Kentucky · County property tax · ACS 2024
Lee County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Lee County pays $705 a year, an effective rate of 0.84%, far below the U.S. average.
- $705
- Median tax / yr · Very low bill
- 0.84%
- Effective rate · Above-median rate
- -65%
- vs U.S. average
- #16 of 120
- rank in KY
The verdict
Homeowners in Lee County pay a median $705 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.84%, more affordable than 47% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $705
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.84%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1663 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -65%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($83,900). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Kentucky. Population: 7,339. Owner-occupied homes: 2,017.
The median annual property tax in Lee County is $705, which is 54% lower than the Kentucky state average and 65% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.84% on a median home value of $83,900. Property taxes represent 1.9% of the median household income in this county.
Why Lee County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Lee County pay a median annual property tax of $705, far below the national median and far below the Kentucky state median. On a $83,900 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.84% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among Kentucky counties by effective rate
Lee County ranks #16 of 120 counties in Kentucky by effective rate (87% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Lee County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.9% of the $37,568 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Lee County's 0.84% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 47%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Lee 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 6.8% down between 2020 and 2024, a smaller shift than in 72% of U.S. counties. With the median home value rose 27.5%, the median bill rose 18.9% to $705: 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
Bills rose across 2020-2024, from $593 to $705, a gain of 19%. 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: 956 of 2,017 owner-occupied homes (47.4%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
This county earns in the bottom quarter of the country and taxes above the median rate, so the median bill absorbs 1.9% of median household income. The rate alone understates that; it is the pairing that matters.
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 Lee County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Lee County homeowners, 956 of 2,017 owner-occupied homes (47.4%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 47.4% (956)
- $800 to $1,499 18.1% (365)
- $1,500 to $1,999 8.5% (171)
- $2,000 to $2,999 4.1% (82)
- $3,000 or more 5.2% (104)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
339 homes here (16.8%) 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 Lee County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+90%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
Lee County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Lee County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
Lee County's median bill is 54% below the Kentucky median and 65% below the U.S. median.
Lee County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Lee County | Kentucky Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Very low bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Above-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Below-median income burden | 1.9% | - | - |
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.
Lee County is UNDER · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Kentucky counties.
Lee County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $705 +1.3% | 0.84% |
| 2023 | $696 -1.4% | 0.85% |
| 2022 | $706 +8.0% | 0.91% |
| 2021 | $654 +10.3% | 0.88% |
| 2020 | $593 | 0.90% |
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.
Lee County: tax takes only 1.9% of income
Counties near Lee County's median bill
On effective rate, Lee County sits nearest Richmond County (GA), Colquitt County (GA), Chatham County (GA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Randolph County (MO), Columbia County (GA), Roseau County (MN).
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
IRS county file: no disclosed Lee County Schedule A rows
The IRS county file records no returns reporting real estate taxes on Schedule A for Lee 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 Kentucky
Lee County bill FAQs
- How does Lee County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Lee County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.84% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Lee County?
- Property taxes in Lee County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.9% of the $37,568 median household income.
- What is the average property tax in Lee County, Kentucky?
- The median annual property tax in Lee County is $705, an effective rate of 0.84% on a $83,900 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- Are property taxes increasing in Lee County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Lee County climbed 18.9% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $593 to $705, 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 tax affordability score for Lee County?
- Lee County, Kentucky scores C+ (62/100) 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+ ($705/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 Lee County's LIGHT bill
Lee County's $705 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 1.9% of Lee County's $37,568 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Lee 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: 0.84%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $705/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Lee County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Lee County (UNDER · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER LIGHT
Henry County, TN
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Lee County at $705/yr; rate 0.44% vs Lee County 0.84%.
Tishomingo County, MS
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Lee County at $705/yr; rate 0.49% vs Lee County 0.84%.
Calhoun County, SC
ABS(median_tax) peer · $704/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.41% vs Lee County 0.84%.
Mason County, WV
ABS(median_tax) peer · $706/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.59% vs Lee County 0.84%.
Kentucky county set
State ACS overview for every published Kentucky county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Lee 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 Lee County (UNDER · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.