Watchung Boro NJ property tax rate 2025: 1.952 after reassessment
Watchung Boro, Somerset County. 2,320 parcels in the MOD-IV 2026 file. Rate shown is tax year 2025 (latest available — not yet matched to assessment year).
2026 revaluation/reassessment town — 2026 general tax rate not in our warehouse yet. Showing 2025 rate against 2026 assessments; YoY % is withheld until the matching rate posts.
How to read a Watchung Boro bill
Watchung Boro’s general rate of 1.952 is tax year 2025 on the 2026 assessment file. It is not a 2026 bill. The prior general rate on file is 1.998 for 2024. This municipality is on the 2026 reassessment list, so the rate move is the roll being reset. It is not, by itself, the change in the bill. School, county, and municipal shares of this rate are 51.8%, 17.3%, and 30.9%. The largest slice is schools. In Somerset County the middle school share for rate year 2025 is 58.5% in Somerville Boro. Class 2 net assessments changed from $1,862,988,600 to $1,989,219,500, up 6.8%, on 1,993 parcels. Usable sales with a 2025 deed: median $980,000 (36 sales). The largest class share of net assessed value is Residential at 77.1%. State school aid is outside these bars.
Watchung Boro at a glance
2,320 parcels are on the 2026 file. The 2025 general rate is 1.952, and the prior rate on file is 1.998 for 2024. A typical class 2 assessment is $998,103. Usable sales with a 2025 deed: 36, median $980,000. The state construction file lists 4,040 permits here. The median class 2 house was built in 1968. The Census Bureau’s 2019–2023 American Community Survey counts 6,429 people and 2,429 housing units in Watchung borough. A property page adds that parcel’s permits, flood zone, mapped flood elevation, and high and low ground. It also says what soil the state mapped, whether the 2012 map shows a wetland, and whether the address is in the Pinelands, the Highlands, or the coastal zone. It names a historic district only when the address is inside one. Owner names are not shown.
The shape of the ground in Watchung Boro
Watchung Boro sits on the state’s 10-foot ground scan, from LiDAR flown between 2014 and 2019. The Somerset County page opens that scan as a hillshade you can pan and zoom. Darker cuts are lower. Lighter ground is higher. A property page in Watchung Boro opens the same scan on that address. The lowest and highest 10-foot cell stay as numbers. The picture does not mark those two cells. It is not a survey and not a slope in degrees.
Building permits in Watchung Boro
The New Jersey construction-permit file lists 4,040 permits in Watchung Boro. This file is a full record from 2021 on. Older permits are mostly missing. Work from before then can be missing here and still be at the Watchung Boro construction office.
2025 general tax rate in Watchung Boro: 1.952
This general rate is tax year 2025. The assessment file is 2026. It is not a 2026 bill.
In Somerset County, the median municipality’s school share (rate year 2025) is 58.5%; this town is 51.8%. The largest slice here is schools. State school aid is not in these bars — it reduces the school levy before the rate is struck. All Somerset towns · How NJ taxes work.
The school percent is the local property-tax levy. The district for this municipality is Watchung Boro (K-8 or K-6 local), FY2027 K–12 aid $1,247,627. The high school district is Watchung Hills Regional, FY2027 K–12 aid $2,760,080. Those aid figures are not slices of these bars. Somerset district table.
Prior year (2024) general rate: 1.998.
Tax on a $200,000 or $500,000 sale in Watchung Boro
These figures use Watchung Boro’s own ratio and general rate. How the same sale price is calculated for every town. This is not an appraisal and not a collector bill.
2025
A $500,000 sale at the 2025 ratio of 100.00% would be assessed at about $500,000. At the general rate of 1.952, the estimated tax is $9,760. A $200,000 sale at that same ratio and rate would be assessed at about $200,000, with an estimated tax of $3,904.
In Somerset County for 2025, the $500,000 bill runs from $5,800 in Far Hills Boro to $13,292 in So Bound Brook Boro. The middle bill is $9,373 in Hillsborough Twp. All Somerset towns.
See every New Jersey town on the same $200,000 and $500,000 sale for 2025.
Recent usable sales in Watchung Boro
These are the five newest usable deeds on the 2026 file for Watchung Boro. A $1 deed and a non-usable SR1A sale are left out. Each parcel stores one sale, so this is not every deed recorded in town.
| Address | Deed date | Sale price | Net assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 SCHMIDT CIRCLE | 12/23/2025 | $650,000 | $690,300 |
| 18 WILDWOOD TERRACE | 12/17/2025 | $1,530,000 | $1,530,000 |
| 1375 PLAINFIELD AVENUE | 12/5/2025 | $3,250,000 | $3,000,000 |
| 205 PARLIN LANE | 11/14/2025 | $1,170,000 | $1,156,700 |
| 53 WILDWOOD TERRACE | 11/11/2025 | $430,000 | $577,800 |
Owner names are not shown. The rate year and the assessment file year differ, so this table does not print an estimated tax. This is not a collector’s bill.
Highest estimated tax in Watchung Boro, 2025 rate: $97,676
Residential
The highest residential estimate in Watchung Boro is $97,676 at 20 ROCK ROAD EAST, on a net assessment of $5,003,900 and a 2025 general rate of 1.952.
| Address | Class | Net assessment | Rate year | Estimated tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 ROCK ROAD EAST | 2 — Residential (four families or less) | $5,003,900 | 2025 | $97,676 |
| 20 JARED COURT | 2 — Residential (four families or less) | $4,047,000 | 2025 | $78,997 |
| 95 STANIE BRAE DRIVE | 2 — Residential (four families or less) | $3,211,500 | 2025 | $62,688 |
| 145 STANIE BRAE DRIVE | 2 — Residential (four families or less) | $3,035,000 | 2025 | $59,243 |
| 167 STANIE BRAE DRIVE | 2 — Residential (four families or less) | $2,880,000 | 2025 | $56,218 |
Business
The highest business estimate in Watchung Boro is $1,194,624 at 1701 ROUTE 22, on a net assessment of $61,200,000 and a 2025 general rate of 1.952.
| Address | Class | Net assessment | Rate year | Estimated tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1701 ROUTE 22 | 4A — Commercial | $61,200,000 | 2025 | $1,194,624 |
| 1515 ROUTE 22 WEST | 4A — Commercial | $56,961,000 | 2025 | $1,111,879 |
| 1630-1666 ROUTE 22 | 4A — Commercial | $32,500,000 | 2025 | $634,400 |
| 1511 ROUTE 22 WEST | 4A — Commercial | $29,341,000 | 2025 | $572,736 |
| 1501 ROUTE 22 WEST | 4A — Commercial | $17,298,800 | 2025 | $337,673 |
Owner names are not shown. Every parcel in this town uses the same rate, so the highest tax is the highest assessment. 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.
Ratable base in Watchung Boro, typical class 2 assessment $998,103
Class 2 residential in the MOD-IV file: 1,993 parcels, average net assessment $998,103.
How assessments changed
Class 2 residential net assessments changed from $1,862,988,600 to $1,989,219,500, up 6.8%, on 1,993 parcels that have both a prior net and a 2026 net. This is the reassessment roll. It is not the change in the tax bill.
Among 36 usable recorded sales whose latest deed on this file is in 2025, the median price is $980,000. A $1 deed and a non-usable SR1A sale are left out. Each parcel stores one sale, so this is not every deed recorded that year.
Share of net assessed value by property class (MOD-IV). Not a school-quality rating.
| Class | Parcels | Net assessed | % of net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential 2 | 1,993 | $1,989,219,500 | 77.1% |
| Vacant land 1 | 229 | $106,513,400 | 4.1% |
| Commercial 4A | 85 | $392,193,300 | 15.2% |
| Industrial 4B | 8 | $10,778,700 | 0.4% |
| Apartment 4C | 2 | $80,010,000 | 3.1% |
| Farm (regular) 3A | 1 | $2,300 | 0.0% |
| Farm (qualified) 3B | 1 | $600 | 0.0% |
| Other / unclassified other | 1 | $100 | 0.0% |
Housing stock in Watchung Boro, median year built 1968
On the 2026 file, class 2 houses in Watchung Boro with a year built have a median year of 1968, about 58 years old. Of those 1,959 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 85.9%, Vacant land 9.9%, Commercial 3.7%, Industrial 0.3%, Apartment <0.1%, Farm (regular) <0.1%, Farm (qualified) <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
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.