Smallest towns in NJ 2026: Tavistock now has just 3 residents

Last week, I told you Walpack went from seven residents to eight. I figured that made it New Jersey’s smallest town.

I was wrong.

New census estimates put tiny Tavistock in Camden County at just three people, down from nine in the 2020 census. That’s the smallest population of any of New Jersey’s 564 municipalities, according to estimates from the New Jersey Department of Labor.

Three people. Fewer than a Wawa on a slow night.

A town built for Sunday golf

Tavistock has a wild backstory. It became a borough in 1921 for one reason: so members of the Tavistock Country Club could play golf on Sundays. Their old club in Haddonfield sat under a local blue law that banned Sunday sports, according to its Wikipedia entry. So the members, with help from a couple of friendly lawmakers, made their own town.

It’s about a quarter of a square mile, mostly golf course. Interstate 295 runs right through it.

New Jersey’s 10 smallest towns

Based on 2025 estimates:

Tavistock, Camden County: 3
Walpack Township, Sussex County: 8
Teterboro, Bergen County: 70
Loch Arbour, Monmouth County: 228
Cape May Point, Cape May County: 298
Mantoloking, Ocean County: 341
Rockleigh, Bergen County: 399
Harvey Cedars, Ocean County: 404
Shiloh, Cumberland County: 456 (tie)
Millstone, Somerset County: 456 (tie)

Teterboro is mostly airport. Mantoloking, Harvey Cedars and Cape May Point are beach towns where the summer crowd dwarfs the year-round count.

Loch Arbour has its own story. Residents broke away from Ocean Township in 1957 to stop condos from going up on their beach. Back in 1892, heavyweight boxer James J. Corbett set up his training camp there, Wikipedia notes.

A hidden gem in Corbin City

Just outside the top 10 is Corbin City, Atlantic County’s smallest town at 486 people, just south of Mays Landing, where I grew up.

Corbin City used to have a restaurant called the Corbin House, on Route 50. My parents went there on date nights, and I remember going once as a family. In the ’80s, in my 20s, I took my own dates there.

It always felt special, one of those out-of-the-way places we’d now call a hidden gem. It was known for seafood, Sunday chicken and dumplings and live piano on weekends. The Corbin House is long gone, but Corbin City’s local history website still has an old menu.

Walpack is still worth the trip

Walpack may have lost the title, but it gained a resident, and it’s still a ghost town inside the Delaware Water Gap. I am still heading up there next month.

As for Tavistock, getting in would take a lot of money and a decent golf swing. I have neither. I’ll stick with Walpack.

Small towns in New Jersey you didn't know existed

There are so many small towns in New Jersey that you may have heard of, especially in our listening area of Central and North Jersey. In the southern part of the state, where we have less reach and interaction, there are towns almost guaranteed, you've never heard of. Many of them in Atlantic, Cumberland and Salem Counties. Some are even in Burlington and Camden County. Here's a quick look at just of few of them.

Gallery Credit: Dennis Malloy

Filed Under: Camden County