New Jersey Property Tax Calculator 2026

The New Jersey Property Tax Calculator is a free, browser-based tool that estimates the annual property tax on a home from its market value and an effective tax rate. It uses the 1.88% statewide average by default — the highest effective rate of the 50 states — and accepts your own municipality's effective rate instead.

How New Jersey Property Tax Works

Property tax in New Jersey is an annual tax levied on real estate by local governments — primarily counties, municipalities, and school districts. The amount you owe is determined by your property's assessed value multiplied by the local mill rate. On average, New Jersey homeowners pay 1.88% of their home's value in property tax each year, 0.94 percentage points above the U.S. figure of 0.94%.

The effective rate combines all local levies: county tax, municipal tax, school district tax, and any special assessments. Because New Jersey has multiple taxing jurisdictions, your actual rate depends heavily on where in the state your property is located. The 1.88% figure is all real-estate tax paid on owner-occupied homes in New Jersey divided by their total value, as published in the Tax Foundation's Property Taxes by State and County, 2026 from Census Bureau American Community Survey data for 2020–2024. It is a statewide average — not a rate any single jurisdiction charges, and not your bill.

The Census Bureau puts the median owner-occupied home in New Jersey at $454,400 and the median real-estate tax bill at $9,590 a year — roughly $799 per month when paid through a mortgage escrow account (American Community Survey, 2020–2024).

Who Collects Property Tax in New Jersey — and How Rates Are Set

In New Jersey, property is valued by your municipal tax assessor and the tax is billed and collected by the municipal tax collector. Appeals go to the County Board of Taxation. State law sets the framework; the municipality, the county and the school district each set their own levy within it.

Mill rates (expressed as dollars of tax per $1,000 of assessed value) are set annually based on local budget needs. Ten mills is 1% of assessed value, which equals 1% of market value only where homes are assessed at full market value. New Jersey's Division of Taxation publishes two rates for every municipality, a general tax rate and an effective tax rate, and they are not the same number - Absecon City's 2025 general rate is 3.517 and its effective rate 2.410 - so do not treat a general tax rate as a percentage of market value; an assessment is judged against market value using the district's average ratio. If your home's market value rises faster than neighboring properties, your share of the tax burden can increase even if the mill rate stays the same.

To find your exact rate, contact your municipal tax assessor's office or check its official website. Your most recent property tax bill will also show the breakdown of all levies applied to your parcel.

New Jersey Property Tax Exemptions and Relief Programs

New Jersey's relief comes mainly as payments from the state, claimed on one Application for Property Tax Relief (Form PAS-1) due November 2, 2026 for 2025. ANCHOR pays homeowners $1,500 if their 2025 New Jersey gross income was $150,000 or less and $1,000 from $150,001 to $250,000; renters with income of $150,000 or less get $450, or $700 if 65 or older. Senior Freeze reimburses property tax increases for people 65 or older or receiving Social Security or Railroad Retirement disability benefits, with income limits of $168,268 for 2024 and $172,475 for 2025. Stay NJ is for homeowners 65 or older with income of $200,000 or less and has a maximum of $6,500 up to $100,000 of income, $5,000 up to $150,000 and $4,000 up to $200,000. Total relief cannot exceed the property tax paid. Separately, municipalities take $250 a year off the bill for qualifying seniors and disabled persons and for veterans, and a 100% permanently and totally disabled veteran's main home is exempt. Source: New Jersey Division of Taxation — Property Tax Relief Programs.

Veterans may qualify for a partial or full exemption depending on disability rating and service history. Agricultural land often receives a preferential assessment based on use-value rather than market value. If you believe your assessment is incorrect, you have the right to appeal — the deadline is printed on your assessment notice and is often only a few weeks away.

To apply for any exemption, contact your municipal tax assessor. Most exemptions require an annual or one-time application and proof of eligibility (residency, age, disability documentation, etc.).

The $250 Deductions and the 100% Disabled Veteran Exemption

ANCHOR, Senior Freeze and Stay NJ arrive as state payments after the fact. Separately from all three, New Jersey municipalities apply deductions directly to the bill, and you have to claim them. The $250 Senior Citizen / Disabled Person deduction requires you to be 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled, a legal resident of New Jersey for at least one year before October 1, the owner and occupier of the home, and to have income of no more than $10,000 for the year claimed. That test is narrower than it looks: money received from Social Security, government pension, disability and retirement programmes is excluded from the count, subject to restrictions. The $250 Veterans deduction is for honourably discharged veterans with active duty military service who own the property, and its eligibility list has no income test. Most valuable of the three, an honourably discharged veteran who was 100% permanently and totally disabled during active duty service qualifies for an exemption from property tax on their principal residence, and a surviving spouse who has not remarried may also qualify. These are claimed through your municipal tax assessor or collector, not the Division of Taxation, and they are not automatic. Sources: NJ Division of Taxation — Senior/Disabled Deduction, its $250 Veterans Deduction and 100% Disabled Veteran Exemption.

Tips to Manage Your New Jersey Property Tax Bill

First, verify your assessment is accurate. Review your property record card at your municipal tax assessor's office and check for errors in square footage, bedroom/bathroom count, or lot size. Even small errors can inflate your assessed value and tax bill. If the assessment seems high, look up recent sale prices of comparable homes in your neighborhood and file an appeal if warranted.

Second, apply for every exemption you qualify for. Homestead, senior, veteran, and disability exemptions can reduce your taxable value by thousands of dollars. Third, if your mortgage servicer handles tax payments through escrow, review your escrow statement annually. Servicers sometimes over-estimate and hold excess funds — you may be entitled to a refund. Finally, New Jersey property taxes are due in four installments each year: February 1, May 1, August 1 and November 1.

Why Your Actual New Jersey Property Tax Rate Differs from 1.88%

The 1.88% used above is a statewide average — almost nobody pays exactly that. Your real rate is set by the levies on your parcel: municipality, county and school district. County averages run from 0.93% in Cape May County to 2.47% in Camden County (Tax Foundation 2026 county table, Census ACS 2020–2024), and municipalities vary far more. In the Division of Taxation's 2025 General Tax Rates table the middle municipality has an effective tax rate of 2.141, and they run from 0.348 in Avalon Borough (Cape May County) to 4.505 in Salem City, with two outliers far above that (Audubon Park Borough at 6.867 and Winfield Township at 23.405). That table lists two figures for each municipality, a general tax rate and an effective tax rate, and they differ. This calculator wants the effective one — or simply divide your annual tax by what the home is worth. The two measures of "effective rate" above come from different sources (Census survey data for the county averages, the Division's own published figures for municipalities), so do not expect them to match exactly. Updated October 2026.

How to Appeal a New Jersey Property Tax Assessment

An appeal challenges your assessed value, not the tax rate — the rate is set by budget votes you cannot contest individually. File with your County Board of Taxation so that the petition is received on or before April 1, or May 1 where the municipality has carried out a revaluation or reassessment. Burlington, Gloucester and Monmouth counties follow a different calendar and their deadline is January 15. Assessments over $1,000,000 may instead be appealed directly to the Tax Court of New Jersey. You have to show that the assessment is unreasonable against market value: it must fall outside the common level range, which is 15% either side of the average assessment ratio for your taxing district. Recent sales of genuinely comparable homes are the evidence to bring (Forms A-1 and A-1 Comp. Sale). If you are not satisfied with the county board's decision you can appeal to the Tax Court within 45 days of its judgment. Procedures and forms are published by the New Jersey Division of Taxation. Updated October 2026.

One Application Now Covers ANCHOR, Senior Freeze and Stay NJ

New Jersey's three relief programmes are claimed on one combined Application for Property Tax Relief, Form PAS-1, and the deadline for the 2025 application is November 2, 2026. Who has to file it depends on age. For seniors and people receiving Social Security or Railroad Retirement disability benefits, the Division of Taxation states: "You must complete the combined Application for Property Tax Relief, Form PAS-1, to file for your ANCHOR benefit, even if you do not qualify for all three programs" — nothing is filed for you. For most eligible homeowners under 65 and most renters, the Division files the ANCHOR application itself and sends a confirmation letter; if you did not get one, file your own. One application covers everything you qualify for, and each applicant receives a statement showing their Senior Freeze, ANCHOR and Stay NJ amounts.

The amounts for 2025: ANCHOR pays homeowners $1,500 when New Jersey gross income was $150,000 or less and $1,000 from $150,001 to $250,000, and pays renters with income of $150,000 or less $450, or $700 if they were 65 or older; the home must have been your main home on October 1, 2025. Senior Freeze reimburses the increase in your property tax since your base year, for people 65 or older or receiving disability benefits whose income was $168,268 or less in 2024 and $172,475 or less in 2025. Stay NJ is for homeowners 65 or older with income of $200,000 or less; under the budget signed on June 30, 2026 its maximum is $6,500 for income up to $100,000, $5,000 up to $150,000 and $4,000 up to $200,000, and the 2025 benefit is paid in February and May 2027. Your total relief cannot be more than the property tax you paid for the year.

What this means for the figure above: the calculator estimates your gross bill, and relief arrives afterwards as a payment rather than as a lower assessment, so do not reduce your home value to account for it. Budget the gross number for escrow and treat any benefit as money that arrives later. Current rules and forms: New Jersey Division of Taxation property tax relief (ANCHOR, Senior Freeze, Stay NJ). Updated October 2026.

Is Appealing Your New Jersey Property Tax Assessment Worth It?

At New Jersey's 1.88% average effective rate — the highest of the 50 states — a 10% assessment reduction on a $454,400 home (the Census median) cuts about $854 a year, or roughly $4,271 over five years if the assessment and the rate then stay the same. The Tax After a Successful Appeal rows above price that directly: enter the reduction you think your comparables support and the calculator shows the annual and five-year value. Weigh it against any filing and appraisal costs. Appeals go to your County Board of Taxation by April 1 (May 1 after a municipal revaluation or reassessment; January 15 in Burlington, Gloucester and Monmouth counties), and assessments over $1,000,000 can go straight to the Tax Court of New Jersey. Filing rules and deadlines: NJ Division of Taxation.

When New Jersey Property Tax Is Due — Quarterly Dates and Late Interest

New Jersey property tax is paid in four installments, not once a year, which is why the yearly figure this calculator returns lands as four separate payments: February 1, May 1, August 1 and November 1. A delinquency may accrue interest at up to 8% on the first $1,500 due and 18% on any amount over $1,500, and if more than $10,000 is still delinquent at the end of the municipal fiscal year the municipality may add a year-end penalty of up to 6%. Unpaid taxes are a lien on the property, and every municipality holds a tax sale of those liens. Your municipal tax collector's bill shows exactly when interest starts. If your mortgage servicer escrows the tax, the payments still follow this calendar, so check the escrow analysis against the quarterly amounts on your bill. Source: New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Division of Local Government Services. Updated October 2026.