Published by REALTOR.com | February 20, 2024
Homebuyers looking to avoid high property taxes probably shouldn’t move to New Jersey.
The Garden State continues to have the dubious honor of having the nation’s highest property taxes, according to a recent report from personal finance website WalletHub. New Jersey homeowners paid a median of $9,345 in 2022, according to the report.
That’s compared with the typical homeowner who paid just $2,869 in property taxes a year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data cited in the report.
“Americans who are considering moving and want to maximize the amount of money they take home should take into account property tax rates, in addition to other financial factors like the overall cost of living, when deciding on a city,” WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe said in a statement.
Often, Democratic stronghold states in the Northeast have higher property taxes than Southern, red states, although there are exceptions.
The highest effective tax rate was in New Jersey, at 2.33%. (This is a percentage of the property’s assessed value.) Home prices in the state aren’t cheap either. New Jersey’s median home price was $524,950 in January, according to the most recent Realtor.com® data.
The state was followed by Illinois, which had the second-highest tax rate, at 2.11%, and a median annual property tax of $5,055. Next up were Connecticut, at 2% and $6,484; New Hampshire, at 1.89%, and $6,372; and Vermont, at 1.78% and $4,859.
Rounding out the top 10 were New York, at 1.64% and $6,303; Texas, at 1.63% and $3,872; Wisconsin, at 1.59% and $3,670; Nebraska, at 1.54% and $3,167; and Iowa, at 1.49% and $2,703.
States with higher property tax rates can have lower overall taxes because the charges are a reflection of local home values. So if homes are inexpensive and tax rates are higher, the total amount homeowners pay can be less than in pricier states.
Tax rates typically aren’t uniform throughout a state—and are rising in many areas.
