Harvey Cedars is a coastal borough situated on the Jersey Shore, in southern Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough encompasses a narrow strip of Long Beach Island fronting both the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 391, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 54 (+16.0%) from the 2010 census count of 337, which in turn reflected a decline of 22 (−6.1%) from the 359 counted in the 2000 census.Harvey Cedars was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on December 15, 1894, from portions of Union Township (now Barnegat Township), based on the results of a referendum held on November 20, 1894. The community's post office was initially known as High Point, the name of a neighborhood in the borough that lies at a higher elevation, before a name change was made in the 1930s at the request of the United States Postal Service to differentiate the post office from the northern New Jersey community of High Point in Sussex County.The majority of the housing units in the borough are seasonal houses used primarily in the summer by owners who live elsewhere, bringing the summer population to 12,000. The borough's quiet character and bay and ocean access make housing very expensive, with many bay or oceanfront houses priced at $2 million or more. Despite the borough's small size, its property was assessed at over $1.28 billion in 2019.