In beach towns up and down the coast, the number of year-round residents dropped significantly last decade - almost 40 percent in one case, according to recently released U.S. Census statistics that surprised and alarmed some local officials.
"I knew our population numbers were going to be down, but I didn't know they were going to be down this much," said Suzanne Walters, who has noticed the voter rolls shrinking during her 15 years as mayor of Stone Harbor. The little borough's population declined 23 percent between 2000 and 2010.
The robust economy during most of the decade led to a fevered real estate climate, said James Hughes, dean of Rutgers University's Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.
"A lot of year-around residents at the Shore saw their property values surge, so they took advantage of the market," Hughes said. Many migrated inland or left the state after their modest year-around dwellings were purchased - and sometimes replaced with larger homes - by people who live elsewhere.
Others, mostly retirees, held on to their properties and still vanished from local census roles, Hughes said, by acquiring winter residences in other states that they declared as their primary residences.
Their motivation: refuge from the Garden State's notoriously high cost of living.
New Jersey residents pay up to 12.2 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the highest rate in the United States, according to a study released last month by the Tax Foundation, a research group in Washington.
Other expenses, such as utilities and car insurance, also are among the nation's highest, according to Kiplinger, the personal-finance organization, which lists New Jersey among its top 10 "tax hells" for retirees.
The exodus of year-rounders has not affected municipalities' property-tax revenue. An owner pays the same levy whether his home is a primary or secondary residence, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.
