Property Tax in Spring Lake, New Jersey
Spring Lake is a 1.75-square-mile Monmouth County borough (1.33 square miles of land, 0.41 square miles of water, a 23.60 percent water share) incorporated March 14, 1892, known nationally as the Irish Riviera and as a Gilded Age resort comparable in its era to Newport, Rhode Island and Bar Harbor, Maine. This page does not state a current Spring Lake property tax rate, a current assessed value, or a current tax bill for any specific address, because no such figure was independently confirmed during this research pass, and an invented number would do a prospective buyer more harm than an honest gap does. What is confirmed, and genuinely relevant to a purchase decision here, is that New Jersey runs a real state sales tax and its own locally administered property-tax structure, entirely distinct from any no-sales-tax framing borrowed from another state, and that Spring Lake's own population has declined in every census since 2000, from 3,567 residents that year to 2,993 in 2010, 2,789 in 2020, and an estimated 2,751 in 2023, a sustained multi-decade contraction layered onto a small, historically high-value, register-listed-cottage tax base. Get the actual current rate, assessment details, and any special-assessment questions from the Monmouth County Board of Taxation and the Spring Lake tax assessor's office before budgeting a purchase.
New Jersey Runs a Real Tax System, Not a No-Sales-Tax Framing
Spring Lake is a New Jersey market, and New Jersey has a real, functioning state sales tax alongside its own property-tax structure, genuinely different from any no-sales-tax state framing that simply does not apply here. Property taxes in New Jersey are assessed and levied locally, under state law, by each municipality and county, and there is no single statewide rate applied uniformly to every borough. Spring Lake's own rate is set through its own municipal budget process combined with the Monmouth County levy and its local school district's share, and none of that carries over unchanged from a different Jersey Shore town, even one a few miles up the coast.
This page will not state a specific current New Jersey state sales-tax percentage or a specific current Spring Lake, Monmouth County, or school-district property tax rate, because none was confirmed during this research pass. Rates and assessment practices change year to year and vary by municipality even within the same county, so a figure quoted for a neighboring Monmouth County shore borough should never be assumed to apply to Spring Lake without direct verification from the borough's own tax office.
A Small, High-Value Tax Base With No Boardwalk
Spring Lake covers a total of 1.75 square miles, split between 1.33 square miles of land and 0.41 square miles of water, a 23.60 percent water share. It borders Belmar, Lake Como, Sea Girt, Spring Lake Heights, and Wall Township, all within Monmouth County. Unlike several other Jersey Shore towns this site has covered, Spring Lake has no boardwalk at all, a real and deliberate characteristic of the borough rather than an oversight, and part of what gives Spring Lake the quieter, more residential, upscale character it is known for compared to boardwalk-driven neighboring markets.
That no-boardwalk character is tied to real architectural history rather than marketing language. During the Gilded Age, Spring Lake developed into a coastal resort for New York City and Philadelphia elites, and two of its cottages from that era, the Martin Maloney Cottage and the Audenried Cottage, are each individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That is a different kind of historic-preservation designation than a whole covering historic district, since these are individual register-listed properties rather than a district encompassing hundreds of contributing structures, and it points to a tax base built around a relatively small number of large, historically significant, individually assessed parcels rather than a broad, uniform grid of similarly sized lots.
A Sustained Population Decline Since 2000
Spring Lake's population has fallen in every census since 2000. The 2000 census recorded 3,567 residents; the 2010 census recorded 2,993, down 16.1 percent; the 2020 census recorded 2,789, down a further 6.8 percent; and a 2023 estimate put the population at 2,751. That is a real, multi-decade, sustained contraction, not a single-cycle dip, and it is worth understanding on its own terms rather than assuming it mirrors population trends in a larger or growing Monmouth County municipality.
A shrinking, aging resident base layered onto a small, high-value, largely seasonal-and-second-home housing stock has real implications for how a municipal budget and its tax levy get distributed across fewer year-round taxpayers over time. This page does not attempt to translate that demographic trend into any specific current tax-rate figure, because doing so would require confirmed current assessment and budget data that was not available during this research pass. A buyer who wants to understand how the borough's shrinking population base interacts with its current levy should ask the Spring Lake tax assessor's office directly.
The Irish Riviera and a Genuine Gilded Age Identity
Spring Lake is nationally known as the Irish Riviera: the 2000 census found that 39.4 percent of residents identified as Irish-American, the highest percentage of any place in the United States according to that source. Marquis Martin Maloney, whose cottage carries the register listing described above, also built St. Catharine Roman Catholic Church, its cornerstone laid on St. Patrick's Day, 1901, a piece of the same Gilded Age identity that shaped the borough's early development as a resort comparable to Newport, Rhode Island and Bar Harbor, Maine.
None of that history changes what this page can responsibly say about current property taxes, but it does explain why Spring Lake's housing stock skews toward large, older, individually distinctive properties rather than a uniform tract-built inventory, and why a buyer evaluating carrying costs here should expect assessment questions to be handled property by property, with real historic-designation and lot-specific considerations, rather than treated as an interchangeable per-square-foot estimate borrowed from elsewhere on the Shore.
What to Verify Before Budgeting a Purchase
What is confirmed here: Spring Lake is a 1.75-square-mile Monmouth County borough (1.33 square miles land, 0.41 square miles water, 23.60 percent water) incorporated March 14, 1892, with no boardwalk; its population has declined every census since 2000, from 3,567 in 2000 to 2,993 in 2010, 2,789 in 2020, and an estimated 2,751 in 2023; it is nationally known as the Irish Riviera, with 39.4 percent of residents identifying as Irish-American in the 2000 census; its Gilded Age history includes two individually register-listed cottages, the Martin Maloney Cottage and the Audenried Cottage; and New Jersey itself runs a real state sales tax and its own locally administered property-tax system, not a no-sales-tax framing borrowed from elsewhere.
What this page will not do is invent a current Spring Lake property tax rate, current assessed value, current tax bill, or current New Jersey sales-tax percentage, because none was independently confirmed during this research pass. Get the actual current numbers directly from the Monmouth County Board of Taxation, the Spring Lake tax assessor's office, and a local real estate agent or accountant familiar with this borough before making an offer. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data drawn from research on Spring Lake, New Jersey, a 1.75-square-mile Monmouth County borough (1.33 square miles land, 0.41 square miles water, 23.60 percent water) incorporated as a borough March 14, 1892 following a referendum held March 8, 1892, with North Spring Lake, an independent borough established 1884, annexed February 24, 1903; the borough has no boardwalk, bordering Belmar, Lake Como, Sea Girt, Spring Lake Heights, and Wall Township; population declined every census since 2000, from 3,567 in 2000 to 2,993 in 2010 (down 16.1 percent), 2,789 in 2020 (down 6.8 percent further), and an estimated 2,751 in 2023; nationally known as the Irish Riviera, with the 2000 census finding 39.4 percent of residents identifying as Irish-American, the highest percentage of any place in the United States per that source; a Gilded Age resort comparable to Newport, Rhode Island and Bar Harbor, Maine, with the Martin Maloney Cottage and the Audenried Cottage each individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and Marquis Martin Maloney's construction of St. Catharine Roman Catholic Church, its cornerstone laid St. Patrick's Day, 1901. No confirmed current Spring Lake or Monmouth County property tax rate, current assessed-value figure, current tax bill, or current New Jersey state sales-tax rate was independently confirmed this research pass, and none is invented here; New Jersey's property-tax and sales-tax structure is treated as genuinely different from a no-sales-tax state rather than assumed to carry over. Confirm current numbers directly with the Monmouth County Board of Taxation, the Spring Lake tax assessor's office, and a licensed real estate agent or accountant before making any purchase decision. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice.