South Carolina · County property tax · ACS 2024
Lancaster County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Lancaster County pays $1,657 a year, an effective rate of 0.50%, notably lower than the U.S. average.
- $1,657
- Median tax / yr · Above-median bill
- 0.50%
- Effective rate · Low rate
- -17%
- vs U.S. average
- #25 of 46
- rank in SC
The verdict
Homeowners in Lancaster County pay a median $1,657 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.50%, more affordable than 84% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $1,657
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.50%
- Effective rate on median home
- #514 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -17%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($329,900). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for South Carolina. Population: 104,475. Owner-occupied homes: 33,409.
The median annual property tax in Lancaster County is $1,657, which is 32% higher than the South Carolina state average and 17% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.50% on a median home value of $329,900. Property taxes represent 2.1% of the median household income in this county.
Lancaster County's rate standing among U.S. counties
Primary signal
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Lancaster County's 0.50% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 84%).
Decision signal 2
The bill sits above the South Carolina median
Homeowners in Lancaster County pay a median annual property tax of $1,657, notably lower than the national median and well above the South Carolina state median. On a $329,900 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.50% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 3
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Lancaster County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.1% of the $78,869 median household income.
Decision signal 4
Near the middle of South Carolina counties by effective rate
Lancaster County ranks #25 of 46 counties in South Carolina by effective rate (46% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Lancaster 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 9.7% down between 2020 and 2024, a smaller shift than in 61% of U.S. counties. With the median home value rose 52.0%, the median bill rose 37.2% to $1,657: 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 37% from $1,208 to $1,657. 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: 7,760 of 33,409 owner-occupied homes (23.2%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
The most forgiving PAIRING in the data, top-quartile household income with a bottom-quartile effective rate, puts the median bill at 2.1% of median household income. Home values still drive the dollar figure, which is why the ratio above varies widely among counties that share this position.
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 Lancaster County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Lancaster County homeowners, 7,760 of 33,409 owner-occupied homes (23.2%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 23.2% (7,760)
- $800 to $1,499 20.5% (6,846)
- $1,500 to $1,999 12.7% (4,237)
- $2,000 to $2,999 18.0% (6,019)
- $3,000 or more 21.0% (7,008)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
1,539 homes here (4.6%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how South Carolina handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Lancaster County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+68%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
Lancaster County's effective rate vs peers
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value), ACS 2024.
Lancaster County's effective rate is higher than 46% of the 46 counties in South Carolina - ranking #25 of 46.
Where Lancaster County sits among every U.S. county
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value)
0.50% Among the most affordable more affordable than 84% 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 Lancaster County moved from $1,208 in the 2020 release to $1,657 in 2024, a change of about 37%. 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.
Lancaster County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Lancaster County | South Carolina Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Above-median bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Low 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.
Lancaster County is QUIET · MID on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · South Carolina counties.
Lancaster County rate trail · QUIET
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1,657 +11.4% | 0.50% |
| 2023 | $1,487 +6.4% | 0.50% |
| 2022 | $1,397 +9.1% | 0.51% |
| 2021 | $1,281 +6.0% | 0.57% |
| 2020 | $1,208 | 0.56% |
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.
Lancaster County: tax-to-income at 2.1%
Counties near Lancaster County's effective rate
On effective rate, Lancaster County sits nearest Pittsburg County (OK), Greer County (OK), Elko County (NV).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Tishomingo County (MS), Douglas County (SD), Bosque County (TX).
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
Lancaster County: only 8% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 3,910 of 48,810 returns from Lancaster County reported real estate taxes, averaging $3,400 - 38% 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 South Carolina
Lancaster County rate FAQs
- What is the average property tax in Lancaster County, South Carolina?
- The median annual property tax in Lancaster County is $1,657, an effective rate of 0.50% on a $329,900 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Lancaster County?
- Lancaster County, South Carolina scores C (55/100) 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 A- (0.50%). 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.
- How does Lancaster County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Lancaster County run notably lower than the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.50% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in Lancaster County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Lancaster County jumped 37.2% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $1,208 to $1,657, 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 Lancaster County?
- Property taxes in Lancaster County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.1% of the $78,869 median household income.
What to do with Lancaster County's QUIET rate
Inside South Carolina, Lancaster County's $1,657 median bill runs high versus the state median - compare the rest of the state before judging the burden. South Carolina overview →
Lancaster County ranks #25 of 46 South Carolina counties by effective rate - on the lower-burden half of the state ACS set. South Carolina overview →
Nationwide peers by effective rate (then bill)
Rate-first peers for Lancaster 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: 0.50%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $1,657/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Lancaster County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Lancaster County (QUIET · MID), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET MID
Alger County, MI
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,656/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.94% vs Lancaster County 0.50%.
East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,656/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.67% vs Lancaster County 0.50%.
Sandusky County, OH
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,659/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 1.03% vs Lancaster County 0.50%.
McKean County, PA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,660/yr (near-tied bill ABS $3); rate 1.59% vs Lancaster County 0.50%.
South Carolina county set
State ACS overview for every published South Carolina county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Lancaster County stamps QUIET · MID - 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 Lancaster County (QUIET · MID) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.