1 ganewsweather FARRELL
Cars travel on Rt. 9W in Alpine as a sign welcomes them to snowy New Jersey. (Tim Farrell | The Star-Ledger)
TRENTON-- New Jersey's average property tax bill rose to $8,549 in 2016, and the highest property taxes in the U.S. got higher.
Tiny Tavistock borough in Camden County tops ourlistof municipalities across the state with an average property tax bill of $31,128. Of course, the borough's population is in the single digits.
But next on the list is Millburn, with a$23,327 average tax bill. Loch Arbour ($22,323), Alpine ($20,910), Tenafy ($19,866), Mountain Lakes ($19,775), Rumson ($19,146), Glen Ridge ($19,045), Mendham ($18,752), and Essex Fells ($18,743) round out the top 10.
New Jersey residents love to vent their frustrationswith sky-high property tax bills. Here are some of your comments:
john:If you have don't have kids, MOVE ASAP.
mrdenis: You never "own" a home in NJ ... you just rent from the state and they charge whatever they need to continue their corruption.
Archduke F: Looking at average property tax bills is useless. The property values in many of these towns are very high, in addition most of these towns have top schools and other amenities. To understand property tax burdens, you need to look at home values, average homeowner incomes, quality of schools and other city amenities. When you take all of that into consideration, you'll find that property tax burdens are highest in poor areas like Paterson and Irvington, and modest in very wealthy towns.
(For the record, we have alsocompared where property taxes are the largestand smallestshare of income.)
Reasonable:The cost of funding the government increase faster than the income of the vast majority of people. Unless that government cost actually decreases (let alone remains flat) the future looks dismal for RE ( home ownership) for a huge chunk of the middle class.
Tony Novak: It depends on how you look at it. If you look at the property tax as a percentage of the property's market value then we pay a much higher rate in Downe Township, Cumberland County than any of these in the list. My home at Money Island now has a tax rate more than 4% of market value. Compare that to Tavistock, for example, that pays less than 2% for a much higher level of service that includes police, trash, library, etc. that we do not have here. We are among the poorest communities in the state but have the highest effective property tax rate as far as I can tell.
Jimmytown: You only have to pay these taxes on average for 12 years per kid since many of the residents sell as soon as their kid graduates HS.
H.L.Mencken: Although informative, this article doesn't tell the full story. Property taxes in NJ are among the worst in the nation. We need to change how schools and municipalities gain revenue and spend in order to bring this under control! How we pay for public education is another issue that needs to be addressed. We should not be solely dependent on property taxes to pay for it!
Deletebutton@sl: A nice "another reason why I got to leave" article to go with the morning coffee.
EmperorBill:The real problem is the current State 1947 Constitution of Home Rule. This needs to be eliminated by a new State Constitution. Then schools can be consolidated by County. 565 plus Superintendents can be eliminated, police forces can be consolidated by County, Fire Districts can be consolidated by County, Health Departments can be consolidated by County, Human Resource Departments can be consolidated by County and local governments can get back to doing what is necessary at the local level. People always throw in southern states to show lower taxes, however they are structured differently and mostly are run by Parish, in otherwords like Counties should be up North and that is consolidated. Your Legislators will tell you there is limited savings. They are wrong. The savings comes in administration. Just ask yourself this question - why do we need more school superintendents then we have municipalities?
Samantha Marcus may be reached atsmarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@samanthamarcus. FindNJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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FAQs
Due to its unique characteristics, Walpack has no school tax, nor does it have a municipal tax. The town's average tax bill for 2023 was a mere $456, state Department of Community Affairs records show. An extreme outlier in New Jersey, Walpack's tax rate is 0.666 cents for every $100 of assessed value.
Which town has the highest property taxes in NJ? ›
Millburn had the second highest average property tax bill at $24,947 a year, state data shows.
- Here's the highest and lowest average tax bill in each of New Jersey's 21 counties. ...
- Highest: Longport Borough, $12,491.
- Lowest: Corbin City, $4,071.
- Highest: Demarest Borough, $23,475.
- Lowest: Teterboro Borough, $2,108.
Due to its unique characteristics, Walpack has no school tax, nor does it have a municipal tax. The town's average tax bill for 2023 was a mere $456, state Department of Community Affairs records show. An extreme outlier in New Jersey, Walpack's tax rate is 0.666 cents for every $100 of assessed value.
What area has the highest property tax? ›
1. New Jersey. New Jersey earns the top spot as highest property taxes not only in property tax rate, which is over the 2% mark, but in the actual dollars spent in property taxes; here the average home value is the highest on the list.
Are property taxes higher in NY or NJ? ›
New Jersey has the highest property tax rate at 2.47%, followed by Illinois, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. There are 14 counties with an estimated median property tax above $10,000 across California, New York, New Jersey and Virginia.
What town has the highest tax rate? ›
- Louisville, Kentucky. ...
- Portland, Maine. ...
- Providence, Rhode Island. ...
- Columbus, Ohio. ...
- Baltimore, Maryland. ...
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ...
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...
- Bridgeport, Connecticut. As one of the wealthiest cities in America, Bridgeport carries the highest overall tax rate in the nation.
Short Hills (Millburn) and Rumson have made recent nationwide rankings — both have been longtime strongholds on a statewide ranking of median household income. An analysis in 2023 by World Population Review found 14.8% of all New Jersey households earn more than $200,000 annually — only second to Washington, D.C.
Where is the most affordable place to live in NJ? ›
Most Affordable Places to Live in New Jersey in 2024
- Clayton.
- Gloucester City.
- Hightstown.
- Phillipsburg.
- Pitman.
- Pompton Lakes.
- Rahway.
- Toms River.
A: Ho-Ho-Kus, Hoboken, and Jersey City in North Jersey are among the best places to live in New Jersey. They are all wonderful cities in their own right, but they're especially great commuter hubs if you work in New York.
What county in NJ has the cheapest taxes? ›
Home - County News
The average across the state was $1,746. Burlington County also had the lowest average county tax in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, according to the DCA data.
County, municipal and school budget costs determine the amount of property tax to be paid. The local budget needs of the town and its taxable property also play a role.
What are the top 5 states with the highest property taxes? ›
New Jersey had the largest median property tax bill for singe-family homes in 2023. Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts rounded out the top five states with the most expensive median property tax bill.
Which state has no property tax in the USA? ›
Sadly for investors, the answer is no, there are no states without property tax. This is because property tax is a useful way for local governments to fund public services such as schools, fire and police departments, infrastructure and libraries.
Is NJ the highest taxed state? ›
New Jersey's 10.75% top marginal individual income tax rate is the fourth highest in the nation in 2023, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Where does NJ rank in property taxes? ›
NEW JERSEY – New Jersey is 2024's state with the highest real-estate property taxes, according to a study done by WalletHub. Each year, the average American household spends $2,869 on real-estate property taxes plus another $448 for residents of the 26 states with vehicle property taxes.
Is it cheaper to live in NJ or NY? ›
NYC is the most expensive city in America so it should come as no surprise that New Jersey offers a more affordable cost of living. Newark and Jersey City are both considerably cheaper than NYC. The median home price in Manhattan is $965,00 while the median home price in Jersey City is $337,000 and $210,000 in Newark.
What is the highest tax rate in New Jersey? ›
The state income tax rates range from 1.4% to 10.75%, and the sales tax rate is 6.625%.
Why are NJ property taxes so high? ›
High education costs in New Jersey are a major factor driving its property taxes, while the tax burden is much lower in Hawaii because property taxes there are mostly paid by tourism. Taxation policies vary so widely that a person might pay $8,000 more in one state versus another for a home of the same price.
What is the maximum property tax increase in New Jersey? ›
Efforts by former Gov. Chris Christie, whose two terms in office ended in early 2018, to take on the issue of high property taxes included the 2011 adoption of a 2% cap on annual property-levy increases. But that cap provides for several exceptions which allow year-over-year increases of more than 2% to occur.
