Colorado · County property tax · ACS 2024
Boulder County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Boulder County pays $3,998 a year, an effective rate of 0.53%, far above the U.S. average.
- $3,998
- Median tax / yr · Highest-decile bill
- 0.53%
- Effective rate · Low rate
- +101%
- vs U.S. average
- #6 of 64
- rank in CO
The verdict
Homeowners in Boulder County pay a median $3,998 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.53%, more affordable than 80% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $3,998
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.53%
- Effective rate on median home
- #619 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +101%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($756,300). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Colorado. Population: 328,961. Owner-occupied homes: 84,900.
The median annual property tax in Boulder County is $3,998, which is 54% higher than the Colorado state average and 101% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.53% on a median home value of $756,300. Property taxes represent 3.8% of the median household income in this county.
Why Boulder County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Boulder County pay a median annual property tax of $3,998, far above the national median and far above the Colorado state median. On a $756,300 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.53% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among Colorado counties by effective rate
Boulder County ranks #6 of 64 counties in Colorado by effective rate (91% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Boulder County's 0.53% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 80%).
Decision signal 4
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Boulder County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 3.8% of the $103,994 median household income.
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Boulder 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
Boulder County sits in the quarter of U.S. counties whose effective rate moved least over this span: 3.3% down, against a median home value that rose 40.3%.
A near-steady rate on a moving market passes that movement straight through: the median bill rose 35.6%, from $2,948 to $3,998.
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 $2,948 to $3,998. 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 heaviest band is also the fullest one here: 57,123 of 84,900 owner-occupied homes (67.3%) report annual real-estate taxes above $3,000. That band has no upper edge in the source, so the county median understates the burden carried by the plurality rather than describing it.
The most forgiving PAIRING in the data, top-quartile household income with a bottom-quartile effective rate, puts the median bill at 3.8% of median household income. Home values still drive the dollar figure, which is why the ratio above varies widely among counties that share this position.
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.
What Boulder County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Boulder County homeowners, 57,123 of 84,900 owner-occupied homes (67.3%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 3.7% (3,121)
- $800 to $1,499 4.8% (4,049)
- $1,500 to $1,999 5.1% (4,330)
- $2,000 to $2,999 17.4% (14,738)
- $3,000 or more 67.3% (57,123)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
1,539 homes here (1.8%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Colorado handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged and non-mortgaged homeowners in Boulder County pay about the same bill, a 1% gap.
Boulder County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Boulder County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Boulder County's median bill is 54% above the Colorado median and 101% above the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Boulder County moved from $2,948 in the 2020 release to $3,998 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.
Boulder County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Boulder County | Colorado Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Highest-decile bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Low rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Heavy income burden | 3.8% | - | - |
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.
Is Boulder County's $3,998 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Boulder County's $3,998 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $400/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Colorado.
Boulder County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $3,998 +4.6% | 0.53% |
| 2023 | $3,821 +7.4% | 0.54% |
| 2022 | $3,559 +12.5% | 0.53% |
| 2021 | $3,164 +7.3% | 0.55% |
| 2020 | $2,948 | 0.55% |
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.
Boulder County: tax-to-income at 3.8%
Counties near Boulder County's median bill
On effective rate, Boulder County sits nearest Poinsett County (AR), Independence County (AR), Craighead County (AR).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Webster County (MO), Fillmore County (MN), Redwood County (MN).
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
Boulder County: only 14% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 23,000 of 165,140 returns from Boulder County reported real estate taxes, averaging $6,666 - 46% of those reporters sat in the $200k+ 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 Colorado
Boulder County bill FAQs
- How does Boulder County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Boulder County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.53% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in Boulder County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Boulder County jumped 35.6% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $2,948 to $3,998, 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 Boulder County, Colorado?
- The median annual property tax in Boulder County is $3,998, an effective rate of 0.53% on a $756,300 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Boulder County?
- Property taxes in Boulder County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 3.8% of the $103,994 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Boulder County?
- Boulder County, Colorado scores D (43/100) 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 mortgage premium at A (+$33). 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 Boulder County's HEAVY bill
Boulder County's $3,998 median bill sits well above the U.S. median - size a personal estimate before treating the county headline as your budget. Estimate your bill →
Boulder County ranks #6 of 64 Colorado counties by effective rate - on the higher-burden half of the state ACS set. Colorado overview →
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Boulder County's HEAVY 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: 0.53%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $3,998/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Boulder County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Boulder County (QUIET · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET HEAVY
Island County, WA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,999/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.67% vs Boulder County 0.53%.
Green County, WI
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,003/yr (near-tied bill ABS $5); rate 1.60% vs Boulder County 0.53%.
Jefferson County, WI
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,005/yr (near-tied bill ABS $7); rate 1.46% vs Boulder County 0.53%.
Lincoln County, SD
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,990/yr (near-tied bill ABS $8); rate 1.15% vs Boulder County 0.53%.
Colorado county set
State ACS overview for every published Colorado county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Boulder County stamps QUIET · HEAVY - 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 Boulder County (QUIET · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.