Zip lookup · NJ

08540
Princeton, New Jersey.

Princeton, Mercer County, NJ · Trenton-Princeton, NJ metro · population 50,388

What it costs per month · 08540 $5,055/mo

to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$2,742 (+119%) since Jan 2020.

What the home itself did
1 year
Up $28,851 +3%
$934,202$963,053 since Sep 2025
5 years
Up $257,898 +37%
$705,155$963,053 since Sep 2021

Monthly payment to buy the typical home

Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.

$1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 08540 $5,055 United States $1,922
$1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 2002 2010 2018 2026
  • 08540$5,055
  • United States$1,922

At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.

Typical home values in zip 08540 rose 3.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.

Asking rents in zip 08540 rose 3.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.

Owning the typical home in zip 08540 runs $4,499/mo more than renting one — the widest that gap has been in this data.

That is $7,840 a month against $3,341 rent: a $5,055 mortgage payment, plus $1,755 property tax and $1,031 insurance & upkeep.

Owning vs renting — zip 08540

The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.

$2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 Owning all in $7,840 Renting $3,341 Mortgage only $5,055
$2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 2018 2022 2026
  • Owning all in$7,840
  • Renting$3,341
  • Mortgage only$5,055

Property tax · $1,755/mo 2.19% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for 3 counties

Insurance & upkeep · $1,031/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.

Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.

This zip spans 3 counties: Mercer County, NJ 63% · Somerset County, NJ 26% · Middlesex County, NJ 11%

Zillow also publishes an index for the city itself: Princeton, NJ — measured over the city limits, which is a different area from this zip.

Asking rent $3,341 as of Sep 2026
+3.7%year on year
Typical home value $963,053 as of Sep 2026
+3.1%year on year

Asking rent — 08540

Against the Trenton-Princeton, NJ metro and the national benchmark.

$1,500 $2,000 $2,500 $3,000 $3,500 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 08540 $3,341 Trenton $2,523 United States $1,932
$1,500 $2,000 $2,500 $3,000 $3,500 2018 2022 2026
  • 08540$3,341
  • Trenton$2,523
  • United States$1,932

Typical home value — 08540

Mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.

$250,000 $500,000 $750,000 $1,000,000 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 08540 $963,053 Trenton $439,977 United States $366,157
$250,000 $500,000 $750,000 $1,000,000 2018 2022 2026
  • 08540$963,053
  • Trenton$439,977
  • United States$366,157

Within 20 miles

Showing 30 of 85 zips in range — sorting picks from all 85.

10 mi 20 mi 50 mi
Miles Zip City Population Rent Home value
0.7 08542 Princeton 2,533 $3,327 $898,217
2.6 08553 Rocky Hill 819 — $726,798
4.2 08558 Skillman 7,648 — $1,041,172
4.3 08536 Plainsboro 20,817 $2,165 $661,658
5.8 08502 Belle Mead 11,849 — $1,005,848
6.1 08550 Princeton Junction 21,067 $3,643 $1,010,479
6.2 08852 Monmouth Junction 18,062 $2,406 $694,546
6.5 08648 Lawrence Township 31,323 $2,572 $465,994
6.7 08824 Kendall Park 13,366 — $724,955
7.0 08525 Hopewell 4,522 — $659,411
7.3 08823 Franklin Park 8,884 — $418,050
7.5 08512 Cranbury 12,928 — $749,863
7.6 08534 Pennington 13,272 $3,020 $669,660
8.4 08810 Dayton 7,952 $3,350 $643,225
8.7 08619 Trenton 24,089 $2,437 $429,266
9.3 08844 Hillsborough 44,463 $2,818 $671,600
9.4 08638 Trenton 22,816 $2,190 $306,188
9.6 08690 Trenton 18,841 $2,061 $485,288
10.0 08520 Hightstown 29,504 $2,493 $462,394
10.5 08902 North Brunswick 43,932 $2,505 $543,891
10.5 08618 Trenton 35,634 $2,061 $268,656
10.5 08609 Trenton 15,938 $1,922 $207,453
10.7 08629 Trenton 13,013 $2,068 $257,582
11.0 08628 Trenton 9,831 $2,361 $422,996
11.1 08551 Ringoes 5,873 — $705,204
11.1 08691 Robbinsville 16,607 $2,539 $633,353
11.2 08560 Titusville 3,245 — $657,868
11.3 08873 Somerset 56,327 $2,648 $570,437
11.6 08608 Trenton 1,250 $1,300 —
12.1 08831 Monroe Township 55,658 $2,581 $603,744

Coordinates and population from SimpleMaps US Zips (Basic). Rent and home values from Zillow Research.