Montana · County property tax · ACS 2024
Garfield County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Garfield County pays $1,052 a year, an effective rate of 0.62%, well below the U.S. average.
- $1,052
- Median tax / yr · Low bill
- 0.62%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -47%
- vs U.S. average
- #32 of 56
- rank in MT
The verdict
Homeowners in Garfield County pay a median $1,052 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.62%, more affordable than 69% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $1,052
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.62%
- Effective rate on median home
- #974 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -47%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($169,900). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Tax affordability score · Garfield County, MT
66/100
5 ACS dimensions · release 2024
Comparative score against U.S. county percentiles on Census ACS medians (effective rate, bill, income share, mortgage gap, home-value/income). Higher means more affordable on those published medians, not a recommendation to buy, sell, appeal, or move, and not your personal tax bill. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.
Median tax as a share of Garfield County's median household income
Garfield County's median annual property-tax bill vs U.S. counties
Median home value relative to Garfield County's median income
Garfield County's effective rate vs U.S. county percentiles (ACS 2024)
Mortgaged vs free-and-clear median bill gap in Garfield County
Garfield County affordability profile (scored ACS dimensions)
Read the chart values
- Income room: 84/100 (A-) · 1.5%
- Bill size: 75/100 (B+) · $1,052/yr
- Housing pressure: 73/100 (B) · 2.44×
- Rate relief: 70/100 (B-) · 0.62%
- Mortgage premium: 12/100 (F) · +$871
Track this county alongside up to five others. Saved figures refresh when the annual source data changes.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Montana. Owner-occupied homes: 312.
The median annual property tax in Garfield County is $1,052, which is 61% lower than the Montana state average and 47% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.62% on a median home value of $169,900. Property taxes represent 1.5% of the median household income in this county.
What This Data Tells Us About Garfield County
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Garfield County pay a median annual property tax of $1,052, well below the national median and far below the Montana state median. On a $169,900 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.62% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Garfield County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.5% of the $69,583 median household income.
Decision signal 3
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Garfield County's 0.62% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 69%).
Decision signal 4
Near the middle of Montana counties by effective rate
Garfield County ranks #32 of 56 counties in Montana by effective rate (43% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
This page is for informational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or financial advice. Figures describe the median homeowner household in Garfield County as reported to the Census Bureau, your own bill can differ based on your parcel's assessed value, exemptions, special districts, and municipal overlays. Always consult your county assessor, tax collector, or a qualified professional before making decisions that depend on these numbers.
The rate gave way faster than almost anywhere
Between the 2020 and 2024 releases the median home value in Garfield County rose 9.4%, from $155,300 to $169,900. The effective rate fell 29.7% over the same span, a steeper move than in 97% of U.S. counties.
The median bill still fell 23.0%, to $1,052. Where the rate drops this far and the bill rises anyway, what changed is the value the rate is applied to.
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
This is one of the counties where the typical bill came down, from $1,367 in 2020 to $1,052 in 2024, a fall of 23%. A declining median can follow a rate cut, but it can equally follow softening home values or a shift in which homes are owner-occupied, and the figure alone does not separate those causes.
Most owner-occupied homes here sit at the bottom of the national range: 120 of 312 homes (38.5%) are assessed under $800 a year. Where the cheapest band is the fullest, the annual bill is rarely what decides whether someone can afford to stay, and a small dollar change reads as a dramatic percentage.
Above-median earnings meet a slightly-below-median rate, and the median bill amounts to 1.5% of median household income. That is the comfortable middle of this dataset, and comfortable middles are easy to overlook when only rankings get published.
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.
The published bill went DOWN here
Between the 2020 and 2024 ACS releases the median annual property tax in Garfield County fell from $1,367 to $1,052, a change of -23.0%. Fewer than three counties in a hundred recorded any decline over this period; nearly everywhere else the published figure rose. A fall can reflect reassessment, a shifting mix of the homes surveyed, or genuine rate relief, and these estimates cannot separate those causes.
What Garfield County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Garfield County homeowners, 120 of 312 owner-occupied homes (38.5%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 38.5% (120)
- $800 to $1,499 18.9% (59)
- $1,500 to $1,999 5.4% (17)
- $2,000 to $2,999 16.7% (52)
- $3,000 or more 10.6% (33)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
31 homes here (9.9%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Montana handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Garfield County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+116%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
How Garfield County compares
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value), ACS 2024.
Garfield County's effective rate is higher than 43% of the 56 counties in Montana - ranking #32 of 56 for property tax burden.
Where Garfield County sits among every U.S. county
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value)
0.62% Among the most affordable more affordable than 69% of 3,135 U.S. counties
Show national distribution
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more U.S. counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024
Garfield County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Garfield County | Montana Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Low bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Light income burden | 1.5% | - | - |
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.
Think your Garfield County property tax bill is too high?
On Garfield County's published figures, a $169,900 median home carries a $1,052 median bill, so every 10% off an assessed value is worth about $105 a year at the same rate. Whether an appeal is worth filing depends on your own parcel. Use our free Appeal Savings Estimator to run your own numbers, then read our step-by-step appeal guide for the procedure in Montana.
Property Tax History
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1,052 -10.0% | 0.62% |
| 2023 | $1,169 -12.9% | 0.66% |
| 2022 | $1,342 +2.4% | 0.81% |
| 2021 | $1,311 -4.1% | 0.85% |
| 2020 | $1,367 | 0.88% |
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.
Tax Burden
Tax Affordability Score
An effective rate well below the national average of 0.92% puts Garfield County in the "Very Affordable" band for property tax burden.
How this score is calculated: a 1-10 scale derived mechanically from the ratio of this county's effective rate to the national average effective rate (0.92%) - a ratio at or below 0.5× scores 10, a ratio at or above 2.0× scores 1, with a linear scale between. It is a factual comparison of Census figures only, not a recommendation, quality rating, or endorsement of Garfield County or any other county.
Counties with similar tax profiles
On effective rate, Garfield County sits nearest Scott County (MO), Dade County (MO), Cedar County (MO).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Amite County (MS), Wichita County (KS), Hoonah-Angoon Census Area (AK).
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
What tax filers report in Garfield County
The IRS county file records no returns reporting real estate taxes on Schedule A for Garfield County. That is a limit of the published data rather than a finding about the county: county-level figures are withheld where the counts are too small to disclose safely, which is common in places with few filers. Roughly one county in sixteen is in this position, so the filer view available elsewhere on this site is simply not available here. Source: IRS Statistics of Income county data.
Other Counties in Montana
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Garfield County property tax compare to the national average? ▼
What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Garfield County? ▼
Are property taxes increasing in Garfield County? ▼
What is the average property tax in Garfield County, Montana? ▼
What is the tax affordability score for Garfield County? ▼
What to do with Garfield County's numbers
- Garfield County's $1,052 median bill sits well below the U.S. median - still size a parcel estimate; local millage and exemptions move the real bill. Estimate your bill →
- Income burden is light here: about 1.5% of Garfield County's $69,583 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
- Garfield County ranks #32 of 56 Montana counties by effective rate - on the lower-burden half of the state board. Montana overview →
- If Garfield County's assessment looks high versus the $169,900 typical home, check Montana's filing window and evidence rules before the notice deadline passes. How to appeal →
Effective-rate definition
Effective rate is the county median tax divided by the county median home value ($169,900); your parcel's assessed value, exemptions, and local levies determine your actual bill. U.S. Census Bureau ACS · 2024.
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.
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Editorial standards and provenance
PlainPropertyTax is rendered directly from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on the Census ACS county-level record for Garfield County. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-02.