New Jersey Housing Market: Home Prices, Rent and Affordability
The typical New Jersey home is worth $580,353, up 3.9% over the past year and up 35.4% over five years, 57.4% above the national $368,697 (Zillow, latest release). That ranks #5 of 50 on price. A 20%-down mortgage runs $2,986 a month and takes about $167,639 of income; the median New Jersey household earns $97,126, $70,513 short.
In Trenton, the state's largest metro, typical rent is $2,513 a month against a $2,290 principal-and-interest payment on the typical home, so buying is $223 a month cheaper before taxes, insurance and maintenance. The market is warm: 19.6% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 40 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 9.7% from a year ago.
All figures are Zillow Research's published numbers for August; median household income is from the Census Bureau. How the data works → · Home prices in all 50 states →
New Jersey Housing by the Numbers
How much does a house cost in New Jersey? The typical home is worth $580,353, the median sale price is $555,000 and the median list price $553,267. The six figures below describe the market this month, each with the national comparison.
How Have New Jersey Home Prices Changed?
The typical New Jersey home value every month since 2000, with the national typical home as a dashed line. Values rose 3.9% over the past year, are up 35.4% over five years, up 85.0% over ten, and up 240% since January 2000.
Is It Cheaper to Rent or Buy in New Jersey?
Two direct answers from the Zillow data. Rent versus buy sets typical asking rent in Trenton, the state's largest metro, against the mortgage payment on the typical home there, since Zillow publishes rents by metro rather than by state. The affordability gap is the income needed to buy the typical New Jersey home minus what the median household actually earns.
Rent vs. buy · Trenton, NJ
The payment excludes property tax (2.33% of value in New Jersey), insurance and maintenance, all of which push the cost of owning higher; renting builds no equity. If values kept rising at the past five years' pace (35.4%), equity would narrow that gap over a long stay.
Affordability gap · #46 of 50
A $2,986 monthly payment takes 36.9% of the median New Jersey household's income before property tax and insurance; lenders generally cap total housing costs near 28–31%. Full budget for your household →
Is New Jersey a Buyer's or a Seller's Market?
Market temperature is our label from three Zillow signals compared with the national market: the share of listings with a price cut, days from listing to pending (days on market), and whether homes for sale are up from a year ago. New Jersey is warm: it slightly favors sellers: one of the three market signals points cooler than the national market.
Median sale price $555,000 against a median list price of $553,267, so the typical home closes at or above asking.
Where the New Jersey market is heading
Compared with a year ago, all three signals point looser, in buyers' favor: the share of listings with a price cut is up 1.7 points from a year ago to 19.6%, homes take 3 days longer to go pending than a year ago (40 now), and the number of homes for sale is up 9.7%. The typical home value rose 3.9% over the same period and is at an all-time high. We publish no forecasts: these are Zillow's current-month readings, not a prediction of where New Jersey home prices go next.
Home Values and Rents in New Jersey Cities
Zillow publishes a city-level home value or rent for 20 of the New Jersey cities we track. The most expensive is Hoboken ($883,427) and the cheapest Camden ($152,107). Click a city for its full profile.
| City | Population | Home value | 1 yr | 5 yr | Rent | Rent 1 yr | Value ÷ income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark | 304,943 | $481,850 | -1.3% | ||||
| Jersey City | 291,663 | $657,765 | -0.2% | ||||
| Paterson | 156,419 | $536,737 | +4.8% | ||||
| Elizabeth | 135,836 | $548,920 | +2.5% | ||||
| Toms River | 95,515 | $464,685 | +3.9% | ||||
| Trenton | 89,607 | $348,502 | -1.7% | ||||
| Clifton | 88,478 | $612,937 | +3.9% | ||||
| Camden | 71,099 | $152,107 | -4.5% | ||||
| Bayonne | 70,303 | $592,916 | +2.0% | ||||
| East Orange | 69,553 | $482,835 | -0.2% | ||||
| Passaic | 68,917 | $555,875 | +2.1% | ||||
| Lakewood | 67,764 | $589,571 | +8.0% | ||||
| Union City | 64,470 | $563,754 | +5.3% | ||||
| Vineland | 60,692 | $314,247 | +2.3% | ||||
| Hoboken | 58,340 | $883,427 | +4.5% | ||||
| New Brunswick | 55,744 | $448,096 | +0.6% | ||||
| Perth Amboy | 55,278 | $500,079 | +2.6% | ||||
| Plainfield | 54,515 | $519,451 | +0.6% | ||||
| West New York | 51,683 | $450,193 | +4.5% | ||||
| Hackensack | 45,768 | $474,701 | +3.6% |
Home value and rent are Zillow's city-level indexes; population and median household income are Census ACS. Cities without a Zillow index are omitted. All New Jersey cities ranked →
How New Jersey Compares With Nearby States
The Northeast states closest to New Jersey on price. Each card links to that state's housing page; the compare link puts the two states side by side on every category.
More on New Jersey
New Jersey dashboard
→Overall rank and grade, every category score, taxes, utilities, safety, schools and all tracked cities.
What you'd keep in New Jersey
→Take-home after housing, taxes, childcare, utilities and groceries for your household and income.
Who is moving to New Jersey
→IRS migration data: where new residents come from, where leavers go, and what both groups earn.
New Jersey Housing Market FAQ
What is the average house price in New Jersey?
$580,353 is the typical New Jersey home value according to the latest Zillow Research release of the Zillow Home Value Index, which tracks homes in the middle third of the market. The median sale price was $555,000 and the median list price $553,267. That makes New Jersey the #5 most expensive state; the national typical home is worth $368,697.
Are home prices dropping in New Jersey?
No. The typical New Jersey home value rose 3.9% over the past year and is at an all-time high. Over five years it is up 35.4% and over ten years up 85.0%. Nationally, values rose 1.2% over the year.
How have New Jersey home prices changed over the past 1, 5 and 10 years?
+3.9% over one year, +35.4% over five years and +85.0% over ten years for the typical New Jersey home value, per the latest Zillow Research release; the national figures are +1.2%, +20.3% and +77.9%. Since January 2000 the typical New Jersey home is up 240%. The monthly chart above shows the full series against the national line.
Will the New Jersey housing market crash?
We publish no forecasts, so this page cannot answer that; it can show the current readings and the historical worst case. Right now the typical New Jersey home value is at an all-time high after it rose 3.9% over the past year; 19.6% of listings have cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 40 days (national 53), and inventory is up 9.7% from a year ago, per Zillow Research. The largest decline in Zillow's monthly series for New Jersey was 26.5% from September 2006 to February 2012, and values took 104 months to regain that peak.
Is it a good time to buy a house in New Jersey?
The New Jersey market is warm right now, which means it slightly favors sellers: one of the three market signals points cooler than the national market. 19.6% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 40 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 9.7% from a year ago. Affordability is the constraint: buying the typical home takes $167,639 of income, $70,513 more than the median household earns. Whether the timing is right also depends on mortgage rates and how long you plan to stay.
Is New Jersey a buyer's or seller's market?
New Jersey leans toward sellers. Fewer listings are cutting prices than the national average (19.6% vs. 26.4%), homes take 40 days to go pending (national 53), and the number of homes for sale is up 9.7% from a year ago at 27K listings. One of those three signals points toward buyers.
What is the average rent in New Jersey?
In Trenton, New Jersey's largest metro, the typical asking rent is $2,513 a month, up 3.0% over the past year and up 32.3% over five years, per the Zillow Observed Rent Index. The national typical rent is $1,948. Among New Jersey cities we track, rents range from $1,823 to $3,989 a month.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in New Jersey?
Buying is cheaper month to month in Trenton, New Jersey's largest metro. Typical rent is $2,513 and the principal-and-interest payment on the typical home with 20% down is $2,290, a difference of $223 a month in favor of buying. The payment excludes property tax (2.33% of value in New Jersey), insurance and maintenance, and renting builds no equity, so the full answer depends on how long you stay.
How much income do you need to buy a house in New Jersey?
About $167,639 a year, using Zillow's assumptions of 20% down at current mortgage rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. The median New Jersey household earns $97,126, so the typical household is $70,513 short. That is the #46 smallest affordability gap of the 50 states. The monthly payment of $2,986 equals 36.9% of the median household's income.
Where are homes cheapest and most expensive in New Jersey?
Among the New Jersey cities we track with Zillow data, the most expensive typical home is in Hoboken ($883,427) and the cheapest in Camden ($152,107). Also at the top: Jersey City ($657,765), Clifton ($612,937), and Bayonne ($592,916). The city table above lists every tracked New Jersey city with its value, one-year change and rent.
How does New Jersey compare with nearby states?
In the Northeast, the closest comparisons on price are New York ($526,714, up 5.6% in a year), New Hampshire ($516,306, up 2.9% in a year), and Rhode Island ($511,233, up 3.4% in a year). New Jersey's typical home is $580,353, up 3.9%. On affordability, New Jersey ranks #46 of 50 versus New York at #47, New Hampshire at #26, and Rhode Island at #43.
How current is the New Jersey housing data?
Every figure on this page comes from Zillow Research, which publishes state, metro and city data free each month for the prior month; the latest month shown is August. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. We rebuild the page from the newest Zillow files as they are released.
Home values, rents, mortgage payments, income needed, inventory, price cuts, days to pending and sale and list prices are published by Zillow Research and shown as released, with attribution. Median household income and city populations are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Home prices and housing markets in all 50 states →