Average NJ property taxes exceed $10,000, topping SALT tax-deduction limit

By Victoria Gladstone, Paige Britt and Madison Miller

The average property tax bill in New Jersey surpassed $10,000 for the first time ever in 2024. 

The data was made public in Gov. Phil Murphy’s “Budget in Brief” summary of his $58.1 billion annual spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. 

New Jerseyans now pay on average $10,095 in property taxes per year, according to new data from 2024 provided by the state Department of Community Affairs.

The amount is significant because it exceeds the limit for the federal income-tax deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT. Anything over the $10,000 threshold represents sheer out-of-pocket cost for homeowners because the federal government offers no corresponding tax break.

Murphy, a Democrat, has proposed a record $28.5 billion in school and municipal aid, cash rebates and other programs designed to help offset property taxes in New Jersey, which are highest among U.S. states.

“The Governor’s final budget advances our commitment to making New Jersey more affordable for more families by delivering record-high tax relief. The Murphy Administration, in partnership with the Legislature, has provided more than twice as much direct property tax relief than any prior administration through programs like ANCHOR, Senior Freeze, and Stay NJ,” Murphy spokesperson Stella Porter said.

Still, some state lawmakers said the governor should have done more over his nearly eight years in office to reduce the burden on taxpayers.

“If you really want to be serious about property tax relief, you reprioritize your spending priorities, and you devote more state money towards property tax relief,” Senator Declan O’Scanlon, a Republican from Little Silver and his party’s budget officer, said in a telephone interview. The average bill in his Monmouth County hometown in 2023 was $15,535, according to state data.

In 2017 President Donald Trump, a Republican, enacted the $10,000 SALT cap, which proved immediately unpopular in states such as New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, where property values and taxes skew high.

The average 2024 New Jersey property-tax bill was roughly 14% higher than in 2018, Murphy’s first year in office. It was 3% greater than the 2023 average.

“Let’s be honest: For many families, tax relief merely serves to offset the burden of rising costs,” Murphy told lawmakers in Trenton on Feb. 25, when he introduced his spending plan.

In a telephone interview, Senator John McKeon, a Democrat from West Orange, pointed to Murphy’s more than $275 million in proposed tax relief “to those who need it most,” including seniors, veterans and those with disabilities. 

“I think we’ve been real sensitive to that,” McKeon said. He noted, though, that the state’s 564 municipalities – most with their own school systems, fire and police departments, public works and other services – could benefit from cooperative agreements to bring down costs.

“That’s really where there could be some reasonable savings, by a consolidation,” said McKeon, whose hometown tax bill in 2023 was $15,779.  “People in New Jersey like the identity of the towns that they live in – and you know, that comes at a cost.”