Texas · County property tax · ACS 2024
Ellis County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Ellis County pays $4,697 a year, an effective rate of 1.35%, far above the U.S. average.
- $4,697
- Median tax / yr · Highest-decile bill
- 1.35%
- Effective rate · High rate
- +136%
- vs U.S. average
- #82 of 250
- rank in TX
The verdict
Homeowners in Ellis County pay a median $4,697 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.35%, more affordable than 17% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $4,697
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 1.35%
- Effective rate on median home
- #2617 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +136%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($348,600). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Texas. Population: 213,160. Owner-occupied homes: 54,389.
The median annual property tax in Ellis County is $4,697, which is 11% higher than the Texas state average and 136% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 1.35% on a median home value of $348,600. Property taxes represent 4.7% of the median household income in this county.
Why Ellis County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Ellis County pay a median annual property tax of $4,697, far above the national median and notably higher than the Texas state median. On a $348,600 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 1.35% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Ellis County's 1.35% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 17%).
Decision signal 3
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Ellis County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 4.7% of the $99,595 median household income.
Decision signal 4
Near the middle of Texas counties by effective rate
Ellis County ranks #82 of 250 counties in Texas by effective rate (67% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Ellis 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.
A falling rate took the edge off
Ellis County's effective rate fell 15.1% across the 4-year span while its median home value rose 62.5%, leaving the median bill 38.0% higher at $4,697. That rate move is larger than the one in 64% of counties, so a good deal of the market's rise never reached the bill.
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 38% from $3,403 to $4,697. 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: 36,640 of 54,389 owner-occupied homes (67.4%) 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 4.7% 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.
What Ellis County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Ellis County homeowners, 36,640 of 54,389 owner-occupied homes (67.4%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 7.1% (3,844)
- $800 to $1,499 6.6% (3,614)
- $1,500 to $1,999 4.7% (2,547)
- $2,000 to $2,999 10.4% (5,634)
- $3,000 or more 67.4% (36,640)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
2,110 homes here (3.9%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Texas handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Ellis County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+66%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
Ellis County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Ellis County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Ellis County's median bill is 11% above the Texas median and 136% above the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Ellis County moved from $3,403 in the 2020 release to $4,697 in 2024, a change of about 38%. 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.
Ellis County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Ellis County | Texas 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 | 4.7% | - | - |
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 Ellis County's $4,697 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Ellis County's $4,697 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $470/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Texas.
Ellis County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $4,697 +5.0% | 1.35% |
| 2023 | $4,472 +8.4% | 1.46% |
| 2022 | $4,125 +10.3% | 1.50% |
| 2021 | $3,740 +9.9% | 1.56% |
| 2020 | $3,403 | 1.59% |
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.
Ellis County: tax takes 4.7% of income
Counties near Ellis County's median bill
On effective rate, Ellis County sits nearest Kent County (RI), Montgomery County (PA), Dauphin County (PA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Lincoln County (MS), Mille Lacs County (MN), Claiborne Parish (LA).
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
Ellis County: only 9% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 8,580 of 99,690 returns from Ellis County reported real estate taxes, averaging $7,596 - 37% 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 Texas
Ellis County bill FAQs
- How does Ellis County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Ellis County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 1.35% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Ellis County, Texas?
- The median annual property tax in Ellis County is $4,697, an effective rate of 1.35% on a $348,600 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- Are property taxes increasing in Ellis County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Ellis County jumped 38.0% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $3,403 to $4,697, 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 percentage of income goes to property taxes in Ellis County?
- Property taxes in Ellis County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 4.7% of the $99,595 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Ellis County?
- Ellis County, Texas scores F (10/100) 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 (3.50×). 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 Ellis County's HEAVY bill
Ellis County's $4,697 median bill sits well above the U.S. median - size a personal estimate before treating the county headline as your budget. Estimate your bill →
Ellis County ranks #82 of 250 Texas counties by effective rate - on the higher-burden half of the state ACS set. Texas overview →
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Ellis 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: 1.35%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $4,697/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Ellis County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Ellis County (STEEP · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
STEEP HEAVY
Nevada County, CA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,694/yr (near-tied bill ABS $3); rate 0.75% vs Ellis County 1.35%.
Northampton County, PA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,700/yr (near-tied bill ABS $3); rate 1.52% vs Ellis County 1.35%.
Cumberland County, ME
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,707/yr (near-tied bill ABS $10); rate 1.04% vs Ellis County 1.35%.
Providence County, RI
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,683/yr (near-tied bill ABS $14); rate 1.25% vs Ellis County 1.35%.
Texas county set
State ACS overview for every published Texas county rate and median bill.
Appeal filing windows
Ellis County stamps STEEP · HEAVY - 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 Ellis County (STEEP · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.