About Toms River

Toms River is a township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County. Formerly known as the Township of Dover, in 2006 voters approved a change of the official name to the Township of Toms River, adopting the name of the largest unincorporated community within the township. Located at the heart of the Jersey Shore region, the township is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area and a regional commercial hub in central New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was the state's eighth-most-populous municipality, with a population of 95,438, an increase of 4,199 (+4.6%) from the 2010 census count of 91,239, which in turn reflected an increase of 1,533 (+1.7%) from the 89,706 counted in the 2000 census.Toms River is featured in various TV and news media, including MTV's Made and Jersey Shore (seasons 1, 3, and 5), HBO's Boardwalk Empire and the original The Amityville Horror movie. In 1998, Toms River East Little League won the Little League World Series. The township has what is said to be the second-largest Halloween parade in the world.In 2006, Toms River was ranked by Morgan Quitno Press as the 15th safest city in the United States, of 369 cities nationwide. In 2007, Toms River was again ranked as the 14th-safest city in the United States of 371 cities nationwide. == History == === Founding and early history === Much of the early history of the settlement of Toms River is obscured by conflicting stories. Various sources list the eponym of the township as either English captain William Tom, or farmer and ferryman Thomas Luker.