Two homes, similar size, similar price, ten minutes apart by car. One sits in Closter. One sits in Demarest. A buyer scrolling listings sees two comparable numbers and assumes two comparable costs of living there.
They are not paying the same math. Once you line up what each town actually bills its homeowners every year, the comparison changes shape, and it changes in a direction most listing sheets never mention.
The Bill the Listing Sheet Doesn't Show
State figures reported through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs put Demarest's average residential property tax bill at $24,736 in 2024, the highest in Bergen County that year. Tenafly followed close behind at $23,833. Haworth came in lower, at $20,090. A more recent update covering the same state data showed Demarest's average climbing to $26,108 in 2025, and Tenafly's to $25,123.
Closter didn't appear on either list of the county's highest bills. The most recent figure available for the borough, from 2023, put the average residential tax bill at $17,649.
Stack those numbers against each other exactly as they are, without adjusting for the fact that Closter's figure is two years older and every other town's number has only gone up since 2023, and the gap already runs past $8,400 a year against Demarest's 2025 average and past $7,400 against Tenafly's. Against Haworth, the gap is smaller but still real, a little over $2,400. Whatever the true current number in Closter turns out to be once fresher data is published, it is very unlikely to have closed that distance. It is more likely to have widened it, since every neighboring town's bill kept climbing while this comparison uses Closter's oldest available figure.
| Town | Average residential tax bill | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Demarest | $24,736 → $26,108 | 2024 → 2025 |
| Tenafly | $23,833 → $25,123 | 2024 → 2025 |
| Haworth | $20,090 | 2024 |
| Closter | $17,649 | 2023 |
Why Closter's Number Stays Lower
A tax bill in New Jersey is a function of two things multiplied together: the local rate, and the assessed value the rate gets applied to. Assessed value is not the same as market value, and the two drift apart over time in every town at a different pace. The state tracks that drift every year through what's called the Chapter 123 equalization table, the same table used to settle tax appeals.
The 2026 table, published by the state Division of Taxation, puts Closter's average assessment ratio at 86.08, meaning assessed values across the borough run at roughly 86 percent of what homes are actually worth on the open market. Demarest's ratio in that same table sits at 101.41, essentially caught up to, or slightly past, full market value. One year earlier, in the 2025 table, Demarest's ratio was 64.32, closer to two-thirds of market value. A jump that large in a single cycle is the clearest signal the state's own data can give that Demarest went through a townwide reassessment between those two tables, resetting how closely its assessed values track actual sale prices. Closter's ratio barely moved over the same period, from 89.14 down to 86.08.
That difference in timing matters more than most buyers realize. A reassessment doesn't automatically raise or lower the total amount a town collects. What it does is realign every property's assessed value with the market, which then reshuffles who owes what relative to their neighbors and relative to buyers in towns that haven't gone through the same reset recently.
A lower general tax rate on a chart doesn't guarantee a lower bill in dollars. The only number that settles a real comparison is the one printed on a specific home's most recent tax bill.
What the Gap Actually Buys a Buyer
Run the Closter-to-Demarest gap as a monthly figure and it comes out to roughly $700 a month, on top of whatever the mortgage payment itself costs. Against Tenafly, it's closer to $620 a month. Against Haworth, about $200. None of that reflects financing, insurance, or upkeep. It's the tax line alone.
For a family running two household budgets side by side, one for a house in Closter and one for a similarly priced house in Demarest or Tenafly, that gap is often large enough to change which loan amount actually fits comfortably, or whether a slightly larger home in one town costs less to carry each month than a smaller one in another.
None of this makes Demarest or Tenafly the wrong choice. Higher bills in those towns fund the same municipal and school services every Bergen County resident relies on, and plenty of buyers weigh other factors, commute, layout, lot, more heavily than the tax line. Closter students who move on to public high school typically attend Northern Valley Regional's campus in neighboring Demarest, a small reminder that towns in this corner of the county share more infrastructure than their separate municipal budgets suggest. The point isn't that one town wins. It's that the sticker price on a listing sheet was never the full cost of owning the home, and the difference only shows up once you go looking for it.
What This Means If You're Comparing These Towns
Three habits change how this comparison actually plays out for a buyer:
- Ask for the actual, current tax bill on the specific address, not the town's published general rate. The rate tells you almost nothing on its own.
- Check whether the town has gone through a recent reassessment. A jump in the Chapter 123 ratio year over year is the state's own flag that assessed values just got reset closer to market value, which can shift an individual bill even when the town's spending hasn't changed at all.
- Put the tax line next to the price line before making an offer, not after closing. A $50,000 gap in list price between two towns can be smaller, or larger, than it looks once the annual tax difference is added in over even a few years of ownership.
A Few Direct Questions
If Closter's assessment ratio is lower, does that guarantee my bill will be lower than a similarly priced home in Demarest? Not automatically. The rate and the assessment ratio move together to produce the bill. The only reliable comparison is the current bill on a specific property, not the town-wide rate or ratio in isolation.
Why did Demarest's average bill rise in the same period its assessment ratio jumped? A reassessment resets how assessed values compare to market value, but it doesn't by itself change how much revenue a town needs to raise. The rate adjusts alongside the new assessments. The bill still moves from year to year based on the town's budget, largely independent of the reassessment itself.
Does a lower tax bill in Closter mean lower services or lower home values? The data here can't answer that. It reflects the timing of assessments and the ratable base, not the level or quality of any specific service a town provides.
Comparing towns on price alone leaves out the part of the decision that shows up on every tax bill for as long as you own the home. If you're weighing Closter against Demarest, Tenafly, or Haworth and want the actual numbers run for a specific address you're considering, Mia Hur can walk through them with you. Let's Connect.
