A Season That Runs on Empty Houses and One Elephant

A Shrinking Year-Round Population Behind a Huge Vacation-Home Stock

Per Wikipedia, Margate City's 2020 census population was 5,317, down 1,037 people (-16.3%) from 6,354 in 2010 -- which was itself down 1,839 people (-22.4%) from 8,193 in 2000. That is two straight decades of double-digit permanent-population decline, with a median age of 58.7 and 37.1% of residents age 65 or older. We did not confirm a current (2026) permanent population figure beyond that 2020 count, and none is invented here.

Set against that shrinking year-round base, Wikipedia's housing data tells the real seasonal story: 7,124 housing units across the city, with a 62.8% vacancy rate driven by seasonal and vacation homes rather than abandonment. In plain terms, well over half of Margate's housing stock exists to be occupied for part of the year, not all of it -- which is exactly why the town's population, traffic, and businesses swing so hard between summer and the rest of the year.

Lucy the Elephant: A Confirmed Summer Draw, With a Real Funding Story Behind It

Lucy the Elephant is Margate's best-documented seasonal recreation anchor: a 65-foot wooden and metal-clad elephant-shaped building, built in 1881 (over 140 years old), declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and billed as America's Oldest Surviving Roadside Attraction. Per Wikipedia, Lucy draws an estimated 130,000 visitors annually, and a $2.4 million exterior restoration -- funded by government money and donor contributions -- was completed in December 2022.

That attraction's future has not been guaranteed on autopilot. Per DownBeach and PhillyVoice, the Trump administration's DOGE initiative rescinded a $500,000 federal Save America's Treasures grant already awarded to the Save Lucy Committee in April 2025, on top of an existing $300,000 state grant. Executive director Rich Helfant said publicly: "How do you have a contract, a promise from the government of the United States of America, and they default on it." Supporters raised roughly $200,000 through private donations, Senator Cory Booker encouraged the committee to reapply, and the committee subsequently received $350,000 in new federal funding -- enough, combined with the private donations and the original state grant, to begin interior renovations (a 56-year-old HVAC system replacement, wood floor refinishing, fire-suppression upgrades, and water-damaged plaster repair) in the first quarter of 2026.

Separately, a $3.5 million interpretive and accessibility center broke ground next to Lucy in April 2026, for visitors who cannot climb her narrow interior stairs, funded by up to $1.5 million from the City of Margate plus an ongoing Save Lucy Committee capital campaign, with a projected Memorial Day 2027 completion. Mayor Michael Collins said: "This project will allow accessibility to everyone and provide an opportunity to experience our beloved landmark." This is a real, current, ongoing story with a genuinely uncertain ending -- this page does not state the interpretive center as complete, and readers should confirm current status directly with the Save Lucy Committee before planning a visit around it.

Hurricane Season Is Not Abstract Here: August 22, 2025

Margate's off-season quiet is bracketed by a real risk that summer crowds rarely see up close. Per 6ABC Philadelphia, on the night of Thursday, August 22, 2025, Hurricane Erin's storm surge caused flooding that triggered more than 50 water rescues in Margate -- at least 30 people rescued from flooded Amherst Avenue restaurants (both Sofia's and Maynard's took on water), and 16 people plus 3 dogs rescued from stranded vehicles using high-water rescue vehicles.

Maynard's owner Steve Troiano described the night directly: "We had wet vacs. We were pumping it out of the back door and it was coming in the front door." Margate Fire Chief Daniel Adams warned residents afterward: "Heed the warnings of your lifeguards. Pay attention. The rip currents are not going to be here for a number of days post this storm." A gas leak, an underground transformer fire, and an electrical fire were also reported that night, and officials anticipated similar flooding risk during the high tides that followed.

That single, dated event is not a one-off quirk of Margate's geography, either. Per Wikipedia, a boardwalk built in 1906 sat closer to the ocean than Atlantic City's own boardwalk, making it more storm-vulnerable -- large portions were destroyed in the 1944 Great Atlantic hurricane, and the remaining sections lasted only until the 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm. Margate's exposure to serious storm flooding is a long-documented, recurring feature of the town, not a single bad night.

What This Means for a Season Spent Here

Put together, the confirmed facts describe a genuinely two-sided seasonal calendar: a small and shrinking year-round population living among a mostly-empty housing stock built for summer occupancy, a single, famous, currently well-attended attraction in Lucy the Elephant whose own funding future has been anything but guaranteed, and a real, named, dated hurricane event less than a year old as of this writing that shows exactly what the risk side of that calendar looks like.

This page does not invent a named festival calendar or a recurring event schedule for Margate, because this research pass did not confirm one. What is confirmed is honest enough on its own: a summer built around one landmark and a huge stock of seasonal homes, and an off-season -- and a hurricane season -- that residents and visitors alike should plan around realistically rather than assume away.

New Jersey, Not Delaware: A Different Tax Backdrop

Margate City is this site's eleventh New Jersey market, following Cape May, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, North Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Sea Isle City, Ocean City, Strathmere, and Longport. New Jersey has its own state sales tax and its own municipal and county property-tax structure, genuinely different from the no-sales-tax framework used across the Delaware markets already built on this site -- nothing here should be read as carrying over Delaware's tax framework to Margate.

This page does not have current Margate property tax rates, current New Jersey state sales tax figures, or current assessment data to report. Confirm current rates directly with Atlantic County government, Margate City's own finance office, and the State of New Jersey.

What We Did Not Find, and Why That Is the Honest Story

This research pass confirmed, via Wikipedia, Margate City's 2020 census population of 5,317 (down 16.3% from 2010, and down 22.4% again from 2000 to 2010), its 7,124 housing units with a 62.8% vacancy rate, Lucy the Elephant's 130,000-visitor annual draw and December 2022 exterior restoration, and its 1906 boardwalk's storm history through the 1944 and 1962 storms. It also confirmed, via DownBeach and PhillyVoice, the 2025-2026 Lucy the Elephant funding saga, and via 6ABC Philadelphia, the August 22, 2025 Hurricane Erin flooding and rescue count, including quotes from Maynard's owner Steve Troiano and Fire Chief Daniel Adams.

It did not confirm: any named annual festival or recurring event calendar for Margate; a current (2026) permanent or summer population figure beyond the 2020 census count; current median home prices, active listing counts, or rental rates; current Margate or Atlantic County property tax rates or the current New Jersey state sales tax rate; specific current flood zone designations for individual Margate parcels; whether the Lucy the Elephant interpretive center remains on schedule for its Memorial Day 2027 completion as of today; or any structural or dollar-damage figures from the August 2025 flooding beyond the confirmed rescue counts. None of those figures are invented here -- confirm them directly with the City of Margate, Atlantic County government, the State of New Jersey, the Save Lucy Committee, or FEMA's Flood Map Service Center as applicable.