New Mexico · County property tax · ACS 2024
Quay County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Quay County pays $532 a year, an effective rate of 0.61%, far below the U.S. average.
- $532
- Median tax / yr · Very low bill
- 0.61%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -73%
- vs U.S. average
- #11 of 33
- rank in NM
The verdict
Homeowners in Quay County pay a median $532 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.61%, more affordable than 70% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $532
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.61%
- Effective rate on median home
- #932 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -73%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($87,200). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for New Mexico. Population: 8,564. Owner-occupied homes: 3,142.
The median annual property tax in Quay County is $532, which is 69% lower than the New Mexico state average and 73% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.61% on a median home value of $87,200. Property taxes represent 1.3% of the median household income in this county.
Why Quay County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Quay County pay a median annual property tax of $532, far below the national median and far below the New Mexico state median. On a $87,200 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.61% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Quay County run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.3% of the $41,946 median household income.
Decision signal 3
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Quay County's 0.61% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 70%).
Decision signal 4
Near the middle of New Mexico counties by effective rate
Quay County ranks #11 of 33 counties in New Mexico by effective rate (67% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 5
The latest release moved the bill up
Since 2023, the published ACS median estimate has ticked up 4.9%, from $507 to $532. This compares two release estimates; it does not identify a local policy, assessment, exemption, or household-bill cause.
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Quay 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 39% from $384 to $532. 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: 1,820 of 3,142 owner-occupied homes (57.9%) 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 1.3% 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.
What Quay County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Quay County homeowners, 1,820 of 3,142 owner-occupied homes (57.9%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 57.9% (1,820)
- $800 to $1,499 15.4% (483)
- $1,500 to $1,999 6.1% (192)
- $2,000 to $2,999 5.1% (160)
- $3,000 or more 1.6% (49)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
438 homes here (13.9%) report no real estate tax at all, a sizeable minority for a county this size. Exemptions are set by state: how New Mexico handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Quay County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+76%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
Quay County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Quay County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
Quay County's median bill is 69% below the New Mexico median and 73% below the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Quay County moved from $384 in the 2020 release to $532 in 2024, a change of about 39%. 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.
Quay County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Quay County | New Mexico 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 | 1.3% | - | - |
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.
Quay County is QUIET · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · New Mexico counties.
Quay County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $532 +4.9% | 0.61% |
| 2023 | $507 +9.5% | 0.62% |
| 2022 | $463 +17.2% | 0.60% |
| 2021 | $395 +2.9% | 0.55% |
| 2020 | $384 | 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.
Quay County: tax takes only 1.3% of income
Counties near Quay County's median bill
On effective rate, Quay County sits nearest Esmeralda County (NV), Wibaux County (MT), Lake County (MT).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Kershaw County (SC), Gallatin County (MT), Eureka County (NV).
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
Quay County: only 2% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 60 of 3,720 returns from Quay County reported real estate taxes, averaging $1,717 - 50% 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 New Mexico
Quay County bill FAQs
- How does Quay County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Quay County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.61% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in Quay County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Quay County is recorded at $532 in the 2024 5-year release against $384 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 3,142 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 Quay County?
- Property taxes in Quay County run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.3% of the $41,946 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Quay County?
- Quay County, New Mexico scores B+ (79/100) 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+ ($532/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 is the average property tax in Quay County, New Mexico?
- The median annual property tax in Quay County is $532, an effective rate of 0.61% on a $87,200 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
What to do with Quay County's LIGHT bill
Quay County's $532 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 1.3% of Quay County's $41,946 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Quay 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: 0.61%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $532/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Quay County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Quay County (QUIET · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET LIGHT
LaSalle Parish, LA
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Quay County at $532/yr; rate 0.45% vs Quay County 0.61%.
Fulton County, AR
ABS(median_tax) peer · $533/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.47% vs Quay County 0.61%.
Hidalgo County, NM
ABS(median_tax) peer · $531/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.48% vs Quay County 0.61%.
Escambia County, AL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $530/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 0.39% vs Quay County 0.61%.
New Mexico county set
State ACS overview for every published New Mexico county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Quay 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 Quay County (QUIET · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.