Kentucky · County property tax · ACS 2024
Bell County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Bell County pays $723 a year, an effective rate of 0.81%, far below the U.S. average.
- $723
- Median tax / yr · Low bill
- 0.81%
- Effective rate · Above-median rate
- -64%
- vs U.S. average
- #24 of 120
- rank in KY
The verdict
Homeowners in Bell County pay a median $723 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.81%, more affordable than 49% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $723
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.81%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1591 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -64%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($89,000). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Kentucky. Population: 23,509. Owner-occupied homes: 5,847.
The median annual property tax in Bell County is $723, which is 53% lower than the Kentucky state average and 64% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.81% on a median home value of $89,000. Property taxes represent 2.3% of the median household income in this county.
Why Bell County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Bell County pay a median annual property tax of $723, far below the national median and far below the Kentucky state median. On a $89,000 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.81% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among Kentucky counties by effective rate
Bell County ranks #24 of 120 counties in Kentucky by effective rate (80% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Bell County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.3% of the $31,354 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Bell County's 0.81% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 49%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Bell County as reported to the Census Bureau; your parcel can differ. Not tax, legal, or financial advice: check the county assessor or a qualified professional before decisions that depend on these numbers.
The rate held while the market moved
Bell County sits in the quarter of U.S. counties whose effective rate moved least over this span: 4.1% down, against a median home value that rose 41.7%.
A near-steady rate on a moving market passes that movement straight through: the median bill rose 35.9%, from $532 to $723.
Effective rate is the published median bill divided by the published median home value, so the two multiply back to the bill exactly; the rate's movement here is derived from those two figures rather than read from the rounded published rate. Both are ACS 5-year survey estimates for the median owner-occupied household, compared across non-overlapping releases. They describe what the Census published, not a local policy, assessment, or exemption change.
How to read this county's bill
The bill here climbed steeply over 2020-2024, up 36% from $532 to $723. These ACS medians describe the reported change; they do not identify whether a levy, assessment, home value, or change in the responding households caused it.
The largest reported group here falls at the bottom of the national range: 2,628 of 5,847 owner-occupied homes (44.9%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
Incomes here are in the lowest quarter nationally while the rate sits just below the middle, and the median bill lands at 2.3% of median household income. The rate reads as unremarkable in a national ranking; the earnings behind it are not, and the ratio above is where the two meet.
The share above is the median annual bill divided by median household income, a ratio of two county-level medians rather than a household-by-household figure.
Paying off the mortgage changes the picture here
25.8% of Bell County homes owned free and clear (1,025 of 3,968) report no property tax at all, against 4.1% of homes still carrying a mortgage. A reported zero is not proof of an exemption: it can equally mean a bill paid by another party, or a reporting artefact. But a gap this size is where age- and disability-based relief usually shows up, because those programmes reach owners who have finished paying.
What Bell County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Bell County homeowners, 2,628 of 5,847 owner-occupied homes (44.9%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 44.9% (2,628)
- $800 to $1,499 20.9% (1,224)
- $1,500 to $1,999 9.1% (530)
- $2,000 to $2,999 4.2% (244)
- $3,000 or more 2.0% (119)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
1,102 homes here (18.8%) report no real estate tax at all, a sizeable minority for a county this size. Exemptions are set by state: how Kentucky handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Bell County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+88%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
Bell County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Bell County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
Bell County's median bill is 53% below the Kentucky median and 64% below the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Bell County moved from $532 in the 2020 release to $723 in 2024, a change of about 36%. These are American Community Survey 5-year estimates compared across releases that share only one sample year, which is why this page never compares consecutive releases: those overlap in four years of the same households and move mostly on sampling.
Bell County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Bell County | Kentucky Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Low bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Above-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Below-median income burden | 2.3% | - | - |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates. Tax-burden differences across rows reflect millage decisions, assessment-ratio practices, and the residential-vs-commercial mix of each tax base.
Bell County is UNDER · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Kentucky counties.
Bell County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $723 +17.2% | 0.81% |
| 2023 | $617 +3.9% | 0.74% |
| 2022 | $594 +4.0% | 0.77% |
| 2021 | $571 +7.3% | 0.84% |
| 2020 | $532 | 0.85% |
Each row is a separate ACS 5-year release, and consecutive releases share four of their five survey years. The percentage beside each bill is therefore movement in the published estimate against the previous release, not a single year's tax change. The two releases largely describe the same households. For change over time, compare releases that do not overlap.
Bell County: tax-to-income at 2.3%
Counties near Bell County's median bill
On effective rate, Bell County sits nearest Wayne County (IN), Hendricks County (IN), Blackford County (IN).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Escambia County (AL), Larimer County (CO), Gwinnett County (GA).
How peers are chosen
These are the nearest cross-state matches in the published Census data, not neighboring counties or recommendations. Peers are rebuilt with each data release; see the calculation method.
Similar effective rates
Similar published median-tax changes, 2020–2024
Bell County: only 1% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 100 of 8,520 returns from Bell County reported real estate taxes, averaging $2,740 - 40% of those reporters sat in the $50-75k AGI band.
What this IRS county file does not say
Amounts are reported before the SALT cap, not deducted; the share is of filers, not homeowners. Source: IRS SOI county data, tax year 2022.
Other Counties in Kentucky
Bell County bill FAQs
- How does Bell County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Bell County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.81% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in Bell County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Bell County jumped 35.9% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $532 to $723, a 4-year span. These are survey estimates covering five years each, so this compares the two releases furthest apart rather than consecutive ones, which overlap and would mostly measure the same households twice.
- What is the average property tax in Bell County, Kentucky?
- The median annual property tax in Bell County is $723, an effective rate of 0.81% on a $89,000 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Bell County?
- Property taxes in Bell County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.3% of the $31,354 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Bell County?
- Bell County, Kentucky scores C (56/100) on PlainPropertyTax's tax affordability composite across 5 Census ACS dimensions (effective rate, bill size, income share, mortgage gap, and home-value/income). Its strongest scored dimension here is bill size at A ($723/yr). The score compares published county medians to U.S. percentiles, it is not a personal bill and not advice to buy, sell, appeal, or relocate.
What to do with Bell County's LIGHT bill
Bell County's $723 median bill sits well below the U.S. median - still size a parcel estimate; local millage and exemptions move the real bill. Estimate your bill →
Bell County ranks #24 of 120 Kentucky counties by effective rate - on the higher-burden half of the state ACS set. Kentucky overview →
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Bell County's LIGHT median, then a disjoint out-of-state rate set, not the same-state geography lattice.
Similar effective rate
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS effective rate. This county: 0.81%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $723/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Bell County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Bell County (UNDER · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER LIGHT
Hickory County, MO
ABS(median_tax) peer · $722/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.41% vs Bell County 0.81%.
Hot Spring County, AR
ABS(median_tax) peer · $724/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.48% vs Bell County 0.81%.
St. Clair County, AL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $724/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.32% vs Bell County 0.81%.
Appling County, GA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $721/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 0.94% vs Bell County 0.81%.
Kentucky county set
State ACS overview for every published Kentucky county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Bell County stamps UNDER · LIGHT - how assessed value and millage become the ACS median bill.
Data vintage and method
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
Property tax data reflects median amounts paid by homeowners. Effective rates are calculated as median tax divided by median home value.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, county median real-estate taxes · 2024 Bell County (UNDER · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.