Massachusetts · County property tax · ACS 2024
Suffolk County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Suffolk County pays $4,649 a year, an effective rate of 0.66%, far above the U.S. average.
- $4,649
- Median tax / yr · Highest-decile bill
- 0.66%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- +133%
- vs U.S. average
- #12 of 14
- rank in MA
The verdict
Homeowners in Suffolk County pay a median $4,649 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.66%, more affordable than 64% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $4,649
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.66%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1116 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +133%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($705,800). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Massachusetts. Population: 785,121. Owner-occupied homes: 119,335.
The median annual property tax in Suffolk County is $4,649, which is 22% lower than the Massachusetts state average and 133% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.66% on a median home value of $705,800. Property taxes represent 4.9% of the median household income in this county.
Why Suffolk County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Suffolk County pay a median annual property tax of $4,649, far above the national median and notably lower than the Massachusetts state median. On a $705,800 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.66% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
High among Massachusetts counties by effective rate
Suffolk County ranks #12 of 14 counties in Massachusetts by effective rate (14% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Suffolk County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 4.9% of the $95,631 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Suffolk County's 0.66% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 64%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Suffolk 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.
The rate held while the market moved
Suffolk County sits in the quarter of U.S. counties whose effective rate moved least over this span: 5.2% down, against a median home value that rose 29.0%.
A near-steady rate on a moving market passes that movement straight through: the median bill rose 22.3%, from $3,801 to $4,649.
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 $3,801 to $4,649, a gain of 22%. This is a comparison of published ACS medians, not an explanation of a particular property's assessment or tax bill.
The heaviest band is also the fullest one here: 79,589 of 119,335 owner-occupied homes (66.7%) report annual real-estate taxes above $3,000. That band has no upper edge in the source, so the county median understates the burden carried by the plurality rather than describing it.
Top-quartile earnings meet a below-median rate, putting the median bill at 4.9% of median household income. Counties in this position span a wide range on the ratio above, because the dollar bill tracks home values rather than the rate.
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 Suffolk County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Suffolk County homeowners, 79,589 of 119,335 owner-occupied homes (66.7%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 6.0% (7,205)
- $800 to $1,499 7.6% (9,112)
- $1,500 to $1,999 5.0% (5,919)
- $2,000 to $2,999 11.2% (13,313)
- $3,000 or more 66.7% (79,589)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
4,197 homes here (3.5%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Massachusetts handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged and non-mortgaged homeowners in Suffolk County pay about the same bill, within a 7% gap either way.
Suffolk County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Suffolk County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Suffolk County's median bill is 22% below the Massachusetts median and 133% above the U.S. median.
Below Massachusetts on both measures
Suffolk County's effective rate runs 38% under the Massachusetts median and its bill 22% 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 $4,649 median bill reflects a genuinely lighter charge than the Massachusetts norm rather than a different denominator. Compare it against the state page before reading anything into the county rank.
Suffolk County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Suffolk County | Massachusetts Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Highest-decile bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Highest-decile income burden | 4.9% | - | - |
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.
Is Suffolk County's $4,649 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Suffolk County's $4,649 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $465/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Massachusetts.
Suffolk County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $4,649 +2.6% | 0.66% |
| 2023 | $4,533 +4.4% | 0.67% |
| 2022 | $4,341 +8.7% | 0.67% |
| 2021 | $3,993 +5.1% | 0.69% |
| 2020 | $3,801 | 0.69% |
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.
Suffolk County: tax takes 4.9% of income
Counties near Suffolk County's median bill
On effective rate, Suffolk County sits nearest Washington County (KY), Trimble County (KY), Spencer County (KY).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Winneshiek County (IA), Summit County (OH), Clark County (ID).
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
Suffolk County: only 9% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 35,340 of 391,650 returns from Suffolk County reported real estate taxes, averaging $8,634 - 43% of those reporters sat in the $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 Massachusetts
Suffolk County bill FAQs
- How does Suffolk County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Suffolk County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.66% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Suffolk County, Massachusetts?
- The median annual property tax in Suffolk County is $4,649, an effective rate of 0.66% on a $705,800 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Suffolk County?
- Property taxes in Suffolk County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 4.9% of the $95,631 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Suffolk County?
- Suffolk County, Massachusetts scores F (36/100) on PlainPropertyTax's tax affordability composite across 5 Census ACS dimensions (effective rate, bill size, income share, mortgage gap, and home-value/income). Its strongest scored dimension here is mortgage premium at A+ ($-333). 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.
- Are property taxes increasing in Suffolk County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Suffolk County jumped 22.3% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $3,801 to $4,649, 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 Suffolk County's HEAVY bill
Suffolk County's $4,649 median bill sits well above the U.S. median - size a personal estimate before treating the county headline as your budget. Estimate your bill →
Suffolk County ranks #12 of 14 Massachusetts counties by effective rate - on the lower-burden half of the state ACS set. Massachusetts overview →
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Suffolk County's HEAVY 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: 0.66%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $4,649/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Suffolk County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Suffolk County (QUIET · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET HEAVY
Lehigh County, PA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,651/yr (near-tied bill ABS $2); rate 1.55% vs Suffolk County 0.66%.
Manassas Park city, VA
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,636/yr (near-tied bill ABS $13); rate 1.17% vs Suffolk County 0.66%.
Ozaukee County, WI
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,631/yr (near-tied bill ABS $18); rate 1.19% vs Suffolk County 0.66%.
Erie County, NY
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,622/yr (near-tied bill ABS $27); rate 1.98% vs Suffolk County 0.66%.
Massachusetts county set
State ACS overview for every published Massachusetts county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Suffolk County stamps QUIET · HEAVY - 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 Suffolk County (QUIET · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.