These towns in NJ spend the most of their tax dollars on schools

🔴 New Jersey tax data shows how your money is spent

🔴 The Jersey Shore is strong for school spending

👇 The top towns for funding education are listed below

Where do your property tax dollars go?

New Jersey collected $34.5 billion in property taxes in 2024, according to data from the state Department of Community Affairs.

Most of that money went to schools. On average, municipalities put 52% of that money toward education. Another 30% went to municipal services, and 18% went to counties.

ALSO SEE: Record high NJ property taxes soar past $10K: Check your town

Overall, that's fairly similar to last year's numbers.

However, towns and cities can spend their funds differently and even prioritize municipal spending. And how much each municipality spends can vary wildly from year to year.

Towns at the Jersey Shore make up seven of the top 10 schools that spend the highest percentage of their property taxes on education.

And Monmouth County accounts for half of that top 10 list. Ocean County has the other two shore towns.

👇 Listed below: NJ towns that spend the most on education 👇

Towns like Asbury Park and Allentown spend 70% of their property taxes on local schools.

Meanwhile, Plainfield put 60% of its property taxes toward municipal services, while just 25.5% went to education.

NJ city scraps plan to raise school taxes by 36%

How municipalities spend collected taxes has a large influence on the budget of their local districts.

In 2024, Plainfield collected over $106.3 million in property taxes. Only $27.1 million of that total went to local schools.

But that won't be enough for the next school year. School board President Hanae Wyatt said at last Tuesday's meeting that the district will be strained financially without a tax hike, MyCentralJersey.com reported.

School board officials had been weighing a massive school tax hike of 36%.

That would raise the average homeowner's property tax bill in Plainfield to $10,376 — a jump of $853 in only one year. And that's before other possible increases in county or municipal tax rates.

The school board voted 5-4 to keep the tax rate flat for now, though programs or teaching jobs may be on the chopping block.

"Cuts will be inevitable,” Wyatt said.

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom