A new report puts New Jersey near the top of the most-taxed states in the country. No one here is surprised.
If you live in New Jersey, you already know the feeling. You open your property tax bill, glance at your pay stub, and wonder where it all goes. Now there’s fresh data to confirm what Garden State residents have long suspected.
According to a new 2026 study by WalletHub, New Jersey ranks 8th highest in the country for overall tax burden, with residents paying 9.52% of their personal income in state and local taxes.
That puts us ahead of Connecticut, California, and Massachusetts. Only seven states have it worse.
What’s Driving the Number
New Jersey’s total tax burden breaks down into three parts: a 4.38% property tax burden, a 2.42% income tax burden, and a 2.72% sales and excise tax burden.
The property tax figure is the one that stings most. New Jersey ranks 2nd in the nation for property taxes as a share of personal income. Only Vermont is worse. That’s a tough pill to swallow for anyone who owns a home here.
On income taxes, New Jersey lands in the middle of the pack nationally, ranked 22nd. And our sales and excise tax burden is actually one of the lower ones in the country, ranked 43rd out of 50.
So the real culprit? Property taxes. Always has been.
How Does This Study Actually Work?
This study measures “tax burden,” not tax rates. That distinction matters. Tax burden looks at the share of total personal income that residents pay in state and local taxes, combining property taxes, individual income taxes, and sales and excise taxes. It gives a more complete picture of what living in a state actually costs you.
Who Has It Better (and Worse)
Hawaii has the highest overall tax burden in the country at 13.30%, while Alaska has the lowest at 4.92%. New York, sitting just above us at No. 2, has residents paying 12.39% of their income in taxes. That makes our 9.52% look almost reasonable by comparison. Almost.
States like Florida, Texas, and Nevada charge no individual income tax at all, which is part of why so many New Jerseyans have been heading south in recent years.
The Bottom Line
Living in New Jersey comes with real costs. Great schools, proximity to two major cities, strong infrastructure, and a dense network of services all come with a price tag. All of this and we remain the least federally dependent state in the country!
Whether that trade-off is worth it is a personal call.
But now you have the numbers. And next time someone from Florida brags about their tax bill, you can tell them exactly where New Jersey stands.
Source: WalletHub Tax Burden by State 2026. Data collected as of March 3, 2026 from the Tax Policy Center.
