Kansas · County property tax · ACS 2024
Douglas County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Douglas County pays $3,776 a year, an effective rate of 1.22%, far above the U.S. average.
- $3,776
- Median tax / yr · Highest-decile bill
- 1.22%
- Effective rate · High rate
- +89%
- vs U.S. average
- #93 of 105
- rank in KS
The verdict
Homeowners in Douglas County pay a median $3,776 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.22%, more affordable than 22% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $3,776
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 1.22%
- Effective rate on median home
- #2433 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +89%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($309,400). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Kansas. Population: 120,302. Owner-occupied homes: 25,246.
The median annual property tax in Douglas County is $3,776, which is 35% higher than the Kansas state average and 89% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 1.22% on a median home value of $309,400. Property taxes represent 5.4% of the median household income in this county.
Why Douglas County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Douglas County pay a median annual property tax of $3,776, far above the national median and well above the Kansas state median. On a $309,400 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 1.22% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Income carries a heavy tax share
Property taxes in Douglas County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 5.4% of the $69,746 median household income.
Decision signal 3
High among Kansas counties by effective rate
Douglas County ranks #93 of 105 counties in Kansas by effective rate (11% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Douglas County's 1.22% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 22%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Douglas 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 9.9% down between 2020 and 2024, a smaller shift than in 60% of U.S. counties. With the median home value rose 45.7%, the median bill rose 31.2% to $3,776: 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
The bill here climbed steeply over 2020-2024, up 31% from $2,877 to $3,776. 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: 16,354 of 25,246 owner-occupied homes (64.8%) 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 rate is in the national top quarter while earnings are only moderately above the midpoint, so the median bill claims 5.4% of median household income. A high rate is affordable only relative to something, and this is what it is relative to here.
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 Douglas County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Douglas County homeowners, 16,354 of 25,246 owner-occupied homes (64.8%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 4.4% (1,106)
- $800 to $1,499 4.2% (1,058)
- $1,500 to $1,999 4.3% (1,076)
- $2,000 to $2,999 20.2% (5,107)
- $3,000 or more 64.8% (16,354)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
545 homes here (2.2%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Kansas handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged and non-mortgaged homeowners in Douglas County pay about the same bill, a 5% gap.
Douglas County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Douglas County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Douglas County's median bill is 35% above the Kansas median and 89% above the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Douglas County moved from $2,877 in the 2020 release to $3,776 in 2024, a change of about 31%. 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.
Douglas County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Douglas County | Kansas Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Highest-decile bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate High rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Highest-decile income burden | 5.4% | - | - |
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 Douglas County's $3,776 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Douglas County's $3,776 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $378/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Kansas.
Douglas County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $3,776 +7.6% | 1.22% |
| 2023 | $3,508 +8.0% | 1.25% |
| 2022 | $3,249 +7.7% | 1.25% |
| 2021 | $3,016 +4.8% | 1.35% |
| 2020 | $2,877 | 1.35% |
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.
Douglas County: tax takes 5.4% of income
Counties near Douglas County's median bill
On effective rate, Douglas County sits nearest Poweshiek County (IA), Marion County (IA), Guthrie County (IA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are St. James Parish (LA), Snohomish County (WA), Hendricks County (IN).
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
Douglas County: only 6% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 3,160 of 52,830 returns from Douglas County reported real estate taxes, averaging $6,398 - 32% of those reporters sat in the $100-200k 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 Kansas
Douglas County bill FAQs
- How does Douglas County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Douglas County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 1.22% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Douglas County?
- Property taxes in Douglas County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 5.4% of the $69,746 median household income.
- Are property taxes increasing in Douglas County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Douglas County jumped 31.2% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $2,877 to $3,776, 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 Douglas County, Kansas?
- The median annual property tax in Douglas County is $3,776, an effective rate of 1.22% on a $309,400 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Douglas County?
- Douglas County, Kansas scores F (20/100) 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 C+ (+$200). 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 Douglas County's HEAVY bill
Douglas County's $3,776 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 5.4% of Douglas County's $69,746 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Douglas 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: 1.22%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $3,776/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Douglas County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Douglas County (PAR · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
PAR HEAVY
Chisago County, MN
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,780/yr (near-tied bill ABS $4); rate 1.07% vs Douglas County 1.22%.
Knox County, ME
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,786/yr (near-tied bill ABS $10); rate 1.17% vs Douglas County 1.22%.
York County, ME
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,787/yr (near-tied bill ABS $11); rate 0.96% vs Douglas County 1.22%.
Sauk County, WI
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,755/yr (near-tied bill ABS $21); rate 1.45% vs Douglas County 1.22%.
Kansas county set
State ACS overview for every published Kansas county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Douglas County stamps PAR · 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 Douglas County (PAR · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.