Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is the principal city of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Cape May County. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 15,378. In the summer months, with an influx of tourist and second homeowners, there are estimated to be 115,000 to 130,000 within the city's borders. Ocean City was originally formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 3, 1884, from portions of Upper Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 30, 1884, and was reincorporated as a borough on March 31, 1890. Ocean City was incorporated as a city, its current type of government, on March 25, 1897. Ocean City is known as a family seaside resort that has prohibited the sales of alcoholic beverages within its limits since the city's founding in 1879. Ocean City possesses miles of guarded beaches, a 2.5 mile boardwalk, and a quaint downtown. The Travel Channel rated Ocean City as the Best Family Beach of 2005. It was ranked the third best beach in New Jersey in the 2008 Top 10 Beaches Contest sponsored by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. In the 2009 Top 10 Beaches Contest, Ocean City ranked first. Ocean City requires purchase of a beach tag for all individuals age 12 and up to go on the beach from early June through Labor Day. For the 2008 season, tags could be purchased on a daily basis for $5, weekly for $10 or $20 for the entire season.