Essex County, NJ: Foreclosures, Tax Liens & Distressed Properties

Essex County, NJ, New Jersey: 31 ZIP codes scored, Essex County, NJ averaging 23/100 (low, Essex, NJ). Essex County, NJ is in its expansion phase (Essex, NJ confidence 35/100): Essex, NJ home prices up 5.2% (Essex, NJ) over twelve months. Essex County, NJ lender headwind: 55/100.

Highest-scoring Essex County, NJ ZIPs: 07003 (23/100), 07004 (23/100), 07006 (23/100), 07009 (23/100), 07017 (23/100), 07018 (23/100). Also scored in Essex County, NJ: 07021, 07028, 07039, 07040, 07041, 07042, 07043, 07044, 07050, 07052.

Across Essex County, NJ's scored ZIPs: median home value $609,768, household income $95,763, 5.1% vacancy, 13.0% poverty, 54% owner-occupied, median age 39.1.

Essex County, NJ insurance distress 30/100 (#1,612 in the US); FEMA hazard 0/100 for Essex, NJ; 103 Essex, NJ NFIP flood claims, $1.9M paid; Essex, NJ construction distress 18/100.

31 banks with 187 branches lend in Essex County, NJ; Essex, NJ weighted bank stress 65/100, highest 93/100 in Essex, NJ.

Essex County, NJ unemployment 5.7% (Essex, NJ -0.4 pts, six months); 4,667 new housing units permitted in Essex County, NJ over twelve months, Essex, NJ up 32% from 3,527; Essex, NJ home prices +10.9% a year (Essex, NJ) over three years.

336,962 housing units in Essex County, NJ; 176,096 Essex, NJ renter households; 52% of Essex, NJ renters spend 30%+ of income on rent, 28% (Essex, NJ) half or more.

Essex County, NJ ranks #3,156 nationally on the opportunity index (Essex, NJ, among all ranked counties); Essex, NJ scores 21.2/100 and Essex, NJ sits #18 inside New Jersey. Essex, NJ is in the weak opportunity phase; Essex, NJ's primary driver is bank institutional, Essex, NJ second driver vacancy; Essex, NJ moved down 43 places. 79 short-sale listings across Essex, NJ; 111 days on market observed in Essex, NJ; 5.3% vacancy over 31 Essex, NJ ZIPs.

1.0% of Essex County, NJ mortgages were ninety-plus days late in December 2025; Essex, NJ's thirty-to-eighty-nine-day share was 2.4% (CFPB county sample). Essex, NJ's ninety-day rate is up 0.2 points on twelve months earlier; the Essex, NJ peak since 2008 was 10.4% in February 2012; New Jersey overall reads 0.9%.

Essex County, NJ has 17 watched banks; 17 Essex, NJ banks sit in an elevated band. Essex, NJ footprints: Valley National Bank (17 branches, stress 60) in Essex, NJ; Provident Bank (11 branches, stress 54) in Essex, NJ; Columbia Bank (6 branches, stress 82) in Essex, NJ.

HUD lists 78 assisted multifamily properties in Essex County, NJ with 7,685 units; 4,651 Essex, NJ units are assisted, 25 Essex, NJ properties under project-based Section 8.

17,174 of the 336,962 housing units in Essex, NJ sit vacant. Essex County, NJ permitted 3,942 multifamily units in twelve months; Essex, NJ's one-to-four unit structures added 725 units in Essex County, NJ.