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June 16 to 22
Cape May County Profile
If you have to put your glasses on to read this and you are disregarding the nagging soreness in your left knee, you are probably one of Cape May County’s residents. We are an older bunch, and the signs of age are with us.
According to the most recent data available from the Census Bureau, the county median age is now 52.7 years old, meaning half the county’s population is nearly 53 years old or older. The state’s median age is 40, and in the country as a whole it is 39, so we are significantly older here. In fact, 31% of the county’s residents, nearly 1 in every 3 residents, are 65 or older. Across the rest of the state that number is 18%.
The permanent population overall has declined 7.5% since its most recent peak in 2000, but more dramatically the permanent population of the island communities has dropped in direct relationship to the rising purchase of second homes and the maintenance of vacant living units for summer rentals.
Now even the mainland is becoming a location of second homes. With that shift comes rising property values and a housing mix that is no longer friendly to young families.
A telling set of numbers from the census data shows that in 2000, just one generation ago, 26%, one out of every five residents, of the county population was under the age of 18. Now 16% fit that category. The decline in overall population has not come close to being that steep.
What has transpired is an exchange of the young for the old. In 2000 20%, one in five of the population, was over 65, and now 31%, nearly one in three, is in that age group. We have morphed from a county of parents to a county of grandparents.
If we use the numbers the Census Bureau gives us, our population lost almost 10,000 young people since 2000. With many of them went young working families with dreams of home ownership, solid education for their kids and a chance to succeed in a vibrant economy. In that time we also gained over 10,000 individuals over the age of 65.
The shift in the overall population shows the county lost fewer than 8,000 individuals in the generation since 2000, but the underlying numbers show an internal shift in the nature of the population that is much more telling about changes in the county’s character.
Heat
As you read this, New Jersey is experiencing its first major heat wave of the new summer season. The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning for 15 counties in New Jersey for June 22 through June 24. Heat advisories rather than warnings were issued for the far southern counties and the coastal areas, including Cape May County. The heat advisory is a step below the extreme heat warning in the weather service scale. Many of the results of this heat wave will be known by the time this week’s version of the Wrap is distributed, but the emphasis we can place on the dangers of extreme heat are worth the overlap in content and experience.
Extreme heat has been termed the “silent killer” because of the more subtle aspects of its dangers. A study published in the Lancet in 2021 reported that 356,000 people in nine countries died from extreme heat related illnesses in 2019. The numbers have continued to climb each year due to rising average temperatures attributed to climate change.
In addition to heat stroke, studies have begun expanding the understanding of how rising heat can impact life in other ways. One such set of studies shows increases in pathogen mobility and the risk of infectious diseases in areas historically not associated with particular pathogens.
A first priority has been to better educate people on the dangers of direct heat-related illness like heat exhaustion and heat stroke. To that end New Jersey officials issued information to help residents and visitors better understand their risks and how specific actions can reduce them. The state explains the value of actions that range from staying hydrated to conducting local community wellness checks.
The information being disseminated also highlights available resources like Heat Hub, NJ, an online site with information on dealing with extreme heat emergencies and the impact of extreme heat on daily life. Another resource is Chill Out, NJ, a site with a mapping feature to help individuals find public places to escape the heat.
The summer of 2024 ranked as the third-hottest summer in New Jersey since record keeping began in 1895. Our current heat wave is only the start of a summer that promises more heat-related dangers.
Social Media News
The Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard this week reported that television has finally lost its edge as the most-used source of news. Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, in its 2025 Digital News Report, out Monday, June 16, says that social media have displaced television as the top way that Americans get their news. Tracking the use of various platforms for news since 2013, the Reuters Institute study says that social media and video networks have edged out good old television as the primary news source.
The news source that has plummeted the most over the same period is print. The study argues that while these trends are occurring elsewhere, too, the phenomenon is happening “faster and with more impact in the United States.”
The research also highlights a pivot from reading the news to wanting video delivery. In the United States the proportion of individuals who say they prefer to read rather than watch or listen to their news is still a healthy 60%, but the preference shift to video is ongoing.
The proportion of those willing to pay for online news is also declining, although the differences between countries is significant. Norway has twice as many individuals who paid for online news as the United States.
A willingness to use an online news source is often related to the level of trust associated with that source. Using a trusted news source is also correlated in some measure with levels of education.
One benefit for a newspaper in Cape May County is it is the county with New Jersey’s oldest average population. Age is a factor in the selection of news sources, with older adults more likely to prefer reading their news, even in print newspapers.
Week in Review
*The Ocean City Police Department has unveiled one of the newest features of its drones unit – assisting in rescues of swimmers in trouble.
*A 52-year-old Erma man has been arrested and charged with the sexual assault of a minor, authorities said.
*During the heavy summer usage months of July and August, qualifying customers of Exelon utilities will be able to apply for help paying high summer electricity bills.
*The Delaware River and Bay Authority commissioners have appointed Joel Coppadge of Wilmington, Delaware, as the agency’s next executive director.
*A Cape May County grand jury has indicted a former Middle Township teacher on sexual assault charges stemming from her multiyear relationship with a student that began when he was younger than 13 and with whom she subsequently had a child.
*A 36-year-old Middle Township man has been arrested and charged with drug distribution, authorities said.
*Three mayors and a representative for a fourth brought members of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce up to date on projects and goals for the foreseeable future at a lunch meeting June 18.
*In another move to lessen the blow of sharply rising electricity prices, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on June 18 approved a proposal from Atlantic City Electric that defers to the fall $60 in electricity bill payments due from the high-usage summer months.
*Joseph Clark, currently the town manager for Howell Township in Monmouth County, has been appointed by the Stone Harbor Borough Council as the borough’s new administrator.
*The Sunset Beach Sportsmen’s Club’s bar license has been renewed again, but this time without a letter of objection from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
*The West Wildwood police force has lost another officer, leaving the beleaguered department with three officers and a sergeant, Commissioner Jane DiMattia said at a commissioner workshop session June 19.
*The state issued an advisory aimed to help New Jerseyans deal with the high temperatures that arrived last weekend.
*A 38-year-old Philadelphia man has been arrested after cameras were found in public restrooms on the Ocean City boardwalk June 12.
*Twenty-five years ago, the Grassy Sound fishing pier was just a rickety old bridge connecting the city with the mainland. Now, after three long years of closure, it’s starting a new life as a refurbished, once again free-to-use fishing spot.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council has endorsed its new fourth-round affordable housing fair-share plan, under which it had accepted the state’s calculation that the borough has an obligation to provide 26 units from 2025 to 2035.
*Jackson Sweet and friends brought new energy to Borough Hall as the Avalon/Stone Harbor Elementary School student took over as “Mayor for a Day” of Stone Harbor on June 18.
Spout Off of the Week
Shout out to our lifeguards. The weather has not been the best to kick off summer but your attitudes warm my heart. The kindness being shown to the children who literally and figuratively look up to you is wonderful to see. Wishing you all the best this summer.
Sea Isle City
