Arkansas · County property tax · ACS 2024
Jefferson County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Jefferson County pays $745 a year, an effective rate of 0.66%, far below the U.S. average.
- $745
- Median tax / yr · Low bill
- 0.66%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -63%
- vs U.S. average
- #4 of 75
- rank in AR
The verdict
Homeowners in Jefferson County pay a median $745 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.66%, more affordable than 64% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $745
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.66%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1116 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -63%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($113,400). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Arkansas. Population: 64,802. Owner-occupied homes: 14,839.
The median annual property tax in Jefferson County is $745, which is 28% lower than the Arkansas state average and 63% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.66% on a median home value of $113,400. Property taxes represent 1.5% 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 0.66% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 64%).
Decision signal 2
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Jefferson County pay a median annual property tax of $745, far below the national median and well below the Arkansas state median. On a $113,400 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.66% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 3
Low among Arkansas counties by effective rate
Jefferson County ranks #4 of 75 counties in Arkansas by effective rate (95% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 4
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Jefferson County run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.5% of the $51,096 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.
The rate held while the market moved
Jefferson County sits in the quarter of U.S. counties whose effective rate moved least over this span: 1.0% up, against a median home value that rose 33.6%.
A near-steady rate on a moving market passes that movement straight through: the median bill rose 35.0%, from $552 to $745.
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 35% from $552 to $745. 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: 6,925 of 14,839 owner-occupied homes (46.7%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
Incomes here are in the lowest quarter nationally while the rate sits just below the middle, and the median bill lands at 1.5% of median household income. The rate reads as unremarkable in a national ranking; the earnings behind it are not, and the ratio above is where the two meet.
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 Jefferson County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Jefferson County homeowners, 6,925 of 14,839 owner-occupied homes (46.7%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 46.7% (6,925)
- $800 to $1,499 21.9% (3,253)
- $1,500 to $1,999 8.7% (1,292)
- $2,000 to $2,999 6.8% (1,003)
- $3,000 or more 4.4% (655)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
1,711 homes here (11.5%) report no real estate tax at all, a sizeable minority for a county this size. Exemptions are set by state: how Arkansas handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Jefferson County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+76%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
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 95% of the 75 counties in Arkansas - ranking #4 of 75.
Where Jefferson County sits among every U.S. county
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value)
0.66% Among the most affordable more affordable than 64% 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
A high rate, a smaller bill
Jefferson County taxes property at 0.66%, about 20% above the Arkansas average, yet its median bill of $745 lands roughly 28% 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.
Jefferson County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Jefferson County | Arkansas 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.
Jefferson County is QUIET · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Arkansas counties.
Jefferson County rate trail · QUIET
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $745 +11.7% | 0.66% |
| 2023 | $667 +0.8% | 0.63% |
| 2022 | $662 +7.8% | 0.63% |
| 2021 | $614 +11.2% | 0.68% |
| 2020 | $552 | 0.65% |
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 takes only 1.5% of income
Counties near Jefferson County's effective rate
On effective rate, Jefferson County sits nearest Marin County (CA), Orange County (CA), Tuolumne County (CA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Luna County (NM), Douglas County (WA), Garfield County (CO).
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 4% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 1,080 of 26,570 returns from Jefferson County reported real estate taxes, averaging $2,090 - 31% 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 Arkansas
Jefferson County rate FAQs
- How does Jefferson County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Jefferson County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.66% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the tax affordability score for Jefferson County?
- Jefferson County, Arkansas scores B (72/100) 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 bill size at A ($745/yr). 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 is the average property tax in Jefferson County, Arkansas?
- The median annual property tax in Jefferson County is $745, an effective rate of 0.66% on a $113,400 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- Are property taxes increasing in Jefferson County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Jefferson County jumped 35.0% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $552 to $745, 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 well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.5% of the $51,096 median household income.
What to do with Jefferson County's QUIET rate
Jefferson County's $745 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 Jefferson County's $51,096 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
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: 0.66%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $745/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
Arkansas County, AR
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Jefferson County at $745/yr; rate 0.54% vs Jefferson County 0.66%.
Brooke County, WV
ABS(median_tax) peer · $746/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.53% vs Jefferson County 0.66%.
Metcalfe County, KY
ABS(median_tax) peer · $743/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 0.67% vs Jefferson County 0.66%.
Saluda County, SC
ABS(median_tax) peer · $747/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 0.51% vs Jefferson County 0.66%.
Floyd County (rate-lane contrast)
Near Jefferson County on ACS median bill yet stamps a different effective-rate lane (0.76% vs 0.66%).
Arkansas county set
State ACS overview for every published Arkansas 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.