Each town sets its own general rate. The bars below are one named municipality’s school / county / municipal split of that rate — not a single county-wide bill. State school aid is outside this bar; it reduces the school levy before the rate is struck. How NJ taxes work.
Ocean County at a glance
32 municipalities and 301,060 parcels are on the 2026 file. 26 of those towns have a 2026 general rate loaded. On a $500,000 sale in 2026, the estimated tax runs from $2,690 in Mantoloking Boro to $10,443 in South Toms River Boro. The middle bill is $7,384 in Berkeley Twp. Class 2 residential assessments moved from $105,701,391,550 to $113,747,939,350, up 7.6%. The median class 2 house was built in 1982.
Median school-share town (rate year 2026): Pt Pleasant Beach Boro
Among 26 municipalities on the 2026 rate sheet (6 still on a prior-year rate, excluded from this median). Bars are Pt Pleasant Beach Boro’s own components — not three separate county medians.
Schools
41.8%
County
30.8%
Municipal
27.4%
School-share range in 2026: Mantoloking Boro 1.8% → Plumsted Twp 71.6%.
How to read Ocean County
On the 2026 rate sheet, the middle municipality by school share is Pt Pleasant Beach Boro: 41.8% schools, 30.8% county, 27.4% municipal. School share on that same sheet runs from Mantoloking Boro at 1.8% to Plumsted Twp at 71.6%.
Class 2 residential net assessments in this county changed from $105,701,391,550 to $113,747,939,350, up 7.6%, on 249,836 parcels with both a prior net and a 2026 net. That is the assessment roll for this county. It is not a list of which towns rose the most, and it is not an appraisal.
Estimated class 2 tax on the towns with both a prior rate and a current rate moved from $2,228,752,620 to $2,138,591,946, down 4.0%. Each of those 32 towns uses its own two rate years. The prior rate is as early as 2024 and the current rate is as late as 2026. This is not one calendar-year county levy. When a town reassesses, the assessment percent and this bill percent are different stories, because the rate falls as the assessments reset.
The largest class share of net assessed value in the 2026 file is Residential at 78.8%.
These are this county’s own figures. The general rate is not comparable across towns until each town’s assessment ratio is applied. The sale-price section states the tax on the same $200,000 sale and the same $500,000 sale after that ratio. Towns stay in legal-name order. State school aid is outside the rate bars.
Tax on a $200,000 or $500,000 sale, 2025
A sale price is not the assessment. In Ocean County for 2025, each town’s average ratio turns that price into an assessment, and that town’s general rate is applied to the assessment. On a $500,000 sale, the bill is $2,658 in Mantoloking Boro (ratio 58.28%, rate 0.912) and $10,643 in South Toms River Boro (ratio 60.47%, rate 3.520). The middle bill is $7,330 in Stafford Twp. A $200,000 sale uses the same ratio and rate in that town. This is an Abstract of Ratables estimate, not a collector bill, and the ratio is the town average, not an appraisal of one house.
A sale price is not the assessment. In Ocean County for 2026, each town’s average ratio turns that price into an assessment, and that town’s general rate is applied to the assessment. On a $500,000 sale, the bill is $2,690 in Mantoloking Boro (ratio 58.93%, rate 0.913) and $10,443 in South Toms River Boro (ratio 54.89%, rate 3.805). The middle bill is $7,384 in Berkeley Twp. A $200,000 sale uses the same ratio and rate in that town. This is an Abstract of Ratables estimate, not a collector bill, and the ratio is the town average, not an appraisal of one house.
26 of 32 municipalities have a 2026 general rate in this file. The others stay on the prior year’s rate until that sheet is loaded.
Reassessment towns use a ratio of 100% for 2026: Plumsted Twp, Pt Pleasant Beach Boro, Stafford Twp. The Chapter 123 ratio still on file is the earlier sales study, so it is not the multiplier in this table.
The highest residential estimate in Ocean County is $155,876 at 112 ROUTE 35 NO., Brick Twp, on a net assessment of $5,547,200 and a 2026 general rate of 2.810.
1071 OCEAN AVENUE in Mantoloking Boro is assessed at $13,101,000, higher than 112 ROUTE 35 NO. in Brick Twp at $5,547,200. The estimated tax is still lower, $119,612 versus $155,876, because the general rates are 0.913 and 2.810.
The highest business estimate in Ocean County is $3,137,131 at 800-804 SOUTH MAIN ST, Lacey Twp, on a net assessment of $107,805,200 and a 2026 general rate of 2.910.
1 SIX FLAGS BOULEVARD in Jackson Twp is assessed at $193,400,000, higher than 800-804 SOUTH MAIN ST in Lacey Twp at $107,805,200. The estimated tax is still lower, $2,680,524 versus $3,137,131, because the general rates are 1.386 and 2.910.
Owner names are not shown. Each town’s own rate is used, so a higher assessment in a low-rate town can still be a lower tax. Commercial and industrial parcels (class 4A and 4B) are the business list. Apartment buildings are class 4C and are not in that list. This is not a collector’s bill.
Ocean County this year
32 municipalities sit on the 2026 assessment file. Most show a 2026 general rate; 6 still show a prior-year rate in this warehouse (Island Heights Boro, Jackson Twp, Lakewood Twp, Manchester Twp, Ocean Gate Boro, Seaside Heights Boro). Those prior-year towns are badged in the table and were kept out of the median above.
Stafford Twp is the revaluation story: the published general rate moved from 2.623 (prior) to 1.412 (2026) while assessments were reset. A lower rate is not automatically a lower bill parcel by parcel — that is what the Stafford reval article and heat map show. On the 2026 component split Stafford is about 40% schools / 23% county / 37% municipal of the three-bucket sum — more municipal-heavy than many shore suburbs.
Toms River Twp is the large ordinary suburban contrast: 2026 general rate 1.980 (prior 1.902 on the town page when loaded), with roughly 54% schools / 22% county / 24% municipal. Reading Ocean County as “one shore tax rate” fails both towns.
School share extremes on the 2026 sheet run from Mantoloking Boro (very low school share of the local rate) to Plumsted Twp (school-dominated). The median school-share municipality on that sheet is named in the panel above. Do not rank towns by the raw general rate alone — Director’s ratios differ, and the rate is not a measure of who is overtaxed.
Sources: NJ Division of Taxation MOD-IV and Abstract of Ratables / county rate sheets loaded into this site. Estimates are not collector bills. Updated when rates are reloaded. Disclaimer.
6 Ocean municipalities still display a prior-year rate against the 2026 assessment file: Island Heights Boro (2025), Jackson Twp (2025), Lakewood Twp (2025), Manchester Twp (2025), Ocean Gate Boro (2025), Seaside Heights Boro (2025).
Housing stock in Ocean County, median year built 1982
On the 2026 file, class 2 houses in Ocean County with a year built have a median year of 1982, about 44 years old. Of those 249,217 houses, the largest share was built 1960–1979. This is the assessor’s year built. It is not a ranking of towns.
By parcel count, Residential 83.0%, Vacant land 14.2%, Commercial 2.3%, Farm (qualified) 0.1%, Industrial 0.1%, Apartment 0.1%, Farm (regular) <0.1%, Other / unclassified <0.1%. Those percentages are a count of parcels, not a share of tax dollars. The class table uses the tax-base share.
Year built
Before 1940
3.5%
1940–1959
11.1%
1960–1979
32.0%
1980–1999
29.3%
2000–2009
12.6%
2010–2026
11.5%
Assessor building line
Grouped from the assessor’s building abbreviation. One-family, two-family, and condo are the codes that read clearly. Other codes stay in their own group. This is not a bedroom count, and square feet are left off because most records do not include them.
One-family
188,152 76.9%
Two-family
17,529 7.2%
Three-family or more
8 <0.1%
Condo
6,428 2.6%
Other codes
32,547 13.3%
Ratable base by property class
Share of net assessed value in the MOD-IV parcel file (not the Abstract value columns). Class 15 exempt parcels may be under-counted when net value is zero. This is the tax base mix, not a school rating.
Class
Parcels
Net assessed
% of net
Residential 2
249,991
$113,831,088,750
78.8%
Vacant land 1
42,782
$15,916,752,450
11.0%
Commercial 4A
6,820
$10,335,957,200
7.2%
Industrial 4B
410
$1,498,527,300
1.0%
Apartment 4C
368
$2,677,965,500
1.9%
Farm (regular) 3A
235
$157,969,800
0.1%
Farm (qualified) 3B
419
$4,102,900
0.0%
Other / unclassified other
35
$491,100
0.0%
Municipalities
Default order is legal name. The general rate is not comparable across towns with different equalized ratios and is not a ranking of tax burden. Percents are shares of school + county + municipal cents on the rate sheet.