NJ Property Tax Facts

The Facts

(All statistics are from 2006 unless otherwise indicated)

• New Jersey has the highest property taxes per capita of any state in the nation (2004).

• New Jerseyans pay $20.9 billion in property taxes, almost as much as they pay in State income, sales and corporate taxes combined, a 6.8 percent increase. 

• Businesses pay 26 percent of local government property taxes, even though business property accounts for only 6 percent of all property in New Jersey (2005).

• The average property tax bill in New Jersey is $6,170 per year.

• On average, New Jersey’s property taxes account for 5.1 percent of individual income (2004).  It is the third highest percentage in the nation.

• Local governments—municipalities, schools, counties, fire districts and authorities—spent $36 billion in 2005.

• Spending increased by 5.5 percent in 2005, but required a property tax increase of 6.5 percent to raise the extra revenue

• Nearly half of all local government revenue comes from State aid.  In other words, it was generated by State taxes, not property taxes (2005).

• Local schools account for 55 percent of all property taxes (2005).

• State aid to schools accounts for 39 percent of the entire State budget (2005).

• New Jersey has 1,389 taxing districts supporting 1,689 governmental entities.  They are:

• 21 counties
• 566 municipalities
• 616 school districts (23 are non-operating)
• 186 fire districts
• 300 authorities

New Jersey Business & Industry Association ( www.njbia.com ).   Poster: 3/05/2007