Who Serves My LBI Town

Services by Town

North to south. If your address is a Long Beach Township section — Loveladies, Brant Beach, Beach Haven Terrace, Holgate and the rest — read the Long Beach Township row, whatever your mail says.

Six Towns, Seven Different Maps

Each of these layers was drawn by a different authority at a different time, and none of them was reconciled against the others. That's why “what town am I in” doesn't answer “who do I call.”

Police on LBI — Five Departments, Six Towns

The number that surprises people: Barnegat Light contracts its policing to Long Beach Township. It's a fully independent borough with its own mayor and council, but no police force of its own — the Township department describes itself as serving Long Beach Township and Barnegat Light, and the borough sends residents to the Township for emergency alerts.

The mirror image is Harvey Cedars. It's smaller than Barnegat Light and physically wedged between two Long Beach Township sections, which would make a contract the obvious move — and it kept its own force anyway.

• Barnegat Light — Barnegat Light is an independent borough with its own mayor and council, but it contracts policing to Long Beach Township. The Township PD describes itself as serving Long Beach Township and Barnegat Light, and the borough directs residents to the Township department for emergency alerts.
• Harvey Cedars — The smallest town on the island to keep its own force, despite sitting wedged between two Long Beach Township sections.
• Long Beach Township — Also polices Barnegat Light under contract, which makes the Township PD the largest force on the island by area covered.

In an emergency dial 911 anywhere on the island — dispatch routes it. The distinction matters for non-emergency calls, records requests, and knowing whose alert list to join.

School Districts — LBI Consolidated and Beach Haven

Five of the six towns — Barnegat Light, Harvey Cedars, Surf City, Ship Bottom, and all of Long Beach Township — send children to the LBI Consolidated School District. Beach Haven is the exception: it runs its own district.

For buyers and renters this is one of the few island boundaries with a lasting consequence, and it's worth checking against the actual parcel rather than the mailing address — particularly anywhere near the 12th Street line, where a Beach Haven address can sit in Long Beach Township.

Health Department — One for the Whole Island

The LBI Health Department covers all six municipalities. It is the only line on this page that matches the island rather than cutting across it, which makes it the easy answer to inspections, food-service permits, and public-health questions no matter where on LBI you are.

LBI ZIP Codes — 08008 and 08006

Long Beach Island uses just two ZIP codes, and they don't line up with the towns.

This is why section names like Loveladies, Spray Beach and Beach Haven Terrace show up in mailing addresses at all — the ZIP can't distinguish them, so the section name does the work the postal code doesn't.

Beach Badges — Six, and Not Interchangeable

Every municipality sells its own badge and none of them honour each other. The Long Beach Township badge is the outlier in your favour: one badge covers all five Township sections, from Loveladies at the north end to Holgate at the south — the broadest coverage on the island. It is also worthless one block into a borough.

Because the Township is non-contiguous, a Township badge holder can drive past two boroughs they can't use and reach a beach they can. Buy where you'll actually spend your beach time — and if you're near one of the split streets, check which side you're on.

LBI Services FAQ