Washington · County property tax · ACS 2024
Thurston County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Thurston County pays $4,209 a year, an effective rate of 0.88%, far above the U.S. average.
- $4,209
- Median tax / yr · Highest-decile bill
- 0.88%
- Effective rate · Above-median rate
- +111%
- vs U.S. average
- #2 of 39
- rank in WA
The verdict
Homeowners in Thurston County pay a median $4,209 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.88%, more affordable than 44% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $4,209
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.88%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1749 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +111%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($480,300). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Washington. Population: 299,067. Owner-occupied homes: 80,487.
The median annual property tax in Thurston County is $4,209, which is 8% lower than the Washington state average and 111% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.88% on a median home value of $480,300. Property taxes represent 4.4% of the median household income in this county.
Why Thurston County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Thurston County pay a median annual property tax of $4,209, far above the national median and modestly below the Washington state median. On a $480,300 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.88% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among Washington counties by effective rate
Thurston County ranks #2 of 39 counties in Washington by effective rate (95% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Thurston County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 4.4% of the $96,563 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Thurston County's 0.88% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 44%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Thurston 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.
A falling rate took the edge off
Thurston County's effective rate fell 15.4% across the 4-year span while its median home value rose 52.2%, leaving the median bill 28.8% higher at $4,209. That rate move is larger than the one in 65% of counties, so a good deal of the market's rise never reached the bill.
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
The bill here climbed steeply over 2020-2024, up 29% from $3,268 to $4,209. 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 heaviest band is also the fullest one here: 55,355 of 80,487 owner-occupied homes (68.8%) 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.
Earnings are in the national top quarter and the rate is above the midpoint, so the median bill represents 4.4% of median household income. A headline bill conflates the dollar figure with the proportion; the two come apart here, and the ratio above is the second of them.
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 Thurston County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Thurston County homeowners, 55,355 of 80,487 owner-occupied homes (68.8%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 6.7% (5,376)
- $800 to $1,499 4.8% (3,850)
- $1,500 to $1,999 3.7% (2,988)
- $2,000 to $2,999 12.0% (9,631)
- $3,000 or more 68.8% (55,355)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
3,287 homes here (4.1%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how Washington handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged and non-mortgaged homeowners in Thurston County pay about the same bill, a 2% gap.
Thurston County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Thurston County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Thurston County's median bill is 8% below the Washington median and 111% above the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Thurston County moved from $3,268 in the 2020 release to $4,209 in 2024, a change of about 29%. 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.
Thurston County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Thurston County | Washington Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Highest-decile bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Above-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Heavy income burden | 4.4% | - | - |
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 Thurston County's $4,209 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Thurston County's $4,209 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $421/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for Washington.
Thurston County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $4,209 +4.1% | 0.88% |
| 2023 | $4,043 +6.3% | 0.90% |
| 2022 | $3,802 +10.3% | 0.92% |
| 2021 | $3,446 +5.4% | 1.00% |
| 2020 | $3,268 | 1.04% |
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.
Thurston County: tax takes 4.4% of income
Counties near Thurston County's median bill
On effective rate, Thurston County sits nearest Wood County (TX), Bandera County (TX), Clark County (SD).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are McDuffie County (GA), Maury County (TN), York County (NE).
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
Thurston County: only 8% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 11,590 of 146,380 returns from Thurston County reported real estate taxes, averaging $6,518 - 36% 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 Washington
Thurston County bill FAQs
- How does Thurston County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Thurston County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.88% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Thurston County, Washington?
- The median annual property tax in Thurston County is $4,209, an effective rate of 0.88% on a $480,300 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Thurston County?
- Property taxes in Thurston County run a bit above the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 4.4% of the $96,563 median household income.
- Are property taxes increasing in Thurston County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Thurston County jumped 28.8% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $3,268 to $4,209, 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 is the tax affordability score for Thurston County?
- Thurston County, Washington scores F (30/100) 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- (+$74). 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 Thurston County's HEAVY bill
Thurston County's $4,209 median bill sits well above the U.S. median - size a personal estimate before treating the county headline as your budget. Estimate your bill →
Thurston County ranks #2 of 39 Washington counties by effective rate - on the higher-burden half of the state ACS set. Washington overview →
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Thurston 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: 0.88%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $4,209/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Thurston County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Thurston County (UNDER · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER HEAVY
Lancaster County, NE
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,204/yr (near-tied bill ABS $5); rate 1.53% vs Thurston County 0.88%.
Woodford County, IL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,215/yr (near-tied bill ABS $6); rate 2.13% vs Thurston County 0.88%.
Warren County, OH
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,199/yr (near-tied bill ABS $10); rate 1.20% vs Thurston County 0.88%.
Scott County, MN
ABS(median_tax) peer · $4,230/yr (near-tied bill ABS $21); rate 1.01% vs Thurston County 0.88%.
Washington county set
State ACS overview for every published Washington county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Thurston County stamps UNDER · 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 Thurston County (UNDER · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.