Massachusetts · County property tax · ACS 2024
Franklin County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Franklin County pays $4,720 a year, an effective rate of 1.43%, far above the U.S. average.
- $4,720
- Median tax / yr · Highest-decile bill
- 1.43%
- Effective rate · High rate
- +137%
- vs U.S. average
- #3 of 14
- rank in MA
The verdict
Homeowners in Franklin County pay a median $4,720 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.43%, more affordable than 14% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $4,720
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 1.43%
- Effective rate on median home
- #2709 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +137%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($329,000). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Massachusetts. Population: 70,944. Owner-occupied homes: 22,143.
The median annual property tax in Franklin County is $4,720, which is 21% lower than the Massachusetts state average and 137% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 1.43% on a median home value of $329,000. Property taxes represent 6.3% of the median household income in this county.
Why Franklin County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Franklin County pay a median annual property tax of $4,720, far above the national median and notably lower than the Massachusetts state median. On a $329,000 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 1.43% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Income carries a heavy tax share
Property taxes in Franklin County run well above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 6.3% of the $74,907 median household income.
Decision signal 3
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Franklin County's 1.43% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 14%).
Decision signal 4
Low among Massachusetts counties by effective rate
Franklin County ranks #3 of 14 counties in Massachusetts by effective rate (79% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Franklin 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
Franklin County's effective rate fell 13.7% across the 4-year span while its median home value rose 37.1%, leaving the median bill 18.4% higher at $4,720. That rate move is larger than the one in 58% 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
Bills rose across 2020-2024, from $3,987 to $4,720, a gain of 18%. 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: 17,656 of 22,143 owner-occupied homes (79.7%) 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 6.3% 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 Franklin County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Franklin County homeowners, 17,656 of 22,143 owner-occupied homes (79.7%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 2.1% (460)
- $800 to $1,499 3.3% (722)
- $1,500 to $1,999 3.7% (817)
- $2,000 to $2,999 9.0% (1,988)
- $3,000 or more 79.7% (17,656)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
500 homes here (2.3%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Massachusetts handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged and non-mortgaged homeowners in Franklin County pay about the same bill, within a 1% gap either way.
Franklin County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Franklin County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Franklin County's median bill is 21% below the Massachusetts median and 137% above the U.S. median.
A high rate, a smaller bill
Franklin County taxes property at 1.43%, about 34% above the Massachusetts average, yet its median bill of $4,720 lands roughly 21% below it. The effective rate is the bill divided by the home's value, so a county can only sit on opposite sides of the state average this way when its homes are worth materially less than the state norm. The rate is the policy; the bill is what the housing market does with it.
Franklin County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Franklin County | Massachusetts 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 | 6.3% | - | - |
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 Franklin County's $4,720 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Franklin County's $4,720 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $472/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Massachusetts.
Franklin County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $4,720 +2.7% | 1.43% |
| 2023 | $4,595 +2.9% | 1.51% |
| 2022 | $4,467 +7.4% | 1.57% |
| 2021 | $4,159 +4.3% | 1.67% |
| 2020 | $3,987 | 1.66% |
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.
Franklin County: tax takes 6.3% of income
Counties near Franklin County's median bill
On effective rate, Franklin County sits nearest Warren County (IA), Randolph County (IL), Clay County (IL).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Barton County (KS), Pettis County (MO), Montgomery County (MD).
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
Franklin County: only 5% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 1,960 of 36,670 returns from Franklin County reported real estate taxes, averaging $6,516 - 30% 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 Massachusetts
Franklin County bill FAQs
- How does Franklin County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Franklin County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 1.43% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Franklin County?
- Property taxes in Franklin County run well above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 6.3% of the $74,907 median household income.
- What is the average property tax in Franklin County, Massachusetts?
- The median annual property tax in Franklin County is $4,720, an effective rate of 1.43% on a $329,000 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Franklin County?
- Franklin County, Massachusetts scores F (20/100) on PlainPropertyTax's tax affordability composite across 5 Census ACS dimensions (effective rate, bill size, income share, mortgage gap, and home-value/income). Its strongest scored dimension here is mortgage premium at A+ ($-67). 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 Franklin County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Franklin County climbed 18.4% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $3,987 to $4,720, 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 Franklin County's HEAVY bill
Franklin County's $4,720 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 6.3% of Franklin County's $74,907 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Franklin 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: 1.43%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $4,720/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Franklin County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Franklin County (STEEP · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
STEEP HEAVY
Cumberland County, ME
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,707/yr (near-tied bill ABS $13); rate 1.04% vs Franklin County 1.43%.
Boone County, IL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,735/yr (near-tied bill ABS $15); rate 2.18% vs Franklin County 1.43%.
Northampton County, PA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,700/yr (near-tied bill ABS $20); rate 1.52% vs Franklin County 1.43%.
Ellis County, TX
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,697/yr (near-tied bill ABS $23); rate 1.35% vs Franklin County 1.43%.
Massachusetts county set
State ACS overview for every published Massachusetts county rate and median bill.
Appeal filing windows
Franklin 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 Franklin County (STEEP · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.