A whopping 27 New Jersey towns just ranked in the 100 hottest housing markets in the U.S., according to new research data from Realtor.com—and the list might include your town. If you’re house hunting, your zip code might have just gotten more competitive.
Realtor.com just published its latest data, ranking the hottest real estate markets in the United States, a data-heavy list that blends listing views, days-on-market, and local price momentum to determine where buyers are going absolutely feral. And New Jersey, in classic Garden State fashion, didn’t just show up—it dominated. The Jersey way, obviously.
27 New Jersey ZIP codes landed inside the top 100. Not one or two. That’s more than a quarter of the entire list belonging to a single state that could fit inside Texas about 26 times (or something like that).
So what’s driving it? A combination of factors that aren’t going away anytime soon: continued remote and hybrid work patterns keeping commuter towns relevant, persistent housing inventory shortages pushing buyers into markets they previously overlooked, and an undeniable quality-of-life reputation that New Jersey residents have been quietly bragging about for decades.
Here’s every NJ ZIP code that made the cut—and what it’ll cost you to get in.
The Full List: New Jersey’s 27 ZIP Codes in America’s Top 100 Hottest Real Estate Markets
| Hotness Rank | Town | Median Listing Price |
| 3 | Bloomingdale | $489,675 |
| 6 | Middletown | $645,000 |
| 11 | Oak Ridge | $555,750 |
| 12 | Basking Ridge | $499,000 |
| 14 | Mahwah | $691,500 |
| 17 | Chatham | $1,743,750 |
| 19 | Nutley | $669,975 |
| 23 | Westfield | $1,174,440 |
| 27 | Bridgewater | $627,250 |
| 38 | Swedesboro | $434,950 |
| 39 | Sewell | $423,750 |
| 40 | Wayne | $686,661 |
| 43 | Newton | $437,250 |
| 46 | Ringwood | $619,900 |
| 60 | Union | $569,950 |
| 61 | Cherry Hill | $565,972 |
| 68 | Marlton | $463,750 |
| 73 | Haddonfield | $1,033,750 |
| 78 | Montclair | $1,322,000 |
| 79 | Caldwell | $729,500 |
| 82 | Wharton | $486,950 |
| 84 | Matawan | $489,000 |
| 86 | Hopatcong | $488,475 |
| 88 | Keyport | $520,000 |
| 93 | Bloomfield | $578,500 |
| 97 | Flemington | $642,450 |
The Towns You Need to Know
Bloomingdale lands at No. 3 nationally. Read that again. A small Morris County borough with a ZIP code most people outside of Passaic County couldn’t place on a map ranked third-hottest in the entire country. Median listings are sitting at $489,675—approachable by New Jersey standards—which likely explains why buyers are flooding in before prices climb further. What are they putting in the water in Bloomingdale? We want to know.
Chatham comes in at No. 17 with a $1.74 million median. Nobody is surprised. Chatham has long been one of Morris County’s crown jewels, with top-tier schools, a charming downtown, and a commuter rail line that deposits you at Penn Station in under an hour. The price tag reflects every bit of that.
Westfield checks in at No. 23 with a median listing of $1,174,440. Another blue-chip Union County town, another set of buyers who’ve apparently decided that the asking price is a suggestion they’re willing to exceed. Another one we’re not shocked by.
Montclair at No. 78 carries a $1.32 million median price, which, given what Montclair offers in terms of culture, schools, restaurant scene, farmers markets, and transit access, still sparks bidding wars with startling regularity.
On the more accessible end of the spectrum, Swedesboro (No. 38, $434,950), Sewell (No. 39, $423,750), and Newton (No. 43, $437,250) represent the kind of value play that draws buyers who’ve been priced out of their first-choice markets and discovered that South Jersey and Sussex County punch well above their weight. Marlton was previously named the second hottest in the U.S. last summer.
What This Actually Means If You’re Buying
A ranking like this is simultaneously good news and a warning shot.
Good news: if you already own in one of these 27 ZIP codes, demand is high and inventory is tight, which means your equity is likely in solid shape.
Warning shot: if you’re planning to buy in any of these towns, understand that “hot market” is not a casual descriptor. Listings in these ZIP codes are moving fast—that’s literally part of what earns them a high “hotness” score on Realtor.com’s methodology, which factors in listing views per property and median days on market alongside price trends.
Translation? Lowball offers, extended decision timelines, and contingency-heavy contracts are unlikely to win you anything but frustration in these markets.
The Bigger Picture for Jersey
New Jersey’s real estate durability continues to baffle people who expected a post-pandemic correction to soften the market meaningfully. It hasn’t—at least not across the board.
What’s held prices firm across such a wide range of NJ towns (from Ringwood in Passaic County to Cherry Hill in Camden County) is structural: there simply aren’t enough homes on the market relative to the number of people who want to live in New Jersey. Add in comparatively low property turnover in desirable school districts, and you get a market that keeps generating these kinds of rankings year after year.
Whether that’s exciting or exhausting probably depends on which side of the transaction you’re on.
*Source: Realtor.com hottest ZIP code rankings. Median listing prices reflect current Realtor.com data.
Tom is a lifelong New Jersey resident, Rutgers and FDU alumni and the publisher of The Digest.
