West Virginia · County property tax · ACS 2024
McDowell County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in McDowell County pays $337 a year, an effective rate of 0.67%, far below the U.S. average.
- $337
- Median tax / yr · Very low bill
- 0.67%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -83%
- vs U.S. average
- #3 of 55
- rank in WV
The verdict
Homeowners in McDowell County pay a median $337 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.67%, more affordable than 63% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $337
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.67%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1158 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -83%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($50,000). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for West Virginia. Population: 17,943. Owner-occupied homes: 4,997.
The median annual property tax in McDowell County is $337, which is 61% lower than the West Virginia state average and 83% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.67% on a median home value of $50,000. Property taxes represent 1.1% of the median household income in this county.
Why McDowell County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in McDowell County pay a median annual property tax of $337, far below the national median and far below the West Virginia state median. On a $50,000 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.67% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among West Virginia counties by effective rate
McDowell County ranks #3 of 55 counties in West Virginia by effective rate (95% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in McDowell County run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.1% of the $31,559 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The latest release moved the bill up
Since 2023, the published ACS median estimate has jumped 21.2%, from $278 to $337. 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
McDowell County's 0.67% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 63%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in McDowell 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 55% from $218 to $337. 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: 2,913 of 4,997 owner-occupied homes (58.3%) 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 1.1% 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
37.4% of McDowell County homes owned free and clear (1,677 of 4,488) report no property tax at all, against 13.0% 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 McDowell County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of McDowell County homeowners, 2,913 of 4,997 owner-occupied homes (58.3%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 58.3% (2,913)
- $800 to $1,499 5.4% (269)
- $1,500 to $1,999 0.1% (4)
- $2,000 to $2,999 1.0% (52)
- $3,000 or more 0.3% (16)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
1,743 homes here (34.9%) report no real estate tax at all, an unusually large share, high enough that the median bill above describes a minority of McDowell County homeowners. Exemptions are set by state: how West Virginia handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in McDowell County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+90%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
McDowell County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around McDowell County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
McDowell County's median bill is 61% below the West Virginia median and 83% below the U.S. median.
A high rate, a smaller bill
McDowell County taxes property at 0.67%, about 26% above the West Virginia average, yet its median bill of $337 lands roughly 61% 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.
McDowell County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | McDowell County | West Virginia Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Very low bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Very light income burden | 1.1% | - | - |
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.
McDowell County is QUIET · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · West Virginia counties.
McDowell County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $337 +21.2% | 0.67% |
| 2023 | $278 +3.7% | 0.57% |
| 2022 | $268 +13.1% | 0.56% |
| 2021 | $237 +8.7% | 0.54% |
| 2020 | $218 | 0.55% |
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.
McDowell County: tax takes only 1.1% of income
Counties near McDowell County's median bill
On effective rate, McDowell County sits nearest Skamania County (WA), Lewis County (WA), Island County (WA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Wells County (IN), Uvalde County (TX), Candler County (GA).
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 McDowell County Schedule A rows
The IRS county file records no returns reporting real estate taxes on Schedule A for McDowell 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 West Virginia
McDowell County bill FAQs
- How does McDowell County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in McDowell County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.67% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in McDowell County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for McDowell County is recorded at $337 in the 2024 5-year release against $218 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 4,997 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 McDowell County?
- Property taxes in McDowell County run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.1% of the $31,559 median household income.
- What is the average property tax in McDowell County, West Virginia?
- The median annual property tax in McDowell County is $337, an effective rate of 0.67% on a $50,000 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for McDowell County?
- McDowell County, West Virginia scores A- (82/100) 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+ ($337/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 McDowell County's LIGHT bill
McDowell County's $337 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 1.1% of McDowell County's $31,559 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for McDowell 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: 0.67%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $337/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with McDowell County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for McDowell County (QUIET · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET LIGHT
Lowndes County, AL
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with McDowell County at $337/yr; rate 0.39% vs McDowell County 0.67%.
East Feliciana Parish, LA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $339/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 0.15% vs McDowell County 0.67%.
Bullock County, AL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $332/yr (near-tied bill ABS $5); rate 0.41% vs McDowell County 0.67%.
Clay County, AL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $331/yr (near-tied bill ABS $6); rate 0.21% vs McDowell County 0.67%.
West Virginia county set
State ACS overview for every published West Virginia county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
McDowell 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 McDowell County (QUIET · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.