Kentucky · County property tax · ACS 2024
Martin County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Martin County pays $716 a year, an effective rate of 0.82%, far below the U.S. average.
- $716
- Median tax / yr · Low bill
- 0.82%
- Effective rate · Above-median rate
- -64%
- vs U.S. average
- #22 of 120
- rank in KY
The verdict
Homeowners in Martin County pay a median $716 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.82%, more affordable than 49% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $716
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.82%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1614 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -64%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($86,900). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Kentucky. Population: 11,027. Owner-occupied homes: 3,272.
The median annual property tax in Martin County is $716, which is 54% lower than the Kentucky state average and 64% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.82% on a median home value of $86,900. Property taxes represent 1.9% of the median household income in this county.
Why Martin County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Martin County pay a median annual property tax of $716, far below the national median and far below the Kentucky state median. On a $86,900 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.82% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among Kentucky counties by effective rate
Martin County ranks #22 of 120 counties in Kentucky by effective rate (82% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Martin County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.9% of the $37,042 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The latest release moved the bill up
Since 2023, the published ACS median estimate has climbed 9.0%, from $657 to $716. This compares two release estimates; it does not identify a local policy, assessment, exemption, or household-bill cause.
Decision signal 5
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Martin County's 0.82% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 49%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Martin 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.
How to read this county's bill
The bill here climbed steeply over 2020-2024, up 30% from $549 to $716. 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: 1,494 of 3,272 owner-occupied homes (45.7%) 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.
Paying off the mortgage changes the picture here
20.2% of Martin County homes owned free and clear (549 of 2,717) report no property tax at all, against 23.1% 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 Martin County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Martin County homeowners, 1,494 of 3,272 owner-occupied homes (45.7%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 45.7% (1,494)
- $800 to $1,499 22.6% (741)
- $1,500 to $1,999 5.6% (183)
- $2,000 to $2,999 5.0% (163)
- $3,000 or more 0.4% (14)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
677 homes here (20.7%) 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
In Martin County, mortgaged homeowners pay 19% more than those without a mortgage, a gap that typically tracks higher home values rather than a different tax rate.
Martin County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Martin County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
Martin County's median bill is 54% below the Kentucky median and 64% below the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Martin County moved from $549 in the 2020 release to $716 in 2024, a change of about 30%. 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.
Martin County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Martin County | Kentucky Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax 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.
Martin County is UNDER · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Kentucky counties.
Martin County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $716 +9.0% | 0.82% |
| 2023 | $657 +0.5% | 0.77% |
| 2022 | $654 +25.0% | 0.71% |
| 2021 | $523 -4.7% | 0.77% |
| 2020 | $549 | 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.
Martin County: tax takes only 1.9% of income
Counties near Martin County's median bill
On effective rate, Martin County sits nearest Elkhart County (IN), McDuffie County (GA), Early County (GA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Kittson County (MN), Shawnee County (KS), Platte County (WY).
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
Martin County: only 1% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 20 of 2,930 returns from Martin County reported real estate taxes, averaging $2,400 - 100% of those reporters sat in the $25-50k 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
Martin County bill FAQs
- How does Martin County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Martin County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.82% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in Martin County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Martin County is recorded at $716 in the 2024 5-year release against $549 in 2020. That is a large swing, and it should be read as movement in a survey estimate rather than as a tax change: the median here rests on about 3,272 owner-occupied homes, and swings above 50% are roughly twelve times more common in the smallest counties than in the largest. Treat the two figures as imprecise and check the county assessor for actual rate changes.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Martin County?
- Property taxes in Martin County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.9% of the $37,042 median household income.
- What is the average property tax in Martin County, Kentucky?
- The median annual property tax in Martin County is $716, an effective rate of 0.82% on a $86,900 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Martin County?
- Martin 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 ($716/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 Martin County's LIGHT bill
Martin County's $716 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 Martin County's $37,042 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Martin 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: 0.82%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $716/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Martin County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Martin County (UNDER · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER LIGHT
Logan County, AR
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Martin County at $716/yr; rate 0.51% vs Martin County 0.82%.
Upshur County, WV
ABS(median_tax) peer · $717/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.42% vs Martin County 0.82%.
Columbia County, AR
ABS(median_tax) peer · $718/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 0.47% vs Martin County 0.82%.
Morgan County, AL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $718/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 0.34% vs Martin County 0.82%.
Kentucky county set
State ACS overview for every published Kentucky county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Martin 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 Martin County (UNDER · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.