💲 New Jersey pays the highest property taxes in the nation

💲 Average property tax bills now top $10,000

💲 Here are the NJ municipalities that lowered property taxes

New Jersey is infamous for high taxes.

When it comes to property taxes, we are a solid number one in the United States. No one else is even close.

For the first time, the average property tax bill in New Jersey has topped $10,000.

While the average increase in property taxes for 2024 (3.2%) is actually down from the year before (3.0% in 2023), state data shows an average bill of $10,095.

A rise in property values is one of the factors that is driving the property tax even higher in the Garden State.  Taxes are assessed based on the value of your home.

Home prices increased 4.7% in 2024 to nearly $383,000.

Biggest increases

The highest property taxes, on average, are paid in Essex County.  In 2024, the average bill is close to $14,000 per year.

While many towns kept increases in the low single digits, cuts to municipal and school aid from the state have driven double-digit increases in many towns.

Among the biggest increases were in Washington Township (Burlington County), which saw a 25.7% increase.

Shrewsbury Township (Monmouth County) saw an increase of 20.9%.

Some towns are also still working on school budgets and could raise taxes substantially to cover a loss in aid.

Lower taxes

Despite the many fiscal challenges local towns face, a handful do mange to lower taxes each year.

Just not as many.

New Jersey has 564 municipalities.

In 2023, 44 towns lowered property taxes.

In 2024, just 28 lowered taxes.

Most were fractional decreases of less than 1%, but a few towns dropped rates more than 10%.

This includes Stow Creek in Cumberland County where property taxes were reduced more than 11%

The biggest drop in property taxes came from two North Jersey towns:

⬇ Union City (Hudson County) dropped property taxes 12.6%

⬇ Elizabeth (Union County) dropped property taxes 16%.

Keep reading to see which other New Jersey towns lowered the tax burden on residents.