Collings Lakes, NJ

Collings Lakes is a census-designated place in Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County, built around a group of lakes and the homes that line them. The 2020 census counted 1,501 residents. It is not an incorporated municipality, so the community's daily identity comes through the lakes, neighborhood roads, and the Collings Lakes Civic Association. Deed restrictions and annual lake, dam, and beach maintenance fees shape the shared landscape.

The water is the whole point of the place. Houses face the lakes, the civic association organizes community information and events, and Buena Regional School District serves local students. The lakes also give the community its visual center, with water, docks, and shore roads setting the pace of the neighborhood. Collings Lakes sits in the pine-and-farm country of southern New Jersey, close enough to the Atlantic County road network for regional trips while keeping its own neighborhood-scale map. It is a residential CDP organized around water, association life, and the practical upkeep of a lakeside community.