New Jersey tops the list when it comes to the state with the highest property tax, according to the 2009 State Business Tax Climate Index issued by the Tax Foundation. Residents and business owners there pay a per capita rate of about $2,642, or 4.88% of the state’s average income, according to the organization’s assessment of Census Bureau data.

Other states at the top of the list include Connecticut, with property taxes of $2,393 per capita; New Hampshire, with $2320; Wyoming with $2,175; and New York with $2,124. Alabama and Arkansas pay the least, with $477 and $527, respectively.

Vermont has the highest rate of property taxes in terms collections as a percentage of income with a rate of 5.12%. The other top rates are in New Hampshire, which has a rate at 5.05%; New Jersey at 4.88%; Maine at 4.71% and Wyoming at 4.55% Alabama and Oklahoma have the lowest rates in terms of income, with rates of 1.31% and 1.50%, respectively.

Wyoming is the state with the best “tax climate” for businesses, the report said, followed by South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska and Florida. Rhode Island, Ohio, California, New York and New Jersey came in at the bottom of the list. The study attributes New Jersey’s low ranking to its having “the third worst individual income tax, the tenth worst sales tax and the worst property tax.

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