Anthony Licciardello | August 1, 2026
North Plainfield, NJ
Ask three sources what this market did last year and you get +12%, +5.7%, and −1.2%. All three are correct. Here's what each one actually measures, which number matters for your decision, and the $1.13 billion fact that sits underneath all of them.
Most local market reports quote one portal median and call it a market. This one starts somewhere better. New Jersey determines each municipality's aggregate true value through an assessment-sales ratio study — a certified analysis of actual arm's-length sales, run identically across all 566 taxing districts. By that measure North Plainfield's real property rose from $2.361 billion to $2.646 billion in a single year: +12.07%, the second-fastest appreciation among Somerset County's twenty-one municipalities, against a county aggregate of +8.38%. The affordable town outran Watchung, Green Brook, Bridgewater, and Warren. Underneath that sits the structural fact that will define the next several years here: assessments have not kept up, the equalization ratio has fallen from 68.27% to 57.23% in two years — the lowest in the county — and the borough's real estate is now worth roughly $1.13 billion more than its tax rolls say. Sixteen of Somerset's twenty-one municipalities have reassessed or revalued. North Plainfield is one of five that hasn't. That gap does not close quietly.
I want to be transparent about method, because this market is unusually easy to get wrong. Portal figures for North Plainfield are noisy — I found published claims ranging from a "median home value" of $232,000 to year-over-year appreciation of 32%, neither of which survives contact with the primary records. I've built the backbone of this report from certified county and state documents, used commercial sources only where they measure something the state data cannot, and labelled every figure with what it actually is. Where sources disagree, I've said so rather than picking the flattering one. For the town itself, start with moving to North Plainfield.
Every year the Somerset County Board of Taxation certifies a Final Equalization Table, and the Division of Taxation publishes a statewide Table of Equalized Valuations. The central figure in both is aggregate true value — the estimated market value of all real property in a municipality. It is not modeled from listings. It is derived from a sales-ratio study comparing actual recorded arm's-length transactions against assessments.
For North Plainfield, aggregate true value went from $2,360,876,049 to $2,645,733,109 — +12.07%. Over the same period the borough's assessed value moved from $1,509,308,058 to $1,514,153,058, a rise of 0.32%. The market moved almost forty times faster than the tax rolls.
What makes this figure genuinely useful is the peer comparison. The same methodology is applied to all twenty-one Somerset municipalities in the same document, in the same year, by the same board. There is no reconciling one portal's Watchung number against another portal's Bridgewater number. And on that basis North Plainfield placed second in the county, behind only Far Hills, ahead of Branchburg, Bernards, and Somerville — and well ahead of the wealthier towns buyers usually compare it against.
Calculated from aggregate true value figures in the Final Equalization Tables for the County of Somerset, 2024 (certified April 9, 2024) and 2025 (certified April 22, 2025), filed with the New Jersey Division of Taxation. Aggregate true value is determined through assessment-sales ratio analysis of actual arm's-length transactions. Selected municipalities shown; all twenty-one appear in the source documents. Figures cover all real property, not residential alone.
When market value climbs and assessments don't, the equalization ratio falls. North Plainfield's has been falling fast: 68.27% in 2023, 63.93% in 2024, 57.23% in 2025 — down eleven points in two years. That is now the lowest ratio of any municipality in Somerset County, below Montgomery at 59.97%, Somerville at 63.46%, South Bound Brook at 66.23%, and Raritan at 66.45%.
Every other town in the county is either close to 100% — meaning recently revalued or reassessed, which the equalization table flags — or higher than North Plainfield. Sixteen of the twenty-one carry that flag. North Plainfield is one of five that does not.
In dollar terms, the county board's own table states the amount by which the borough's assessed value would need to change to correspond to true value: $1,131,580,051. North Plainfield's real estate is worth roughly $1.13 billion more than the tax rolls record.
Why this matters more than any median price. A revaluation doesn't raise the total tax levy — it redistributes it, and the rate falls as assessments rise. But redistribution is never even. Properties that appreciated fastest since the last valuation absorb the largest share increase, and those that lagged can see bills fall. North Plainfield is the most overdue municipality in the county, which makes a future revaluation the single largest foreseeable change to what any given owner here pays. If you are buying, do not underwrite off the seller's current bill. Our North Plainfield versus Plainfield comparison works through how the ratio distorts every headline tax rate.
Ratio of aggregate assessed value to aggregate true value, per the Final Equalization Tables for the County of Somerset. The 2023 figure appears as the preceding-year ratio in the 2024 table; the 2024 figure is confirmed in both the 2024 and 2025 tables. Over the same period the general tax rate rose from $4.249 to $4.358 to $4.543 per $100 of assessed value.
The certified data tells you where the market went. It cannot tell you how long a house sits, what it fetches per square foot, or how hard buyers are competing. For that you need transaction-level reporting, and here the two major sources converge more closely than usual.
Redfin, drawing on New Jersey Multiple Listing Service data, reports a median sale price across all home types of $507,196 as of May 2026, up 5.7% year over year. Zillow's home value index puts the figure at $505,625, down 1.2%. On level they are 0.31% apart — unusually tight agreement between independent methodologies, and the strongest reason to treat roughly $506,000 as a fair current reference point for a typical North Plainfield sale.
On pace and competition, Redfin's reporting describes a market where homes go pending in roughly fifty days, the average sale closes about 1% above list, and the fastest-moving properties reach about 5% above list in around twenty-eight days. Its December 2025 snapshot showed a median sale of $470,000, twelve homes sold against thirteen a year earlier, fifty-eight days on market against forty-nine, and a median $315 per square foot.
Read the monthly figures with care. Twelve sales in a month is a very small sample for a median, and small samples swing hard on the mix of what happened to close. A single large sale moves the number. Treat the trailing annual figures as signal and the single-month snapshots as texture.
This town's data is more contaminated than most, because two municipalities share a name and a ZIP code. Major portals have served Regency Village and Stony Hill under Plainfield, and the Van Wyck Brooks Historic District — which is in Plainfield, Union County — under North Plainfield. Listings cross the line in both directions. Separately, published figures for this borough include a claimed 32% annual appreciation and a "median home value" of $232,000; the first is roughly five times every other estimate and the second is closer to an assessment than a market price. Check the county and the street before you trust a number attached to this town's name.
+12.07%, +5.7%, and −1.2% look like a contradiction. They aren't. The state figure measures aggregate true value of all real property — residential, commercial, and apartment together — between the October 2023 and October 2024 valuation dates. Redfin's measures the median price of homes that actually sold, trailing to May 2026. Zillow's is a modeled index across all homes whether or not they sold. Different metrics, different windows, different universes of property.
There is a fourth number worth reconciling too. Dividing the borough's average residential assessment by the equalization ratio implies an average home value near $394,000 — well below the ~$506,000 median sale. Both are correct. The first describes all 4,952 residential parcels on the tax roll, including modest condos and small capes that rarely trade. The second describes what actually sold, which is a self-selected subset skewing toward larger and better-presented properties. The standing stock and the traded stock are not the same thing, and conflating them is how people end up mispricing a house.
Which number to use. Setting a list price or making an offer — use recent comparable sales, with the ~$506,000 median as context only. Assessing whether the town is appreciating relative to its neighbors — use the certified aggregate true value, because it is the only measure applied identically across all twenty-one municipalities. Modelling your carrying cost — use the actual assessment on the actual parcel, multiplied by the current rate, and build in a cushion for the revaluation this borough is overdue for.
Aggregate true value +12.07% year over year, second-fastest of twenty-one Somerset municipalities, against a county aggregate of +8.38%.
Roughly $506,000. Redfin reports $507,196 from New Jersey MLS data; Zillow's index reads $505,625 — a 0.31% spread.
Around fifty days to pending; average sale near 1% above list; strongest properties around 5% above list in roughly twenty-eight days.
Ratio 57.23%, down from 68.27% two years earlier. Lowest of all twenty-one Somerset municipalities. Gap to true value: $1.13 billion.
Sixteen of twenty-one Somerset towns have reassessed or revalued. North Plainfield has not. When it does, it redistributes rather than raises — unevenly.
Certified figures per the Somerset County Final Equalization Tables and Abstract of Ratables. Sale price, days on market, and competitiveness figures per commercial listing sources as cited. Market conditions change continuously — confirm current figures before acting.
If you own here, pull your assessment and divide it by 0.5723. That gives you roughly what the State's own sales study implies your property is worth today. Compare it to what you think you could sell for. If your implied value comes in above your realistic sale price, you may have appeal grounds right now — and if it comes in well below, you're one of the owners a revaluation would hit hardest, which is worth knowing before you decide how long to hold. It takes ninety seconds and almost nobody does it.
"Anyone can quote you a median off a website. What I want a client to understand is that this town appreciated faster than Watchung, Warren, and Bridgewater last year — by the State's own accounting — while still costing half what those towns cost. That's the whole story here, and you won't find it on a portal because portals don't publish it. The revaluation is the other half. It's coming eventually, and the people who've thought about it will be fine."
— Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team
We price from certified county records and verified sale data rather than a portal estimate — and we market North Plainfield to the New York buyers who haven't yet realised what twenty-three miles buys here. I'm Anthony Licciardello, Broker of The Prodigy Team, dual-licensed in New York and New Jersey, a member of the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force, and a former Director of Community Affairs in the Bloomberg Administration.
Our Above the Streets cinematic drone series extends that reach — aerial storytelling that markets entire towns rather than single listings.
Anthony Licciardello · Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345
Not what an automated estimate says — what a buyer will pay, based on comparable sales, your actual assessment, and where your street sits in a borough that just appreciated faster than all but one town in Somerset County. That conversation is free and it comes with the data.
What is the average home price in North Plainfield, NJ?
Around $506,000 for a typical recent sale. Redfin, drawing on New Jersey MLS data, reports a median sale price of $507,196 as of May 2026; Zillow's home value index reads $505,625 — a spread of just 0.31% between independent methodologies. Note that dividing the borough's average residential assessment by its equalization ratio implies roughly $394,000 across all 4,952 residential parcels; that figure describes the whole standing stock rather than the subset that actually trades.
Are home values rising in North Plainfield?
Yes, and faster than most of the county. The certified Somerset County equalization tables show aggregate true value rising from $2.361 billion to $2.646 billion year over year — up 12.07%, the second-fastest of twenty-one municipalities and well above the county aggregate of 8.38%. That measure comes from the State's assessment-sales ratio study of actual arm's-length transactions. Commercial sources measuring different windows report smaller changes, from +5.7% to −1.2%.
How long do homes take to sell in North Plainfield?
Roughly fifty days to pending, per Redfin's reporting, with the average sale closing about 1% above list price and the strongest properties reaching around 5% above list in about twenty-eight days. A December 2025 snapshot showed fifty-eight days on market against forty-nine a year earlier. Monthly figures in a town this size rest on very small samples — twelve sales in that month — so read trailing annual figures as the signal.
Is North Plainfield due for a property revaluation?
It is the most overdue municipality in Somerset County by the equalization measure. Its ratio of assessed to true value fell from 68.27% in 2023 to 63.93% in 2024 to 57.23% in 2025 — the lowest of all twenty-one municipalities — leaving a gap of about $1.13 billion between the tax rolls and market value. Sixteen of the county's twenty-one towns are flagged for reassessment or revaluation; North Plainfield is one of five that is not. No revaluation had been announced as of writing.
Why do North Plainfield market figures vary so much between websites?
Partly because different sources measure different things over different windows, and partly because this town shares a name and a ZIP code with a separate municipality in a different county. Listing portals have served neighbourhoods from each town under the other's name in both directions. Published figures for the borough have included a claimed 32% annual appreciation and a "median home value" of $232,000 — the first roughly five times every other estimate, the second closer to an assessment than a market price. Always confirm the county and the street.
Moving to North Plainfield — The Complete Relocation Guide
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The Washington Park Historic District — North Plainfield's Victorian Core
The Multi-Family Investor's Guide to North Plainfield
Selling a Home in North Plainfield — What the Borough Requires
North Plainfield Borough Homes for Sale
Certified figures from the Final Equalization Table for the County of Somerset for the Year 2024 (certified April 9, 2024) and for the Year 2025 (certified April 22, 2025), and the Somerset County Abstract of Ratables for 2025 (certified September 9, 2025), all filed with the New Jersey Division of Taxation. North Plainfield aggregate assessed value $1,509,308,058 (2024) and $1,514,153,058 (2025); aggregate true value $2,360,876,049 (2024) and $2,645,733,109 (2025); ratio of aggregate assessed to aggregate true value 68.27% (2023, per preceding-year column), 63.93% (2024), and 57.23% (2025); amount by which assessed value would need to change to correspond to true value, $1,131,580,051; general tax rate $4.249 (2023), $4.358 (2024), and $4.543 (2025) per $100 of assessed value. Peer growth rates calculated from aggregate true value figures for all twenty-one Somerset municipalities in the same source documents. New Jersey determines aggregate true value through assessment-sales ratio analysis of actual arm's-length transactions; figures cover all real property classes, not residential alone, and reflect October 1 valuation dates. Median sale price of $507,196 as of May 2026, up 5.7% year over year, together with days-on-market, sale-to-list, and price-per-square-foot figures, per Redfin, which cites New Jersey Multiple Listing Service data. Home value index figure of $505,625, down 1.2% year over year, per Zillow. Commercial estimates use varying methodologies, property universes, and time windows and are not directly comparable to one another or to the certified figures. Implied average residential value of approximately $394,000 is calculated as average Class 2 residential assessment divided by the equalization ratio and describes the full residential parcel count rather than transacted properties. Market conditions change continuously and assessment data is published annually. This is general information, not legal, tax, financial, or appraisal advice — confirm current figures with the North Plainfield Borough Assessor, the Somerset County Board of Taxation, and a licensed New Jersey real estate professional before acting.
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