Forked River (/ˈfɔːrkɪd/[7]) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP)[8] located within Lacey Township, in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

[14] Many Ocean County residents commonly refer to all of Lacey Township as Forked River.

The community of Lanoka Harbor is directly north of Forked River, Bamber Lake is to the west, Barnegat is to the southwest, and Waretown is to the south.

The 2010 United States census counted 5,244 people, 2,077 households, and 1,429 families in the CDP.

[13] As of the 2000 United States census[4] there were 4,914 people, 1,927 households, and 1,383 families residing in the CDP.

St. Mary Academy near Manahawkin CDP, a K-8 school of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, is in the area.

[19][20] In 2019 St. Mary Church in Barnegat took entire control of the school, which remained on the same Manahawkin campus, and changed its name.

[18] On October 11, 1989, three aides of New York business mogul Donald Trump were killed in a helicopter crash near the Garden State Parkway in Forked River.

Five people, including three high-level executives of Trump's three casinos in Atlantic City were killed when their helicopter crashed in pine woodlands.

[25] Forked River is served by U.S. Route 9 and exit 74 of the Garden State Parkway.