This post is for educational purposes only. It is not tax, accounting or legal advice.
This past March I wrote that Jersey City’s ratio had dropped to 72.82%. Then on October 1st the State published the new number for Jersey City: 66.69%. I was recently asked about this…the ratio is falling; what does this mean for Jersey City taxpayers?
I created a single chart to walk through based on data I’ve been revisiting every year since I started Civic Parent: the NJ Property Tax Tables (all years online here) and the Table of Equalized Values (published in individual yearly files…e.g. 2026 is online here).
Let’s walk through the chart first, then I’ll have a basic FAQ, then some deeper wonk nuance for those who want it.
The chart: Jersey City’s tax base, assessed vs. market
I created this chart using public data. Most of the data (1998 – 2025) is from the Department of Community Affairs “Property Tax Tables” page online. The 2026 data is specific to Jersey City only and is from the Division of Taxation’s Table of Equalized Values here.
Here’s the basic idea: every year the tax base is measured two ways.
- Brown is the assessed value. This is the value on the tax rolls, and it’s what our tax bills are based on.
- Green is the equalized value (the estimate of market value, based on actual home sales).
When the two colors line up, our tax values are in sync with the market. When green grows above brown, the tax rolls (brown) are going stale.
The default view is to Jersey City (you can change it using the filters). I want to point out a few insights f
- 1998 to 2017. Notice how flat the brown is. Jersey City’s assessed values were set in the 1988 revaluation (not shown in the chart) and stayed on the metaphorical shelf for 30 years. Meanwhile the green climbed from about $5 billion to about $34 billion. That gap is what led the State to order the 2018 revaluation.
- 2018. The revaluation resets brown up to green. For one year the two colors meet. Here’s the key point: a revaluation resets tax-assessed values. The budget (and tax levy dollars) are not impacted by revaluation; it’s just how that levy is apportioned (who pays for what) that changes.
- 2019 to 2026. Look where the two colors separate again. By 2026, the green is $72.9 billion and the brown is $48.6 billion. That’s a $24.3 billion gap, in only eight years.
- 1998 to 2026: one way to view the green disconnected from the brown is: value of real estate that is not being apportioned by the city to ensure tax fairness.
Divide brown by green and you get the ratio: $48.6 billion / $72.9 billion = 66.69%. In other words, on average, Jersey City’s assessed values are only about two-thirds of market value.
Note: the dip in green from 2022 to 2024 is worth a closer look. That looks strange – it’s per the public data (I’ve double checked) – but will update this post if I learn more about that anomaly.
Why does this matter?
First, tax fairness.
Our tax bills are split based on the brown, not the green. Each of us who owns a property pays a fractional piece of the tax levy; the assessed value is what drives how much we pay, in conjunction with the tax rate.
The brown is supposed to match the green. Under New Jersey law, property is supposed to be assessed at its market value (that’s the standard every revaluation resets to, like what we saw in 2018 in Jersey City). This brochure from the State of NJ notes:
“True value has been the legal standard for property assessment in New Jersey since 1875. N.J.S.A. 54:4-23 directs the assessor to “…determine the full and fair value of each parcel of real property situate in the taxing district at such price as, in his judgment, it would sell for at a fair and bona fide sale by private contract on October 1…” New Jersey courts have held “true value,” “market value,” and full and fair value” to be synonymous.”
If every home’s value went stale at the same rate, the gap wouldn’t matter much; the would be a uniform gap. We’d all be equally out of date. But that’s not what has been happening in a city like Jersey City, where some neighborhoods have appreciated much faster than others as the city has redeveloped. So some of us are paying more than our fair share, and some of us are paying less. Nothing on the tax bill tells you which group you belong to.
On an aggregate basis, we learn about tax fairness by looking at the coefficient of deviation to understand non-uniformity. On an individual basis, we learn about tax fairness by walking through the Chapter 123 Law rules which is at the heart of the tax appeals process. Speaking of appeals, let’s hit on that next.
Second, appeals.
The staler the tax assessed values, the more important the appeals process becomes. There are two sides to this coin:
- Side 1: As assessed values grow out of date with market, individual homeowners are left to self-advocate to avoid being over-taxed. I wrote about appeals last March here.
- Side 2: If a taxpayer self-advocates and “wins”, the assessed value of their property is lowered. This is a “win” for the taxpayer but it creates yet more disconnect because every successful appeal shrinks the assessed value of the tax base that the rest the city then has to carry.
There is a lot of information about appeals online, which I culled together on my post from March but you can also do quick google or AI search to learn more.
Third, rising tax bills.
Jersey City is in a budget crunch. Taxes are going up for schools, city, and county government. As these three local governments ask more from its taxpayers, the municipality should – at the very least – make sure the burden is fairly apportioned throughout the city.
FAQ / Wonk Nuance
Where can I find the 66.69% ratio?
This citywide “average ratio” (also called the equalization ratio) is published each year by the NJ Division of Taxation. The State compares recent sales to assessed values and publishes the “Table of Equalized Values” every October 1st. The 2026 tables are here. Jersey City’s line is on the Hudson County page.
Does this mean Jersey City needs another revaluation?
The state points to ratios below 85% as (see brochure online here). So, logically speaking, the data is pointing to a need for revaluation. That said, we need city officials to help inform this answer.
The Coefficient of Deviation
The ratio tells us the average relationship of assessed to market. A second metric, the coefficient of deviation, looks beyond the average to tell us how uneven the assessed-to-market ratios are throughout the city.
State rules say a coefficient above 15 “generally indicates a need for revaluation” (N.J.A.C. 18:12A-1.14). Jersey City’s is 22.63 for 2026. It has been above 18 every year since 2023, per state data:
- 2023: 18.30
- 2024: 22.22
- 2025: 23.78
- 2026: 22.63
Why the uneven part matters
Hoboken’s ratio (55.86%) is even lower than Jersey City’s (66.69%), but Hoboken’s coefficient is under 12 while Jersey City’s coefficient is north of 15. So Hoboken’s assessed values are stale but they appear more uniformly stale across the city. Jersey City’s values, in contrast, appear to be going stale at different rates in different neighborhoods.
The county and school connection
The state education aid formula (SFRA) uses the market (green) value, not the assessed (brown) value. So the green line affects us whether or not the city revalues. I’ve written about how tax base growth connects to the school tax here. County taxes work the same way. I’m going to be digging into the county tax connection in a future post.
Further Details
- D’Souza, Brigid. 2026. “2026 Property Tax Appeals – A Primer for Jersey City As Ratio Sinks to 72.82%.” Civic Parent, March 25. https://civicparent.org/2026/03/25/2026-property-tax-appeals-a-primer-for-jersey-city-as-ratio-sinks-to-72-82/
- D’Souza, Brigid. 2024. “Two approaches to assessing property in 2024 (Jersey City & Monmouth County focus).” Civic Parent, March 21. https://civicparent.org/2024/03/21/two-approaches-to-assessing-property-in-2024-jersey-city-monmouth-county-focus/
- D’Souza, Brigid. 2020. “Is Jersey City Due for Another Reval Already? A Taxpayer’s Guide to the Issue.” Jersey City Times, February 10. https://jcitytimes.com/is-jersey-city-due-for-another-reval-already-a-technical-guide-to-the-issue/
- D’Souza, Brigid. 2018. “Jersey City Property Tax Appeals: A Civic Step-by-Step Overview.” Civic Parent, June 7. https://civicparent.org/2018/06/07/jersey-city-property-tax-appeals-a-civic-step-by-step-overview/
- NJ Department of Community Affairs. n.d. “Property Tax Tables.” Accessed November 12, 2026. https://www.nj.gov/dca/dlgs/resources/Property_Tax_info.shtml
- NJ Division of Taxation. 2026. “Table of Equalized Valuations 2026 (Prior to Tax Court Appeals).” https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/lptval/2026/2026TEV.pdf
- NJ Division of Taxation. n.d. “Coefficient of Deviation Tables, 2023 to 2026.” Accessed November 12, 2026. https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/lpt/CoefficientDeviations.pdf
- NJ Division of Taxation. n.d. “Coefficients of Deviation – Hudson (2014–2017).” Accessed November 12, 2026. https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/lpt/devhud.pdf
