Kentucky · County property tax · ACS 2024
Lawrence County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Lawrence County pays $793 a year, an effective rate of 0.71%, far below the U.S. average.
- $793
- Median tax / yr · Low bill
- 0.71%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -60%
- vs U.S. average
- #50 of 120
- rank in KY
The verdict
Homeowners in Lawrence County pay a median $793 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.71%, more affordable than 58% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $793
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.71%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1302 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -60%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($111,700). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Kentucky. Population: 16,077. Owner-occupied homes: 4,934.
The median annual property tax in Lawrence County is $793, which is 49% lower than the Kentucky state average and 60% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.71% on a median home value of $111,700. Property taxes represent 1.7% of the median household income in this county.
Why Lawrence County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Lawrence County pay a median annual property tax of $793, far below the national median and well below the Kentucky state median. On a $111,700 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.71% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Lawrence County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.7% of the $46,772 median household income.
Decision signal 3
Near the middle of Kentucky counties by effective rate
Lawrence County ranks #50 of 120 counties in Kentucky by effective rate (58% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Lawrence County's 0.71% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 58%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Lawrence 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
Lawrence County sits in the quarter of U.S. counties whose effective rate moved least over this span: 1.8% up, against a median home value that rose 21.7%.
A near-steady rate on a moving market passes that movement straight through: the median bill rose 23.9%, from $640 to $793.
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 $640 to $793, a gain of 24%. This is a comparison of published ACS medians, not an explanation of a particular property's assessment or tax bill.
The largest reported group here falls at the bottom of the national range: 2,094 of 4,934 owner-occupied homes (42.4%) 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 1.7% 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.
Paying off the mortgage changes the picture here
21.6% of Lawrence County homes owned free and clear (639 of 2,955) report no property tax at all, against 7.2% 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.
What Lawrence County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Lawrence County homeowners, 2,094 of 4,934 owner-occupied homes (42.4%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 42.4% (2,094)
- $800 to $1,499 21.1% (1,042)
- $1,500 to $1,999 12.7% (628)
- $2,000 to $2,999 4.2% (205)
- $3,000 or more 3.7% (184)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
781 homes here (15.8%) report no real estate tax at all, a sizeable minority for a county this size. Exemptions are set by state: how Kentucky handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Lawrence County pay a substantially higher bill, 59% more, pointing to a wide home-value gap between the two groups.
Lawrence County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Lawrence County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
Lawrence County's median bill is 49% below the Kentucky median and 60% below the U.S. median.
Same rate as Kentucky, a smaller bill
The effective rate here sits within 5% of the Kentucky median, yet the median bill runs 49% below it. When the rate matches and the cheque does not, the difference is in what is being taxed, not how heavily: the same percentage applied to cheaper housing produces $793 here. That is why comparing counties on rate alone can invert the answer a homeowner actually cares about.
Lawrence County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Lawrence County | Kentucky 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 | 1.7% | - | - |
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.
Lawrence County is UNDER · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Kentucky counties.
Lawrence County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $793 +8.2% | 0.71% |
| 2023 | $733 +5.2% | 0.68% |
| 2022 | $697 +4.0% | 0.69% |
| 2021 | $670 +4.7% | 0.73% |
| 2020 | $640 | 0.70% |
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.
Lawrence County: tax takes only 1.7% of income
Counties near Lawrence County's median bill
On effective rate, Lawrence County sits nearest Monroe County (IN), Johnson County (IN), Huntington County (IN).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Washington County (IA), Washtenaw County (MI), Delaware County (OH).
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
Lawrence County: only 1% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 80 of 5,550 returns from Lawrence County reported real estate taxes, averaging $2,263 - 63% 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 Kentucky
Lawrence County bill FAQs
- How does Lawrence County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Lawrence County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.71% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Lawrence County?
- Property taxes in Lawrence County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.7% of the $46,772 median household income.
- Are property taxes increasing in Lawrence County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Lawrence County jumped 23.9% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $640 to $793, 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 is the average property tax in Lawrence County, Kentucky?
- The median annual property tax in Lawrence County is $793, an effective rate of 0.71% on a $111,700 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Lawrence County?
- Lawrence County, Kentucky scores B- (69/100) 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 ($793/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 to do with Lawrence County's LIGHT bill
Lawrence County's $793 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 1.7% of Lawrence County's $46,772 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Lawrence County's LIGHT 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: 0.71%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $793/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Lawrence County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Lawrence County (UNDER · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER LIGHT
Preston County, WV
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Lawrence County at $793/yr; rate 0.49% vs Lawrence County 0.71%.
Switzerland County, IN
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Lawrence County at $793/yr; rate 0.45% vs Lawrence County 0.71%.
Henderson County, TN
ABS(median_tax) peer · $794/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.48% vs Lawrence County 0.71%.
Johnson County, KY
ABS(median_tax) peer · $792/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.66% vs Lawrence County 0.71%.
Kentucky county set
State ACS overview for every published Kentucky county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Lawrence County stamps UNDER · 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 Lawrence County (UNDER · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.