted explaining the reasoning: "People don’t understand how important the dunes are. The diversity of wildlife there is amazing," and that the dunes are "more than just a pile of sand." The initiative cost roughly $5,000 in total, funded through a CAFRA Trust Fund donation, with the signs themselves costing about $700 each to install.
That is a genuinely small, current, civic-scale story -- seven signs and a modest budget, not a lawsuit or an emergency declaration. But it is real, and it is worth reading in light of the town's history: a borough that lost 180 acres and ten streets to storms a century ago has an obvious, documented reason to take its remaining dunes seriously today, even at this modest scale.
What This Page Does Not Confirm
No precise boundaries, original names, or exact former locations of the ten streets lost between 1900 and 1916 were confirmed in the research behind this page, and none is invented here -- Wikipedia's account is limited to the "180 acres" and "ten numbered streets" description. No current (2025-2026) active erosion event, storm-damage report, or beach-replenishment project specific to Longport was confirmed, and none is stated or implied; this page treats the 1900-1916 loss as historical, not as an ongoing crisis.
Beyond erosion, no current permanent population figure beyond the 2020 census count of 893, no current median home price, no current active-listing count, and no specific current rental rate for Longport was confirmed. The 2018 ranking as New Jersey's 22nd most expensive ZIP code, the $767,500 median home sale price in 2017, and the $10,872 average property tax bill in 2018 (the highest in Atlantic County that year) are real but dated figures and should not be treated as current. No current Longport or Atlantic County property tax rate, and no current New Jersey state sales tax rate, was confirmed -- New Jersey has its own state sales tax and its own property-tax structure, genuinely different from a no-sales-tax state, and readers should not assume otherwise. No current FEMA flood-zone designation for any individual Longport parcel was confirmed, and no specific current restaurant, shop, or business name is asserted anywhere on this page.
The Agencies That Track the Real Numbers
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the federal agency responsible for large-scale beach-replenishment and storm-risk-management projects along the New Jersey coast, including any current or planned work affecting Absecon Island. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is the state counterpart, and is the right source for state-level coastal-management data, permitting status, and any state-funded shore-protection work touching Longport, Margate City, Ventnor City, or Atlantic City.
For flood risk specifically, FEMA's Flood Map Service Center is the authoritative source for current flood-zone designations on any individual Longport parcel -- a designation that shifts periodically as FEMA updates its maps, and one this page does not attempt to state for any specific address. A prospective buyer should confirm a property's current flood-zone status directly through FEMA before making an offer, and should ask a New Jersey-licensed insurance agent about current flood-insurance requirements and costs for that specific parcel.
Where to Find Current Data
Because Longport's defining erosion story is historical rather than a live, developing situation, the most useful step for a prospective buyer is less about tracking a current project and more about confirming today's baseline numbers directly. Start with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for the current status of any coastal-management or beach-replenishment work affecting Absecon Island, and search current news coverage for any recent Longport-specific storm damage or shoreline project that may have occurred since this page was researched.
Confirm current FEMA flood-zone status for any specific Longport parcel directly through FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, and speak with a New Jersey-licensed insurance agent about flood and storm coverage for that property. Atlantic County government and the Borough of Longport's own finance office are the right sources for current property tax figures, and a New Jersey-licensed real estate attorney or tax professional is the right source for any legal, tax, or insurance question specific to a property. This page is independent research for general orientation only. It is not legal, insurance, engineering, or financial advice, and nothing here substitutes for direct confirmation from the Borough of Longport, the New Jersey DEP, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Atlantic County, FEMA, current news reporting, and a licensed professional.
Ready to talk to a local Longport agent?
Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Longport's location on the southwest corner of Absecon Island in Atlantic County, New Jersey; its 1.56-square-mile total area (0.40 sq mi land, 1.16 sq mi water -- 74.49 percent water); its 1900-1916 storm loss of 180 acres comprising ten numbered streets; its March 7, 1898 incorporation from Egg Harbor Township; its 2020 census population of 893; and its 2018 ranking as New Jersey's 22nd most expensive ZIP code, 2017 median home sale price of $767,500, and 2018 average property tax bill of $10,872 (the highest in Atlantic County that year) are sourced from Wikipedia's own Longport, New Jersey entry. The July 2025 seven-sign dune-education initiative, its $5,000 total cost funded via a CAFRA Trust Fund donation, its roughly $700-per-sign installation cost, and the quotation from Zoning Officer Bruce Funk are sourced from DownBeach's own July 2025 coverage. No precise boundaries, original names, or exact former locations of the ten streets lost between 1900 and 1916 were confirmed, and none is invented here. No current (2025-2026) active erosion event or storm-damage report specific to Longport was confirmed. No current population figure beyond the 2020 census count, no current median home price, no current property tax rate, no current New Jersey state sales tax rate, and no current FEMA flood-zone designation specific to Longport was confirmed via primary-source research this pass. Confirm current erosion, flood-zone, and shoreline-project status directly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, Atlantic County government, the Borough of Longport, current news coverage, and a licensed local professional before making any purchase decision. Nothing on this page is legal, insurance, engineering, or financial advice.