Published by Forbes.com | September 1, 2023
Forbes lists all 50 states from highest to lowest property taxes, and you may be surprised by what you see.
Property tax rates are generally determined on the county level, in contrast to personal income tax rates, which are usually determined on the state level (though counties and cities do sometimes tack on their own income taxes in addition to the state’s). However, a useful way to get a good comparison of property taxes by state is to use the following data sourced from the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates:
- Aggregate home value on the state level
- Aggregate property taxes paid on the state level
- Median home value on the state level
- Median property taxes paid by state level
Using these four different datasets from the Census Bureau, we can construct two property tax rates to gauge each state by.
- Mean effective property tax rate: Calculated by taking the aggregate property taxes paid and dividing it by the aggregate home value for the state.
- Median effective property tax rate: Calculated by taking the median property taxes paid and dividing it by the median home value on the state level.
Every state in the U.S. mandates most homeowners to pay these taxes, but the rates differ from state to state. If you’re diving into the real estate market, it’s essential to factor in the property taxes of your desired location, as they will impact your overall costs of owning a home. In order to help, we put together a full breakdown of the property tax rates, and property tax amount paid, in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.
Read on to find out which states have the lowest property taxes and which states have the highest.
