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Diamond Beach 26.7

#5456 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇺🇸 United States of America · New Jersey · near Atlantic City

Wind is the enemy here, peaks in September, thick rubber.

Beginner friendlyBeginner
Diamond Beach, United States of America
Photo: Luigi Novi · CC BY 3.0 · source · photo taken 1.9 km from the spot
Surf score26.7 /100
Surfable days53% of the year
Clean days1% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell2% period 11 s+
Typical size0.6 m 2.0 ft median
Water14°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Diamond Beach

The best time to surf Diamond Beach is March, May, September. It rarely works. In September the water sits around 22°C, so pack a rash vest or 2 mm, and the typical wave is 0.6 m. The nearest airport is PHL (107 km) and the nearest town is Atlantic City (57 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan66%1%0.8 m5°C6/5
Feb60%0%0.7 m2°C6/5
Mar72%2%0.8 m5°C6/5
Apr65%0%0.7 m10°C6/5
May48%2%0.6 m14°C4/3
Jun29%0%0.5 m20°C2mm
Jul17%0%0.4 m24°Cvest
Aug21%0%0.4 m24°Cvest
Sep55%6%0.6 m22°Cvest
Oct65%1%0.7 m19°C2mm
Nov69%0%0.8 m13°C4/3
Dec64%1%0.7 m8°C6/5

What is under Diamond Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 55 m.

Depth 8 km out55 m
Depth 4 km out47 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 26.7

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
6.8
Best days 22.4%
4.7
Clean days 18.4%
0.1
Consistency 10.2%
5.9
Season spread 4.1%
2.6
Water comfort 6.1%
0.3
Access 4.1%
2.8

The detail

Faces 144° with 56% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 60% of days. Mean peak period 6.9 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.2 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 72%. Months that work: 8 of 12. Coordinates 38.967, -74.833 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,700/ month
typically €1,500 – €1,900
Rent, one bedroom€892
Groceries€357
Eating out€204
Getting around€119
Phone + internet€128
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,320/ month
typically €2,920 – €3,710
Somewhere to stay€1,960
Eating out€697
Car, transfers, fuel€450
Data + extras€212
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for United States of America (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

Spots nearby

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