Avenel /ævənɛl/ is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP)[10] located within Woodbridge Township, in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Besides the Demarests, the first settlers included members of the Brown, Clark, Cooper, Crowell, Douglass, Edgar, and Thorpe families.

[15] The Avenel Fire Company #1 celebrated its 100th anniversary on June 8, 2013, with a parade and picnic.

[6][19] The 2010 United States census counted 17,011 people, 5,150 households, and 3,749 families in the CDP.

[13] As of the 2000 United States census[7] there were 17,552 people, 5,233 households, and 3,799 families residing in the CDP.

This was the fifth highest percentage of Indian people in any place in the United States with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry.

[20] Avenel was the flagship location of Bradco Supply, founded in 1966, one of the country's leading distributors of building products.

[23] The Avenel station provides direct service to Midtown Manhattan, New York City on NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line.

In the wake of the creation of a 500-unit development transit village near the station and requests from passengers, NJ Transit began new weekday stops at the station starting in September 2019 and that weekend service would resume for the first time since 1985.

[25][26][27] NJ Transit provides service on the 115 route between Avenel and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.