Rent prices are skyrocketing in these 15 N.J. real estate markets

It’s not a renter’s market in New Jersey. The state has the fifth - highest median rent in the nation, along with high housing costs that force tenants to stay in their apartments rather than purchase a home.

But there’s a bright spot for renters out there: New Jersey’s median rent fell slightly in the past year, by 1.1 percent, while the rest of the nation increased 1.3 percent. Those slight differences might add up in the coming years.

Other towns are seeing a boom in rent prices, particularly by the Shore. Most of the towns on this list also have a median rent above the New Jersey median of $2,014. Scroll through to find out the towns that have seen the largest increase in rent prices from May 2017 to the same time this year.

A note about the data: The rent prices and changes come from Zillow’s seasonally adjusted rental market index. It does not account for differences in the type of rental properties available in a particular location. Zillow tracks rental prices in 543 of the 565 N.J. municipalities, so not all are represented in the data.