Alabama · County property tax · ACS 2024
Jefferson County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Jefferson County pays $1,409 a year, an effective rate of 0.59%, well below the U.S. average.
- $1,409
- Median tax / yr · Below-median bill
- 0.59%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -29%
- vs U.S. average
- #1 of 67
- rank in AL
The verdict
Homeowners in Jefferson County pay a median $1,409 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.59%, more affordable than 73% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $1,409
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.59%
- Effective rate on median home
- #846 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -29%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($240,000). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Alabama. Population: 667,755. Owner-occupied homes: 172,419.
The median annual property tax in Jefferson County is $1,409, which is 79% higher than the Alabama state average and 29% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.59% on a median home value of $240,000. Property taxes represent 2.1% of the median household income in this county.
Jefferson County's rate standing among U.S. counties
Primary signal
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Jefferson County's 0.59% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 73%).
Decision signal 2
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Jefferson County pay a median annual property tax of $1,409, well below the national median and far above the Alabama state median. On a $240,000 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.59% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 3
Low among Alabama counties by effective rate
Jefferson County ranks #1 of 67 counties in Alabama by effective rate (99% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 4
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Jefferson County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.1% of the $66,388 median household income.
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Jefferson 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 8.4% down between 2020 and 2024, a smaller shift than in 66% of U.S. counties. With the median home value rose 45.5%, the median bill rose 33.2% to $1,409: 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 33% from $1,058 to $1,409. 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 largest reported group here falls at the bottom of the national range: 39,643 of 172,419 owner-occupied homes (23.0%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
Above-median earnings meet a slightly-below-median rate, and the median bill amounts to 2.1% 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.
Paying off the mortgage changes the picture here
24.5% of Jefferson County homes owned free and clear (16,931 of 69,082) report no property tax at all, against 10.6% of homes still carrying a mortgage. A reported zero is not proof of an exemption: it can equally mean a bill paid by another party, or a reporting artefact. But a gap this size is where age- and disability-based relief usually shows up, because those programmes reach owners who have finished paying.
Jefferson County is an outlier inside Alabama
Across the 67 Alabama counties with a published rate, the average effective rate is 0.34%. Jefferson County is at 0.59%, which sits 3.2 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 Jefferson County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Jefferson County homeowners, 39,643 of 172,419 owner-occupied homes (23.0%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 23.0% (39,643)
- $800 to $1,499 21.5% (37,117)
- $1,500 to $1,999 11.2% (19,297)
- $2,000 to $2,999 11.4% (19,680)
- $3,000 or more 16.7% (28,816)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
27,866 homes here (16.2%) report no real estate tax at all, a sizeable minority for a county this size. Exemptions are set by state: how Alabama handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
In Jefferson County, mortgaged homeowners pay 29% more than those without a mortgage, a gap that typically tracks higher home values rather than a different tax rate.
Jefferson County's effective rate vs peers
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value), ACS 2024.
Jefferson County's effective rate is higher than 99% of the 67 counties in Alabama - ranking #1 of 67.
Where Jefferson County sits among every U.S. county
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value)
0.59% Among the most affordable more affordable than 73% 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
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Jefferson County moved from $1,058 in the 2020 release to $1,409 in 2024, a change of about 33%. 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.
Jefferson County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Jefferson County | Alabama Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Below-median bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Below-median income burden | 2.1% | - | - |
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.
Jefferson County is QUIET · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Alabama counties.
Jefferson County rate trail · QUIET
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1,409 +5.1% | 0.59% |
| 2023 | $1,340 +4.5% | 0.60% |
| 2022 | $1,282 +11.6% | 0.61% |
| 2021 | $1,149 +8.6% | 0.65% |
| 2020 | $1,058 | 0.64% |
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.
Jefferson County: tax-to-income at 2.1%
Counties near Jefferson County's effective rate
On effective rate, Jefferson County sits nearest Navajo County (AZ), Pike County (AR), Habersham County (GA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Monroe County (GA), St. Louis County (MN), Elmore County (ID).
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
Jefferson County: only 9% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 26,730 of 291,230 returns from Jefferson County reported real estate taxes, averaging $5,063 - 41% 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 Alabama
Jefferson County rate FAQs
- How does Jefferson County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Jefferson County run well below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.59% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Jefferson County, Alabama?
- The median annual property tax in Jefferson County is $1,409, an effective rate of 0.59% on a $240,000 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Jefferson County?
- Jefferson County, Alabama scores C (59/100) 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 rate relief at B (0.59%). 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 Jefferson County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Jefferson County jumped 33.2% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $1,058 to $1,409, 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 Jefferson County?
- Property taxes in Jefferson County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.1% of the $66,388 median household income.
What to do with Jefferson County's QUIET rate
Jefferson County's $1,409 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 →
Jefferson County ranks #1 of 67 Alabama counties by effective rate - on the higher-burden half of the state ACS set. Alabama overview →
Nationwide peers by effective rate (then bill)
Rate-first peers for Jefferson County's QUIET effective rate, then a disjoint out-of-state bill set so the two neighborhoods stay distinct.
Similar effective rate
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS effective rate. This county: 0.59%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $1,409/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Jefferson County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Jefferson County (QUIET · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET LIGHT
Dinwiddie County, VA
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Jefferson County at $1,409/yr; rate 0.55% vs Jefferson County 0.59%.
Edgar County, IL
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Jefferson County at $1,409/yr; rate 1.45% vs Jefferson County 0.59%.
Gray County, TX
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,408/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 1.37% vs Jefferson County 0.59%.
McCracken County, KY
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,410/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.75% vs Jefferson County 0.59%.
Alabama county set
State ACS overview for every published Alabama county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Jefferson County stamps QUIET · LIGHT - 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 Jefferson County (QUIET · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.