Volume 17, Issue 3
2006
Michael Greenberg, Henry A. Coleman, Henry Mayer, and Kristen Crossney
In February 2005, we surveyed 650 homeowners in Middlesex County,
NJ, to determine the relative importance of property taxes, crime, physical
decay, and other negative factors in resident-declared decisions to leave their
homes and neighborhoods. We also asked about positive attributes and inertial
forces that keep people in their neighborhoods.
Respondents most often cited high property taxes as the factor that would
“very likely” cause them to leave. Fourteen percent said they would leave for
this reason versus 4 percent because of “motor vehicle noise and heavy traffic”—
the second most frequently mentioned factor. Notably, those likely to
leave because of property taxes were disproportionately 45 to 64 years old,
were college graduates and relatively affluent, and had no children living at
home. They rated their neighborhoods as high quality, but did not depend on
local services. We consider policy options for retaining this group.
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