America’s Best Beaches for ’25
Nothing too close … that’s good!
“Dr. Beach”
He’s known popularly as “Dr. Beach.” Director of the Florida International University Laboratory for Coastal Research in Miami, Stephen Leatherman, PhD is the nation’s leading expert on beaches.
For 35 years he has set the scientific benchmarks for determining: “America’s Best Beaches.” We’re his beneficiaries — the beach is and always will be America’s #1 vacation choice. “Beach time” varies from person to person but the attraction is near certain. I’ve never heard of “a bad day at the beach.” Can’t be.
Every year Dr. Leatherman evaluates 650+ public beach facilities all over the United States — providing a “first-ever professional beach rating” for the public. And having a blast while doing it. This guy is my kind of “beach bum.” I envy him his task. Oprah even put him on TV for having one of America’s best jobs.
The professor started the list in 1991 using 50 criteria to judge the worth of a beach — including sand softness and color, tidal range, safety, cleanliness, views, water temperature, smell, wildlife, access, wave size, and intensity of use. The beach rating scale offers an objective appraisal of our nation’s major public recreational beaches along the US coast.
The ’25 Best Beach list:
1) Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York
2) Wailea Beach, Maui, Hawaii
3) Poiup Beach, Kauai, Hawaii
4) Delnor-Wiggins State Park, Naples, Florida
5) Main Beach, East Hampton, New York
6) Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, South Carolina
7) St. Andrews Star Park, Panama City, Florida
8) Kaunaoa, Big Island, Hawaii
9) Lanikai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
10) Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Oahu, Hawaii — #1 on last year’s list — didn’t make the top 10 this year. A beautiful New York beach tops the list in ’25 — and 6 of the top 10 beaches this year are on the East Coast. We Monmouth Beach/Sea Bright/Long Branch residents already know we have some of the nation’s best beaches. They are a source of enduring enjoyment and relaxation. I’m glad our beaches don’t make a list, though, summers are crowded already.
“We rate everything from hotels and restaurants to graduate programs in universities, so why not beaches?”
—Dr. Stephen Leatherman
Speaking about NJ beach physics, Dr. Leatherman says: “Many people assume that New Jersey’s sand came from Long Island. This is incorrect as no sand grains can cross the deep valley of the drowned Hudson River (outer New York Harbor); indeed, divers report a massive buildup of sand and debris in this submarine canyon. Likewise, no sand from the southern end of New Jersey (Cape May) can travel across the wide mouth of Delaware Bay to reach Lewes, Delaware because of the deep water. Coastal geologists call the outer NJ shoreline, which extends for over 120 miles, a coastal compartment, meaning that no sand can come to or from another beach to these shores.”
Dr. Leatherman, an internationally-known coastal scientist, holds a doctorate in Environmental (Coastal) Sciences from the University of Virginia. His published research on storm impacts, coastal erosion and improved beach health and safety is considerable. For more information, visit his website.
Sand Sense — Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York — America’s #1 Beach for 2025.
