[21][22] The Borough of Neptune City was incorporated on October 4, 1881, based on a referendum held on March 19, 1881.

The boundaries included all of present-day Neptune City, along with what is now Avon-by-the-Sea and the southern portion of Bradley Beach.

On March 13, 1907, the eastern portion of Neptune City was annexed to the Borough of Bradley Beach.

[23] The borough was named for Neptune, the Roman water deity, and its location on the Atlantic Ocean.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 0.90 square miles (2.32 km2), all of which was land.

[26] The borough borders the Monmouth County municipalities of Avon-by-the-Sea, Bradley Beach and Neptune Township.

The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council.

[39][40] As of 2025[update], the mayor of the Borough of Neptune City is Republican Andrew Wardell, whose term of office ends December 31, 2027.

[48][49][50] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 6th congressional district is represented by Frank Pallone (D, Long Branch).

[53] For the 2024-2025 session, the 11th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the New Jersey Senate by Vin Gopal (D, Long Branch) and in the General Assembly by Margie Donlon (D, Ocean Township) and Luanne Peterpaul (D, Long Branch).

[81] Public school students in ninth through twelfth grades attend Neptune High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Neptune Township Schools; in a study published in May 2015, the district looked at modifying its relationship with the Neptune Township district, considering leaving the agreement unchanged, adding students in grades 6–8 to the sending arrangement or a regionalization of the two districts.

Immanuel Steiner was a silk dealer in Austria when he emigrated to New York City in the late 1860s.

With his sons Edwin and Clarence, they sought to expand operations, opting to construct the flagship factory at the corner of Fourth and Railroad Avenue (now Memorial Drive.)

Within two years time, they constructed another nearly identical factory three blocks north (since the 1930s this has been the home of The SS Adams Novelty Company).

Edwin Steiner assumed control at his father's death, and he expanded the original building considerably.

The Steiner corporation had a reputation for spotlessly clean working conditions, and the quality of their products is attested to in countless period advertisements stretching all the way to California.

George Danielson, a 65-year-old courier from the First National Bank in Bradley Beach was shot point-blank at the employee entrance on 4th Avenue.

[86] In the late 1920s, the Steiner corporation purchased and merged with the Liberty Nightshirt Company, headquartered in Baltimore.

Mario Mirabelli and his brother Michael were running a military clothing manufacturing outfit in Elizabeth at the time when they purchased the building in 1940.

They continued to win small government contracts until the early 1960s, but eventually sold the building and went out of business.

Outerama, a company founded by Zenek Lapinsky in the late 1960s, continued to manufacture suits and jackets in the building until 1975 on the second and third floors.

In the early 1990s plans were underway to convert the building to retail shops and apartments, but funding was short, and the borough foreclosed on the owners before they could realize their goal.

[89] The Route 18 freeway is immediately west of the city, and both Interstate 195 and the Garden State Parkway are close by.

[91] Commuter service runs between New York City's Pennsylvania Station and Bay Head on the North Jersey Coast Line.

[92][93] Neptune City is projected to suffer substantial impacts from sea level rise caused by human-caused climate change,[94][95] including a long-term loss of half its current population.