These NJ Towns Pay The Highest School Taxes: New Data

NEW JERSEY — As New Jersey property taxes hit an all-time high last year, residents in three towns paid more than $15,000 in taxes to their local school districts, a Patch analysis found.

Earlier this spring, the state Department of Community Affairs released tax data for 2023 that included a breakdown of how much the average property tax owner pays in county, municipal, and school taxes.

In total, the Garden State reported $33.35 billion in tax revenue last year — of which $17.48 billion was from school taxes.

Breaking that down to the individual level, New Jersey home and business owners paid an average of $9,803 in property taxes last year, which is an all-time high. The school portion averaged to more than half of that — $5,139, or 52.4 percent of the total property tax bill.

Property tax revenue is drawn from residential, commercial, and industrial properties. Each city, town, and borough has its own "effective tax rate" for county, school, and municipal taxes, which sets the amount of tax paid relative to a property's value.

Residents in Mountain Lakes Borough (Morris County) paid the highest amount in school taxes last year — an average of $15,750, data shows. Two Bergen County towns, Demarest and Tenafly, also had average school tax bills of more than $15,000.

Shamong Township, in Burlington County, had the highest tax share for schools — with 80.5 percent of property taxes going to local schools. Several other towns sent more than 75 percent of their property taxes to their local districts.

Take a look at averages in your town with the chart below.

This data comes from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA), and the amount does not include any deductions or credits.