Galloway, N.J. — The Atlantic City economy posted strong job growth of 4.2% year-on-year in this year’s first quarter according to the Summer 2025 edition of the South Jersey Economic Review, which was released today.

First-quarter job gains were broad based, with those in restaurants and bars and retail trade recording the largest increases. 

In addition to surveying the regional economy’s current conditions, the newest edition of the Review discusses some of the implications of the newly redefined Atlantic City metropolitan area, which now combines Cape May and Atlantic counties.

“While there are some analytical costs associated with the new redefinition, such as the inability to parse out the impacts of events that may affect the two counties differently, the redefinition underscores the importance of thinking in broad regional terms,” said Oliver Cooke, editor of the Review and associate professor of Economics at Stockton.

The Review also discusses the implications of the likely arrival in the not-too-distant future of New York City-area casinos for Atlantic City’s economy and the urgency surrounding ongoing and future diversification efforts.

“The good news is that some of these efforts are beginning to gather momentum. Yet, the hard reality is that restructuring a metropolitan area economy takes considerable time,” Cooke said.   

The Review places Atlantic City’s ongoing diversification efforts in a national context by exploring a set of “diversification with growth” case studies. These reveal that while there is no universal path to diversified growth, there are additional areas of opportunity — including ones in the information and financial sectors — that Atlantic City can pursue.  

Other highlights include:

• Single-family home prices in Atlantic City climbed 10% last year, their eighth straight annual increase. The continued climb in home prices has helped fuel strong homebuilding activity over the past few years.
• The most notable exception to the solid first-quarter job growth this year occurred in casino hotels, which saw employment decline 7% year-on-year.

The Summer 2025 edition of the South Jersey Economic Review is produced by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.