Money Magazine tried to find the best beach in America for your summer vacation. They took certain variables like activities, hotel cost, and average airfare to come up with the 8 Best - and NJ landed in the Top 5.

8 - Corpus Christi, TX
7 - Virginia Beach, VA
6 - Ponce Inlet, FL

5 - CAPE MAY, NJ

Don’t cruise past Exit Zero: There’s more to the last town on the New Jersey Turnpike than its nickname suggests. A seaside city in southern New Jersey, Cape May has apparently been a tourism hot spot since the Victorian era, according to the city’s website. Staying in one of the grand turn-of-the-century hotels costs $313 per night (per Kayak), but visitors can get a significant discount by opting to stay in a vacation home for an average $216 per night, according to AirDNA. A three-day beach pass costs $12, while a week pass is $18. Free activities abound, like touring the Cape May Brewing Company, climbing the 199-step lighthouse or visiting the Cape May County Zoo. At the end of the day, swing by Sunset Beach on the bay (no pass required) to spot the remains of the SS Atlantis, a nearly 100-year-old concrete shipwreck, and a waterfront sunset.

Despite a few errors in there (the Turnpike thing; the Lighthouse isn't free; the Zoo is technically donation-based so I guess if you're a jerk you could donate $0; it's USS Atlantus) it's not a bad endorsement for NJ.

They also mention costs like:

Average airfare: $358
Average hotel night: $313
Cost of a long weekend for two: $2,234

Rounding out the list are:

4 - Sag Harbor, NY
3 - Jekyll Island, GA
2 - San Diego, CA
1 - Glen Arbor, MI

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