Paterson Home Prices: $530K, Up 3.8% — 8 ZIPs Analyzed (2026)

$530,174. That is what a typical home costs in Paterson right now. Prices are up 3.8% from a year ago, and the city’s eight tracked ZIP codes range from $467,717 on the low end to $580,533 at the top.

Quick answer: The average home price in Paterson, NJ is $530,174 as of February 2026, up 3.8% year over year according to Zillow.

Current Home Prices in Paterson

The typical Paterson home sits at $530,174 as of February 2026. That is up from $510,587 a year earlier, a $19,587 gain. The market is moving in one direction across all eight ZIPs covered here.

The spread between Paterson’s cheapest and priciest ZIP is roughly $113,000. That is a narrow band for a city of this size. Newark and Jersey City show wider gaps between their best and worst neighborhoods.

Paterson sits inside the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro, the most expensive metro in the country by total volume. Yet $530K buys you a home here. In nearby Jersey City, the same money would not get you close to a typical listing.

For buyers, the math is simple. A 20% down payment on the median Paterson home is $106,034. That is the entry ticket before closing costs, taxes, and the rest. Property taxes in Passaic County are among the highest in the state, which adds meaningful cost on top of the purchase price.

Paterson Home Prices by Neighborhood

Eight ZIP codes cover the city. The cheapest is more than $100K below the most expensive. Here is the full picture.

Most Expensive

07513 — $580,532. The priciest ZIP in Paterson, sitting about $50K above the city average. Rent data is not available here, which often correlates with more owner-occupied housing.

07504 — $573,834. Second most expensive, $43,660 above average. No rent data in this ZIP either.

07503 — $542,473. Third place, just $12,299 over the city median. The smaller premium suggests this ZIP behaves close to the citywide trend.

Most Affordable

07501 — $467,717. The entry point for Paterson buyers. Average rent here runs $2,034, the second-lowest in the city.

07522 — $475,799. About $54K under the city average. Rents average $2,053 here.

07502 — $532,999. Technically above the city median by $2,825, but it rounds out the affordable tier given the gap to the top ZIPs.

Rent vs Buy in Paterson

Renting wins on monthly cost. Average asking rent across the four Paterson ZIPs with available rent data is about $2,073. ZIP 07524 sits at the top with $2,207, and 07514 at the bottom with $2,000.

Now the buy side. A $530,174 home with 20% down ($106,034) leaves a $424,140 mortgage. At typical 2026 30-year fixed rates, principal and interest alone runs roughly $2,800 a month. Add Passaic County property taxes — among the highest in New Jersey — and you pick up another $900 to $1,100 monthly on a home of that value. Insurance adds about $100. Round it out and ownership runs around $3,900 to $4,000 per month before any maintenance.

That is nearly double what renting costs. The rent-buy gap in Paterson is wide, and it favors renters in the short term.

The trade-off is appreciation. Paterson values are climbing 3.8% a year. On a $530K home, that is about $20,000 in equity per year if the trend holds. Renters get nothing on the back end.

For anyone planning to stay under five years, the math leans rent. For longer horizons, the equity build-up changes the calculation.

Population Growth and Migration

Paterson is gaining residents, but the path has been uneven. The city lost population from 2020 through 2022, then rebounded.

Net change since 2020: +1,135 people, or 0.7%. That trails several nearby New Jersey cities.

Paterson is the slowest-growing of the six cities listed here. Bayonne is gaining residents nearly six times faster.

For housing demand, slow growth means less population pressure pushing prices up. Yet Paterson values still climbed 3.8% over the last year. That suggests the price moves come from broader metro tightness — interest rates, inventory, regional spillover from pricier Bergen and Hudson counties — rather than local population surge.

Paterson Housing Market Trends

Twelve straight months of gains. Every single month in the dataset moved up from the prior reading.

The pace is accelerating slightly. The first half of the period (Mar-Aug 2025) added $6,430 in value. The second half (Sep 2025-Feb 2026) added $11,702. The market sped up after summer.

The price floor — the cheapest ZIP each month — barely moved for most of 2025. It only crossed $466K in November and stayed there. The ceiling, meanwhile, ran from $549K to $580K. Premium ZIPs are doing the heavy lifting on appreciation.

Is Paterson a Good Place to Buy in 2026?

The data points to a seller’s market. Twelve consecutive months of gains. Acceleration in the back half of 2025. Every single ZIP code in positive territory year over year.

That is not a buyer-friendly setup. You are paying more each month you wait, and the cheapest ZIPs (07501, 07522) are not getting cheaper.

Counterpoint: the rent-buy gap is wide. If you can rent for $2,073 and buying costs near $4,000, you are paying a $1,900-per-month premium for ownership. Appreciation at 3.8% covers that gap on a $530K home — barely — but only if you stay long enough.

Paterson works for buyers with a 5-plus year horizon, a 20% down payment ready, and tolerance for some of the highest property taxes in the country. Short-term buyers are better off renting and watching the trend.

Paterson Housing Market Outlook for 2026-2027

The 3-month trend (Nov 2025 to Feb 2026) added $8,050 to the typical home. That works out to roughly $2,683 per month, or about 0.5% monthly.

If the current pace continues through summer 2026, Paterson would push past $545K by mid-year. The trend has not broken once in the 12 months shown, so the momentum is real.

Headwinds could change that. Mortgage rates, regional inventory shifts, or a metro-wide cooldown out of New York would slow Paterson. The data here does not show any of those signals yet.

The base case from the trend alone: continued upward movement at a pace similar to the last three months. The 3.8% annual gain may even pick up if the second-half acceleration holds.

Similar Markets in NJ

• Jersey City — Bigger and pricier than Paterson, but with stronger 4-year population growth.
• Newark — The metro’s anchor city, with a different price profile and slower 2.1% growth.
• Elizabeth — Comparable in scale and growth pattern to Paterson.
• Clifton — Direct neighbor in Passaic County, useful for buyers comparing nearby towns.
• Plainfield — Another mid-size NJ city for buyers shopping similar price tiers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average home price in Paterson?

The average home price in Paterson, NJ is $530,174 as of February 2026. That is the typical value across all eight tracked ZIP codes, ranging from $467,717 in 07501 to $580,533 in 07513.

Are home prices going up or down in Paterson?

Prices are up 3.8% year over year. The typical home gained $19,587 in value between March 2025 and February 2026, and every month in the trend showed an increase from the prior month.

Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Paterson?

Renting is cheaper monthly. Average asking rent in Paterson runs about $2,073, while owning a $530K home costs roughly $3,900 to $4,000 per month after a 20% down payment, mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Buying makes more sense for stays of 5-plus years when appreciation closes the gap.

What is the most affordable neighborhood in Paterson?

ZIP 07501 is the cheapest, with a typical value of $467,717. That puts it about $62,000 below the city average and roughly $113,000 below the priciest ZIP, 07513.

Methodology

Home values are based on the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), a smoothed measure of typical home values in the 35th to 65th percentile range. Rent estimates use the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). Population figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (2020-2024 vintage). All datasets are publicly available. Housing data updated 2026-02-28.