Illinois · County property tax · ACS 2024
Scott County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Scott County pays $1,446 a year, an effective rate of 1.50%, well below the U.S. average.
- $1,446
- Median tax / yr · Below-median bill
- 1.50%
- Effective rate · High rate
- -27%
- vs U.S. average
- #83 of 102
- rank in IL
The verdict
Homeowners in Scott County pay a median $1,446 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.50%, more affordable than 11% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $1,446
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 1.50%
- Effective rate on median home
- #2795 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -27%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($96,400). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Illinois. Population: 4,937. Owner-occupied homes: 1,616.
The median annual property tax in Scott County is $1,446, which is 73% lower than the Illinois state average and 27% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 1.50% on a median home value of $96,400. Property taxes represent 2.2% of the median household income in this county.
Scott County's rate standing among U.S. counties
Primary signal
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Scott County's 1.50% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 11%).
Decision signal 2
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Scott County pay a median annual property tax of $1,446, well below the national median and far below the Illinois state median. On a $96,400 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 1.50% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 3
High among Illinois counties by effective rate
Scott County ranks #83 of 102 counties in Illinois by effective rate (19% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 4
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Scott County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.2% of the $66,705 median household income.
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Scott 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 5.0%, the median bill fell 2.1% to $1,446: 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
This is one of the counties where the typical bill came down, from $1,477 in 2020 to $1,446 in 2024, a fall of 2%. The source reports the change but does not distinguish among rate, value, or household-composition effects.
The largest reported group here falls at the bottom of the national range: 444 of 1,616 owner-occupied homes (27.5%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
The rate is in the national top quarter while earnings are only moderately above the midpoint, so the median bill claims 2.2% of median household income. A high rate is affordable only relative to something, and this is what it is relative to here.
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.
The published bill went DOWN here
Between the 2020 and 2024 ACS releases the median annual property tax in Scott County fell from $1,477 to $1,446, a change of -2.1%. Fewer than three counties in a hundred recorded any decline over this period; nearly everywhere else the published figure rose. A fall can reflect reassessment, a shifting mix of the homes surveyed, or genuine rate relief, and these estimates cannot separate those causes.
What Scott County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Scott County homeowners, 444 of 1,616 owner-occupied homes (27.5%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 27.5% (444)
- $800 to $1,499 22.9% (370)
- $1,500 to $1,999 10.4% (168)
- $2,000 to $2,999 17.3% (279)
- $3,000 or more 19.2% (310)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
45 homes here (2.8%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Illinois handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Scott County pay a substantially higher bill, 50% more, pointing to a wide home-value gap between the two groups.
Scott County's effective rate vs peers
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value), ACS 2024.
Scott County's effective rate is higher than 19% of the 102 counties in Illinois - ranking #83 of 102.
Where Scott County sits among every U.S. county
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value)
1.50% more affordable than 11% of 3,135 U.S. counties
Show national distribution
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more U.S. counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024
Below Illinois on both measures
Scott County's effective rate runs 25% under the Illinois median and its bill 73% under. Both sitting on the same side means the gap is not a valuation artefact: a county can post a low rate purely because its homes are expensive, but then the bill rises to meet the state. Here it does not, so the $1,446 median bill reflects a genuinely lighter charge than the Illinois norm rather than a different denominator. Compare it against the state page before reading anything into the county rank.
Scott County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Scott County | Illinois Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Below-median bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate High rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Below-median income burden | 2.2% | - | - |
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.
Scott County's STEEP · LIGHT lane - is an appeal worth running?
On Scott County's published figures (STEEP · LIGHT), a $96,400 median home carries a $1,446 median bill, so every 10% off an assessed value is worth about $145 a year at the same rate. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Illinois.
Scott County rate trail · STEEP
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1,446 +2.8% | 1.50% |
| 2023 | $1,406 -3.9% | 1.38% |
| 2022 | $1,463 -2.4% | 1.54% |
| 2021 | $1,499 +1.5% | 1.64% |
| 2020 | $1,477 | 1.61% |
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.
Scott County: tax-to-income at 2.2%
Counties near Scott County's effective rate
On effective rate, Scott County sits nearest Black Hawk County (IA), Muscatine County (IA), Shawnee County (KS).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Taliaferro County (GA), Faulk County (SD), Petroleum County (MT).
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
Scott County: only 1% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 20 of 2,340 returns from Scott County reported real estate taxes, averaging $3,350 - 100% 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 Illinois
Scott County rate FAQs
- How does Scott County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Scott County run well below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 1.50% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Scott County, Illinois?
- The median annual property tax in Scott County is $1,446, an effective rate of 1.50% on a $96,400 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Scott County?
- Scott County, Illinois scores D (43/100) 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 housing pressure at A+ (1.45×). 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 percentage of income goes to property taxes in Scott County?
- Property taxes in Scott County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 2.2% of the $66,705 median household income.
- Are property taxes increasing in Scott County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Scott County eased 2.1% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $1,477 to $1,446, 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 to do with Scott County's STEEP rate
Scott County's $1,446 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 →
Scott County ranks #83 of 102 Illinois counties by effective rate - on the lower-burden half of the state ACS set. Illinois overview →
Nationwide peers by effective rate (then bill)
Rate-first peers for Scott County's STEEP effective rate, then a disjoint out-of-state bill set so the two neighborhoods stay distinct.
Similar effective rate
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS effective rate. This county: 1.50%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $1,446/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Scott County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Scott County (STEEP · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
STEEP LIGHT
Augusta County, VA
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Scott County at $1,446/yr; rate 0.47% vs Scott County 1.50%.
Bossier Parish, LA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,445/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.64% vs Scott County 1.50%.
DeSoto County, FL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,447/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.83% vs Scott County 1.50%.
Doniphan County, KS
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,445/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 1.07% vs Scott County 1.50%.
Illinois county set
State ACS overview for every published Illinois county rate and median bill.
Appeal filing windows
Scott County stamps STEEP · LIGHT - review notice deadlines before quoting the ACS median.
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 Scott County (STEEP · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.