#wiskayok

The pilot episode alone gives us the clearest indication as to where the characters live, as Jackie Taylor tells her boyfriend Jeff Sadecki to "turn on Port Monmouth" in order to drop her off at her home after the outdoor party. Port Monmouth is an unincorporated community located near Middletown Township, Monmouth County. The rest of Season One gives us specific place names like "The Meadowlands," likely the Sports Center located in East Rutherford, Bergen County; Hacklebarney Park, located in Morris County; Legislative district 31, the district Taissa Turner ran for state senator for located in Hudson County; Phil Bathurst's daughter's school Blair, likely the boarding school located in Warren County; and Route 9, a highway that runs through Monmouth County and down the coast of New Jersey. Multiple references are also made to New York City, demonstrating the influence that the city has on the lives of the characters; Van references wanting to go the city, "NYC style pretzels" are something the characters are familiar with, and Adam tells Shauna a story about something he had done in Chelsea (NYC) that caused him to "move back across the river," the river most likely being the Hudson River.

Something that is interesting to note is that there seems to have been at least one attempt by the creators of the show to obfuscate where Wiskayok is located. The real life Molly Pitcher Inn is presented in the show as the Jolly Hitcher. There does not seem to be a reason for this change, given that several other locations in the show maintain their original names. It's also interesting to note that the real life Molly Pitcher Inn is located in Red Bank, which is a borough close to Middletown Township. Others have pointed out that there is also a zipcode listed on Shauna's Brown acceptance letter, and claim that this zipcode corresponds to Red Bank, NJ. However, running this zipcode through the USPS database turns up no results for anywhere in the United States, let alone New Jersey.

There is another more subtle indication that appears in the pilot; during Nat's group therapy session, one of the members uses the phrase "getting on line." This is a specific phrase that is unique to New York City. Per Merriam-Webster, "Waiting in line is much more common than waiting on line, which is a phrase largely local to the New York City region" *1. Normally this would indicate that someone is likely to be from New York City or an area close to it, and could still be the case for the actor who used that phrase in the pilot; however, it is equally possible that one or more of the creators of the show might be from that particular area, which would make sense given the details listed previously.

It is very clear that this is a show specifically based in the northern part of New Jersey, and given the abundance of details to the effect it would be reasonable to assume that Wiskayok is located in Monmouth County. Knowing this, we are able to locate data regarding the socioeconomic environment the characters would have grown up in, and then experienced in adulthood.

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It makes sense that there are so many references to this particular area of New Jersey. Lyle comes from Belmar and Nickerson comes from Middletown Township *2, both located in Monmouth County, NJ. In particular Lyle is stated to have been "able to take inspiration for the show from her years as a student at The Lawrenceville School, a boarding school in Mercer County" *3.

Why does it matter? Because the writers, likely due to their experience growing up in these particularly wealthy areas, have a difficult time with accurately portraying the class of the characters. In one episode, Travis was stated to be making "barely making minimum wage" at his job at the Willowbrook Ranch. This is not enough for a single adult with no roommates to live in the state of New Hampshire *4, where his house was located. Even if we factor in the fact that New Jersey has a much higher minimum wage than New Hampshire, it would still not be enough for Travis to live on his own; therefore, his ability to own a house and live by himself in New Hampshire is questionable.

This has the effect of transferring over into fandom spaces. While there is nothing wrong with each individual's personal thoughts or headcanons regarding the show and its characters, having more knowledge of the setting can allow us to develop a more nuanced understanding of the characters.

To start, looking through New Jersey's general election history *5 we see that, barring the 1996 and 2000 general elections, Monmouth County has favored Republicans during presidential races since 1980. While this is, of course, not the end all be all of any region's political climate, it does give us an idea of what living in Monmouth would have been like for the Yellowjackets team. If we factor in wealth on top of this, this creates the image of a wealthy and conservative setting for the characters to grow up and later live in.

Which leads to determining just how wealthy the area is. Monmouth County had a median household income of $41,450 in 1989 ($111,172 in 2025 dollars), and $117,752 in 2023, which is the latest confirmed data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis *6. To be even more specific, we should also look at where Lyle and Nickerson come from. Nickerson is from Middletown Township, Monmouth County. This is important to note because Middletown is wealthy, even by Monmouth County's standards. Per Census Reporter, their median household income in 2023 was $144,546 *7, and according to a 1990 New Jersey Census report the median household income in 1989 was $54,025 *8 ($144,899 in 2025 dollars). Lyle is from Belmar, with a 2023 median household income of $92,859 *9 and a 1989 median household income of $32,331 *10 ($86,714 in 2025 dollars).

If we look at some of the surrounding municipalities, we find the following economic data: for 1989, we find that Red Bank had a median household income of $39,367 ($105,585 in 2025 dollars), Port Monmouth had $39,004 ($104,611 in 2025 dollars), Rumson had $63,647 ($170,706 in 2025 dollars), Matawan had $47,079, ($126,269 in 2025 dollars), and Holmdel had $82,141 ($220,308 in 2025 dollars), all of this compared to the median household income for the entire state of New Jersey at $42,740 ($114,632 in 2025 dollars) *11. If we look at their median household incomes for 2023, we find the following for each municipality: Red Bank at $101,738 *12, Port Monmouth at $106,677 *13, Rumson at $250,001 *14, Matawan at $122,026 *15, and Holmdel had $172,566 *16, with the state median household income at $99,781 *17.

(An important thing to note about the information cited from the 1990 New Jersey Census report is that it lists median household incomes broken down into sections according to the race of the householder, or head of house, with no section for a median of the general population. This essay lists here the information for houses with householders who were white. Further reading of the report shows that houses with householders who were not white had different, often lower, median household incomes. Some of the above listed towns did not even have 1,000 people of each listed racial demographic, which is the threshold the report lists for its data. Readers are encouraged to explore this Census report to better understand the full scope of the data.)

According to a blog post published by the Manitoba Collaborative Data Portal, "median household income refers to the income level earned by a given household where half of the households in the geographic area of interest earn more and half earn less" *18. Assuming that Wiskayok is located within the same area as the above listed municipalities, it is reasonable to assume that the town would would have the same level of wealth both historically and in the present day.

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Understanding that many of these characters likely come from upper class backgrounds impacts how they move through the world. It also gives us insight into what the media landscape could have been like for them, without knowing what we will see when Season Four premieres. It would not be a stretch to suggest that the media in universe would be especially interested in a potential story about young women from well-to-do backgrounds devolving into a more primal and animalistic state, as this would be a much more lurid story to report on.

It also gives us a different frame of reference for some of the characters. Shauna Shipman, for example, was accepted into Brown University. For the 1996-1997 school year, when she would have started, tuition was $21,592 *19, ($44,079 in 2025 dollars). Compare that with the tuition of Rutgers at $4,028 *20 ($8,223 in 2025 dollars). Rutgers would have been the much more affordable option, and yet Shauna chose Brown. While this is of course a testament to her intelligence, it's also a sign that she may come from a background where a high tuition is not a barrier to attending the college she desired. Interestingly, Princeton had a similar tuition for the 1996-1997 year at $22,000 *21 ($44,912 in 2025 dollars), which suggests that it was not enough to attend an Ivy League but to attend one that would take Shauna away from Wiskayok. Understanding Shauna as someone who comes from an upper class background can have massive implications for her character. However, this interpretation is complicated by the life she lives in the present day, as she is a stay-at-home mom married to a struggling furniture salesman with very little saved in her daughter's college fund. We could further theorize about what this means for her character history, but that can be done at a later point in time.

We could also assume that someone like Lottie Matthews, who canonically comes from a wealthy family, might not stand out for her wealth in such an environment, and instead would either blend in thanks to her economic status or stand out due to other factors such as her race or for having divorced parents. Misty Quiggly lives in a home with a large in ground pool, and given that they live in northern New Jersey this pool would necessitate winterization costs on top of regular maintenance costs, indicating she might come from a family of means as well.

Mari Ibarra and Travis Martinez both demonstrated an understanding of a complex concept like the existence of the multiverse. These two, in conversations with their fellow survivors, each make a brief mention of their belief in other timelines. Though this is a concept that many of us are familiar with today as a result of franchises like Marvel and DC, as George F. R. Ellis mentions in his 2011 article for Scientific American that "the notion of parallel universes leapt out of the pages of fiction into scientific journals in the 1990s." When we read through his article, we can see that the scholarship he cites all date back to the 1990s and 2000s, with a brief mention of one form of the concept existing in the 1980s *22. This is not to say that the concept did not exist before the late 20th century; rather, Mari and Travis dropping a casual mention of it into conversation could suggest that they both came from families that gave them the means to study such topics, which is typically a luxury that wealthy families can afford.

The previous three paragraphs are of course speculation, but it's speculation that is made possible by considering where Wiskayok is located. The important thing to understand is that looking at these characters as though they come from a wealthy, conservative town can greatly impact how we might view them, and that as such we should pay close attention to where they all came from, as that too plays a part in this story.

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Works cited:

*1 "Do you wait 'on line' or 'in line'?," Merriam-Webster, accessed November 30, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/is-it-on-line-or-in-line

*2 Gary Phillips, "‘Yellowjackets’ Buzzes With New Jersey Connections," New Jersey Monthly, January 16, 2022, https://njmonthly.com/articles/arts-entertainment/yellowjackets-buzzes-with-new-jersey-connections/

*3  Amy Kuperinsky, "Showtime’s ‘Yellowjackets’ is the survival drama you need to see. N.J.’s Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress tell us why," NJ.com November 12, 2021, https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2021/11/yellowjackets-is-the-survival-drama-you-need-to-see-njs-christina-ricci-tawny-cypress-tell-us-why.html

(NOTE - author used the following link to bypass the paywall: https://archive.is/CHigX#selection-1179.0-1183.37 )

*4  Amy K. Glasmeier, "Living Wage Calculation for New Hampshire," accessed November 30, 2025, https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/33

*5 "Election Results Archive," NJ Department of State, Division of Elections, updated January 08, 2025, accessed November 30, 2025, https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/election-information-results.shtml

*6 "Table Data - Estimate of Median Household Income for Monmouth County, NJ," Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, last modified December 20, 2024, accessed November 30, 2025, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/data/MHINJ34025A052NCEN

*7 "Middletown township, Monmouth County, NJ," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, http://censusreporter.org/profiles/06000US3402545990-middletown-township-monmouth-county-nj/

*8 "1990 Census of Population Social and Economic Characteristics New Jersey," U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of the Census, accessed November 30, 2025, https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/cp-2/cp-2-32-1.pdf

*9 "Belmar, NJ," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, http://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US3404930-belmar-nj/

*10 see note 8

*11 see note 8

*12 "Red Bank, NJ," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US3462430-red-bank-nj/

*13 "Rumson, NJ," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, http://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US3465130-rumson-nj/

*14 "Matawan, NJ," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, http://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US3444520-matawan-nj/

*15 "Port Monmouth, NJ," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US3460360-port-monmouth-nj/

*16 "Holmdel Township, Monmouth County, NJ," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, http://censusreporter.org/profiles/06000US3402532640-holmdel-township-monmouth-county-nj/

*17 "New Jersey," Census Reporter, accessed November 30, 2025, https://censusreporter.org/profiles/04000US34-new-jersey/

*18 "Median vs Average Household Income: What is the Difference Between These Indicators, and How to Interpret Them," Manitoba Collaborative Data Portal, November 02, 2018, http://www.mbcdp.ca/blog/median-vs-average-household-income-what-is-the-difference-between-these-indicators-and-how-to-interpret-them

*19 Mark Nickel, "Brown approves lowest percentage fee increase in more than 30 years," News From Brown (Providence, RI), published February 14, 1998, https://archive2.news.brown.edu/1987-2007/1997-98/97-082.html

*20 "Average Annual Resident (In-State) Full-Time Undergraduate Tuition Charges at N.J. Public Senior Colleges and Universities: Academic Years 1990-91 Through 2007-08," accessed November 30, 2025, https://nj.gov/highereducation/statistics/TUITweb08.htm

*21 Jacquelyn Savani, "1996-97 Tuition and Fees Rise 4.6 Percent For Lowest Rate of Increase in Nearly 3 Decades," News from Princeton University (Princeton, NJ), published January 22, 1996, https://pr.princeton.edu/news/96/q1/0122budg.html