Ohio · County property tax · ACS 2024
Delaware County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Delaware County pays $7,132 a year, an effective rate of 1.60%, far above the U.S. average.
- $7,132
- Median tax / yr · Highest-decile bill
- 1.60%
- Effective rate · Highest-decile rate
- +258%
- vs U.S. average
- #6 of 88
- rank in OH
The verdict
Homeowners in Delaware County pay a median $7,132 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.60%, more affordable than 8% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $7,132
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 1.60%
- Effective rate on median home
- #2880 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +258%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($445,500). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Ohio. Population: 226,834. Owner-occupied homes: 64,607.
The median annual property tax in Delaware County is $7,132, which is 153% higher than the Ohio state average and 258% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 1.60% on a median home value of $445,500. Property taxes represent 5.3% of the median household income in this county.
Why Delaware County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Delaware County pay a median annual property tax of $7,132, far above the national median and far above the Ohio state median. On a $445,500 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 1.60% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among Ohio counties by effective rate
Delaware County ranks #6 of 88 counties in Ohio by effective rate (93% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income carries a heavy tax share
Property taxes in Delaware County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 5.3% of the $133,540 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The effective rate is a national headwind
Delaware County's 1.60% effective rate is among the highest of 3,135 tracked counties: only about 92% pay more.
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Delaware 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.
Most of the market's rise reached the bill
The effective rate here moved 10.9% down between 2020 and 2024, a smaller shift than in 56% of U.S. counties. With the median home value rose 39.1%, the median bill rose 23.9% to $7,132: the rate did comparatively little to offset the market.
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
Bills rose across 2020-2024, from $5,757 to $7,132, a gain of 24%. This is a comparison of published ACS medians, not an explanation of a particular property's assessment or tax bill.
The heaviest band is also the fullest one here: 55,144 of 64,607 owner-occupied homes (85.4%) 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.
Both figures are in the national top quarter, and the median bill still equals only 5.3% of median household income. A high rate on high earnings produces a large dollar figure, and only the dollar figure tends to get quoted; the ratio above is the other half.
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.
Delaware County is an outlier inside Ohio
Across the 88 Ohio counties with a published rate, the average effective rate is 1.11%. Delaware County is at 1.60%, which sits 2.1 standard deviations above that average. Fewer than one county in twenty nationally is this far from its own state's centre, so a state-level average is a poor guide to what is owed here.
Standard deviations are computed across every county in the state with a published effective rate for 2024; states with fewer than five such counties are not assessed.
What Delaware County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Delaware County homeowners, 55,144 of 64,607 owner-occupied homes (85.4%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 3.1% (1,998)
- $800 to $1,499 2.0% (1,311)
- $1,500 to $1,999 2.6% (1,706)
- $2,000 to $2,999 6.0% (3,887)
- $3,000 or more 85.4% (55,144)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
With vs Without Mortgage
In Delaware County, mortgaged homeowners pay 15% more than those without a mortgage, a gap that typically tracks higher home values rather than a different tax rate.
Delaware County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Delaware County's SPIKE ACS 2024 figure.
Delaware County's median bill is 153% above the Ohio median and 258% above the U.S. median.
Among the highest-taxed counties in the country
At 1.60%, Delaware County sits in the top 8% of all U.S. counties by effective property-tax rate. That is the rate, not the bill: a high rate on a modest home can still produce a smaller cheque than a low rate on an expensive one, which is why the $7,132 median bill is the number to compare against another county.
Delaware County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Delaware County | Ohio Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Highest-decile bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Highest-decile rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Highest-decile income burden | 5.3% | - | - |
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.
Is Delaware County's $7,132 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Delaware County's $7,132 ACS median (SPIKE), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $713/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Ohio.
Delaware County bill trail · SPIKE
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $7,132 +3.4% | 1.60% |
| 2023 | $6,896 +3.4% | 1.64% |
| 2022 | $6,671 +8.9% | 1.70% |
| 2021 | $6,125 +6.4% | 1.82% |
| 2020 | $5,757 | 1.80% |
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.
Delaware County: tax takes 5.3% of income
Counties near Delaware County's median bill
On effective rate, Delaware County sits nearest Clarke County (IA), Perry County (IL), Erie County (PA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Crittenden County (KY), Crawford County (IL), Lawrence County (KY).
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
Delaware County: only 11% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 12,130 of 110,170 returns from Delaware County reported real estate taxes, averaging $9,608 - 42% 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 Ohio
Delaware County bill FAQs
- How does Delaware County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Delaware County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 1.60% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Delaware County, Ohio?
- The median annual property tax in Delaware County is $7,132, an effective rate of 1.60% on a $445,500 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Delaware County?
- Property taxes in Delaware County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 5.3% of the $133,540 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Delaware County?
- Delaware County, Ohio scores F (8/100) 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 housing pressure at F (3.34×). 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.
- Are property taxes increasing in Delaware County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Delaware County jumped 23.9% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $5,757 to $7,132, 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 to do with Delaware County's SPIKE bill
Delaware County's $7,132 median bill sits well above the U.S. median - size a personal estimate before treating the county headline as your budget. Estimate your bill →
Income burden is elevated here: about 5.3% of Delaware County's $133,540 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Delaware County's SPIKE 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: 1.60%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $7,132/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Delaware County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Delaware County (STEEP · SPIKE), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
STEEP SPIKE
King County, WA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $7,114/yr (near-tied bill ABS $18); rate 0.83% vs Delaware County 1.60%.
Contra Costa County, CA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $7,156/yr (near-tied bill ABS $24); rate 0.83% vs Delaware County 1.60%.
Will County, IL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $7,173/yr (near-tied bill ABS $41); rate 2.24% vs Delaware County 1.60%.
Williamson County, TX
ABS(median_tax) peer · $7,205/yr (higher bill ABS $73); rate 1.61% vs Delaware County 1.60%.
Ohio county set
State ACS overview for every published Ohio county rate and median bill.
Appeal filing windows
Delaware County stamps STEEP · SPIKE - review notice deadlines before quoting the ACS median.
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 Delaware County (STEEP · SPIKE) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.