Louisiana · County property tax · ACS 2024
Tensas Parish Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Tensas Parish pays $221 a year, an effective rate of 0.26%, far below the U.S. average.
- $221
- Median tax / yr · Very low bill
- 0.26%
- Effective rate · Very low rate
- -89%
- vs U.S. average
- #61 of 64
- rank in LA
The verdict
Homeowners in Tensas Parish pay a median $221 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.26%, more affordable than 99% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $221
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.26%
- Effective rate on median home
- #29 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -89%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($86,300). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Louisiana. Population: 3,935. Owner-occupied homes: 1,171.
The median annual property tax in Tensas Parish is $221, which is 81% lower than the Louisiana state average and 89% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.26% on a median home value of $86,300. Property taxes represent 0.6% of the median household income in this county.
Tensas Parish's rate standing among U.S. counties
Primary signal
The effective rate is a national tailwind
Tensas Parish's 0.26% effective rate is among the lowest of 3,135 tracked counties: roughly 99% pay a higher rate.
Decision signal 2
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Tensas Parish pay a median annual property tax of $221, far below the national median and far below the Louisiana state median. On a $86,300 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.26% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 3
High among Louisiana counties by effective rate
Tensas Parish ranks #61 of 64 counties in Louisiana by effective rate (5% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 4
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Tensas Parish run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 0.6% of the $36,615 median household income.
Decision signal 5
The latest release moved the bill down
Since 2023, the published ACS median estimate has eased 4.7%, from $232 to $221. 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 Tensas Parish 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
This is one of the counties where the typical bill came down, from $418 in 2020 to $221 in 2024, a fall of 47%. 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: 535 of 1,171 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.
Both sides of this comparison sit low: household income here is in the bottom quarter of US counties, and so is the effective tax rate. The median bill works out at 0.6% of median household income, which is the arithmetic of a modest levy on modest earnings rather than of any deliberate relief.
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 Tensas Parish fell from $418 to $221, a change of -47.1%. 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.
Paying off the mortgage changes the picture here
36.2% of Tensas Parish homes owned free and clear (309 of 853) report no property tax at all, against 45.0% 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 Tensas Parish Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Tensas Parish homeowners, 535 of 1,171 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% (535)
- $800 to $1,499 8.6% (101)
- $1,500 to $1,999 3.3% (39)
- $2,000 to $2,999 0.7% (8)
- $3,000 or more 3.1% (36)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
452 homes here (38.6%) report no real estate tax at all, an unusually large share, high enough that the median bill above describes a minority of Tensas Parish homeowners. Exemptions are set by state: how Louisiana handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged and non-mortgaged homeowners in Tensas Parish pay about the same bill, within a 2% gap either way.
Tensas Parish's effective rate vs peers
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value), ACS 2024.
Tensas Parish's effective rate is higher than 5% of the 64 counties in Louisiana - ranking #61 of 64.
Where Tensas Parish sits among every U.S. county
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value)
0.26% Among the most affordable more affordable than 99% 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
Among the lowest-taxed counties in the country
At 0.26%, Tensas Parish sits in the lowest 1% of all U.S. counties by effective property-tax rate. A low rate does not by itself mean a low bill: the median here is $221, and what a homeowner actually pays depends as much on local home values as on the rate.
Tensas Parish vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Tensas Parish | Louisiana Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Very low bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Very low rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Very light income burden | 0.6% | - | - |
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.
Tensas Parish is QUIET · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Louisiana counties.
Tensas Parish rate trail · QUIET
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $221 -4.7% | 0.26% |
| 2023 | $232 -10.4% | 0.29% |
| 2022 | $259 +4.0% | 0.33% |
| 2021 | $249 -40.4% | 0.30% |
| 2020 | $418 | 0.53% |
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.
Tensas Parish: tax takes only 0.6% of income
Counties near Tensas Parish's effective rate
On effective rate, Tensas Parish sits nearest San Miguel County (CO), La Plata County (CO), Walker County (AL).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Borden County (TX), Castro County (TX), Kent County (TX).
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
Tensas Parish: only 2% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 30 of 1,610 returns from Tensas Parish reported real estate taxes, averaging $3,333 - 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 Louisiana
Tensas Parish rate FAQs
- How does Tensas Parish property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Tensas Parish run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.26% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Tensas Parish, Louisiana?
- The median annual property tax in Tensas Parish is $221, an effective rate of 0.26% on a $86,300 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Tensas Parish?
- Tensas Parish, Louisiana scores A+ (96/100) 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 rate relief at A+ (0.26%). 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 Tensas Parish?
- Property taxes in Tensas Parish run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 0.6% of the $36,615 median household income.
- Are property taxes increasing in Tensas Parish?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Tensas Parish is recorded at $221 in the 2024 5-year release against $418 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 1,171 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 to do with Tensas Parish's QUIET rate
Tensas Parish's $221 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 0.6% of Tensas Parish's $36,615 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by effective rate (then bill)
Rate-first peers for Tensas Parish's QUIET 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: 0.26%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $221/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Tensas Parish
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Tensas Parish (QUIET · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET LIGHT
Choctaw County, AL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $207/yr (near-tied bill ABS $14); rate 0.17% vs Tensas Parish 0.26%.
Aleutians East Borough, AK
ABS(median_tax) peer · $199/yr (near-tied bill ABS $22); rate 0.15% vs Tensas Parish 0.26%.
Bethel Census Area, AK
ABS(median_tax) peer · $199/yr (near-tied bill ABS $22); rate 0.12% vs Tensas Parish 0.26%.
Copper River Census Area, AK
ABS(median_tax) peer · $199/yr (near-tied bill ABS $22); rate 0.07% vs Tensas Parish 0.26%.
Louisiana county set
State ACS overview for every published Louisiana county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Tensas Parish 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 Tensas Parish (QUIET · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.