New Jersey homeowners pay the highest property taxes in the nation. This infamy stems from the way our state school system is structured—600 individual school districts, some tiny–and how we pay the costs: with the exception of very low-income districts, much of the money comes from local property taxes. According to the Asbury Park Press, the annual tax levy for a homeowner in 2022, including municipal, school and county taxes, was $8,096, up 124% from $3,610 from 2015.

Here is a list of the 13 municipalities with the highest property taxes in 2022, with more than half the average bill going towards K-12 school costs. (Note: The list doesn’t include Tavistock in Camden County, which has an average property tax bill of $29,996. Why? Tavistock has only 7 registered voters; if any have school-age children they’d go to Haddonfield. Three of those voters serve on the town council.)

• Millburn: $24,623, up 3.75% over the last five years.

• Demarest: $22,636, up 18.2% over the last five years.

• Tenafly: $22,411, up 9.7% over the last five yeas.

• Rumson: $22,063, up 13% over the last five years.

• Glen Ridge: $22,059, up 12.2% over the last five years.

• Mountain Lakes: $21,861, up 9% over the last five years.

• Alpine: $21,169, down 3.5% over the last five years.

• Montclair: $20,775, up 9% over the last five years.

• South Orange: $29,496, up 14.7% over the last five years.

• Essex Falls: $20,420, up 4.7% over the last five years.

• Deal: $20,197, up 24% over the last five years.

• Mendham: $18,950, up 5.9% over the last five years.

• Mantoloking: $19,330, up 11% over the last five years.