Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Toms River, which, like the county itself, has been one of the fastest growing areas of the state since the 1990s. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 576,567, having increased by 65,651 (+12.8%) from the 2000 Census population of 510,916, surpassing Union County to become the fifth-most populous county in the state and making Ocean County the fastest growing in the state of New Jersey in terms of increase in the number of residents and second-highest in percentage growth.