Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, home to about 38,632 people across 11 square miles. Its ZIP code is 08401, and parts of 08203 are in Atlantic City too.
Homes sold for a median of $211 per square foot in the three months ending August 2026, a buyer’s market.
All in Atlantic City
Mostly Brigantine; part is in Atlantic City
Each card is that ZIP code’s whole market, including any part outside Atlantic City. Seller’s market: under 4 months of supply; buyer’s market: over 6. Methodology
Atlantic City occupies Absecon Island, a barrier island the Lenape used as a summer base. Jeremiah Leeds, born at Leeds Point on the mainland, built the first year-round home on the island in the 1780s, and his widow later ran a boarding house that the city counts as its first business. The resort itself was a railroad project: Dr. Jonathan Pitney and Richard Osborne pushed for a line to the shore, the Camden and Atlantic received its charter in 1852, and the city was incorporated in 1854, the same year the first train arrived from Camden. Pitney is credited with the street plan, with avenues parallel to the ocean named for seas and the cross streets named for states. A second line, the Narrow Gauge, followed in 1878.
The first Boardwalk opened on June 26, 1870, a one-mile walk eight feet wide meant to keep sand out of hotels and rail cars. It was rebuilt and lengthened many times after storms, including an 1889 hurricane and the Great Atlantic Hurricane of September 1944. Amusement piers rose along it, Steel Pier opening in 1898, rolling chairs appeared in 1887, and grand hotels lined the beachfront. The Absecon Lighthouse was first lit in 1857, Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall) was dedicated in 1929, and the first Miss America was crowned in 1921.
After visitors drifted toward air travel destinations in the 1950s and 1960s, New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in Atlantic City in November 1976, and Resorts International opened the first casino on May 26, 1978. The Atlantic City Convention Center followed in 1997 and the Borgata in 2003. Four casinos closed in 2014, and Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 flooded the Inlet and back-bay neighborhoods, prompting rebuilding with elevation requirements.
Atlantic City fills most of Absecon Island, with the ocean and Boardwalk on one side and back bays on the other. The street grid set out in the 1850s still organizes the city: Atlantic and Pacific avenues run its length, and the state-named cross streets lead to the beach. The city's 2016 master plan reexamination describes an old housing stock, with a majority of units built before 1970, and multifamily buildings as the most common type, alongside rowhouses, duplexes and single-family homes on narrow lots, some only 20 feet wide.
Sections people use by name include Chelsea, Chelsea Heights, Venice Park, Ducktown, City Island and the Inlet, where the lighthouse and Gardner's Basin sit. The Marina District, reached by the Brigantine Connector, holds casino resorts away from the Boardwalk. Since 2011 a state-run Tourism District has covered the casino and Boardwalk area, Bader Field and Gardner's Basin, and the city has backed proposals for a Ducktown arts district and a Lighthouse District in the Inlet.
The beach is free to use, with shower stations, and the Boardwalk serves as a promenade the length of the city. Back-bay neighborhoods such as Chelsea Heights flood in strong northeast storms and were hit hard by Sandy; homes there have since been rebuilt with added elevation, and the city adopted a freeboard requirement for exposed properties.
NJ Transit's Atlantic City Rail Line ends at the Atlantic City Rail Terminal, which is inside the Atlantic City Convention Center. Trains run daily to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station with stops at Absecon, Egg Harbor City, Hammonton, Atco, Lindenwold, Cherry Hill and Pennsauken. Express bus route 551 runs from the Atlantic City Bus Terminal, about two blocks from the Convention Center, to Philadelphia by way of Hammonton and Lindenwold.
By car, the Atlantic City Expressway is the main route from the Philadelphia area, and the Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector carries traffic from the Expressway to the Marina District and on to Brigantine. Albany Avenue, carrying Routes 40 and 322, is the other main link to the mainland.
Atlantic City International Airport (ACY), operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority, is on the mainland in Egg Harbor Township and has scheduled service from a small number of airlines. On the island the grid is compact and walkable, rolling chairs on the Boardwalk have carried visitors since 1887, and Maryland Avenue got bike lanes in 2016.
The Boardwalk, now about five and a half miles long, connects most of the city's attractions: casino resorts, Steel Pier, Playground Pier, and Boardwalk Hall, the former Convention Hall dedicated in 1929. The Walk, an outlet shopping district whose first stores opened in 2003, adds retail off the Boardwalk. The Atlantic City Convention Center, opened in 1997, holds trade shows and events, and the Miss America competition was staged in the city for much of its history. Casinos and their theaters, clubs and restaurants are the city's main nightlife.
The Absecon Lighthouse at Pacific and Rhode Island avenues is the tallest lighthouse in New Jersey at 171 feet, with 228 steps to the top, a replica keeper's dwelling, a museum and a Fresnel lens exhibit in the old oil house. It is open year-round, daily in July and August and five days a week the rest of the year. Gardner's Basin, a maritime park in the Inlet, is home to the Atlantic City Aquarium, which as of 2026 was temporarily closed for construction.
The Atlantic City Free Public Library has its main building at 1 North Tennessee Avenue and a Richmond Branch, and it runs the Atlantic City Heritage Collections, an archive and digital repository of local history, along with the Atlantic City Experience history museum. Recurring events include the Thunder over the Boardwalk airshow and summer music festivals, and the beaches are open to the public without charge.
Researched and drafted from the public sources below. Updated October 2026. Spot something wrong or out of date? Tell us.
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Get matched| Nearest major airport | Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)55 miles away |
|---|---|
| Closer regional airport | Atlantic City International Airport (ACY)10 miles away |
| Nearest city of 250,000+ | Philadelphia, PA58 miles away |
Straight-line distances from the center of Atlantic City; driving is longer.
Source: Airports from OurAirports (scheduled passenger service); city centers and populations from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Source: Members of Congress from the congress-legislators project; districts from the Census Bureau’s relationship files; governor and mayor from Wikidata.
Atlantic City had 38,497 residents in the 2020 census, down 5% since 2000.
It’s the 61st largest of 565 towns in New Jersey by population.
Atlantic County grew from 46,402 residents in 1900 to 274,534 in 2020.
Atlantic County, 1900–2020
Source: U.S. Census Bureau decennial censuses (counties 1900–1990 from the Bureau’s historical county file).
Average highs peak around 80°F in summer, and winter lows average 30°F. About 43.8 inches of rain and melted snow fall in a typical year.
Source: NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals, Atlantic City, NJ weather station (about a mile away).
106,760 jobs at 6,192 businesses in Atlantic County. The biggest industries by employees:
Source: U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 (private employers; jobs counted where people work).
363 doctors and other health care providers list an office in Atlantic City.
Nearest hospitals
Providers with an office here
| Primary care doctors | 63 |
|---|---|
| Specialist doctors | 106 |
| Dentists | 13 |
| Nurse practitioners and physician assistants | 92 |
| Mental health providers | 75 |
| Physical and occupational therapists | 9 |
| Optometrists | 1 |
| Chiropractors | 4 |
| Pharmacies | 12 |
Source: Hospitals from CMS Hospital General Information (ratings are CMS overall star ratings); straight-line distances; providers from the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), by practice address and primary specialty.
Parks (33 nearby)
Grocery stores (4 nearby)
Pharmacies (5 nearby)
Libraries (1 nearby)
Museums
Theaters and performance venues (13 nearby)
Counts are within about 2.5 miles of the center of town.
Source: Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (openstreetmap.org/copyright), as mapped by volunteers; it can miss places or include closed ones.
Established in 1854.
Notable people born here
Source: Wikidata (wikidata.org), the free knowledge base; people are listed by place of birth.
Public schools here are run by Atlantic City School District, Office of Education Department of Children and Families. Check each district’s attendance zones for a specific address.
| School | Grades | Students | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton Avenue SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K–5 | 302 | Public | 1.2 mi |
| Chelsea Heights SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 267 | Public | 1.9 mi |
| Dr Martin Luther King Jr School ComplexAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 544 | Public | 0.4 mi |
| New York Avenue SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 550 | Public | 0.1 mi |
| Pennsylvania Ave SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 566 | Public | 0.6 mi |
| Richmond Avenue SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 609 | Public | 1.9 mi |
| Sovereign Avenue SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 717 | Public | 1.3 mi |
| Uptown School ComplexAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 518 | Public | 0.8 mi |
| Venice Park SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K | 39 | Public | 1.1 mi |
| Texas Avenue SchoolAtlantic City | K–8 | 496 | Public | 0.9 mi |
| Atlantic City High SchoolAtlantic City | 9–12 | 1,731 | Public | 2.4 mi |
| Atlantic Regional SchoolEgg Harbor | 9–12 | — | Alternative Education | 8.3 mi |
| School | Grades | Students | Affiliation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our Lady Star of the Sea SchoolAtlantic City | Pre-K–8 | 78 | Roman Catholic | 1.0 mi |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES: Common Core of Data (2024-2025) for public schools; Private School Universe Survey (2023-2024) for private schools. Listed by address; we don’t rate schools.
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Shares ZIP codes with Brigantine.
Town boundaries don’t always match ZIP codes: a ZIP code can cross into neighboring towns, and a town can share a ZIP code with its neighbors. Facts describe the town itself; market figures describe whole ZIP codes.