North Carolina · County property tax · ACS 2024
Wake County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Wake County pays $3,260 a year, an effective rate of 0.71%, far above the U.S. average.
- $3,260
- Median tax / yr · High bill
- 0.71%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- +64%
- vs U.S. average
- #37 of 100
- rank in NC
The verdict
Homeowners in Wake County pay a median $3,260 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.71%, more affordable than 58% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $3,260
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.71%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1302 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- +64%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($461,300). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for North Carolina. Population: 1,178,653. Owner-occupied homes: 295,069.
The median annual property tax in Wake County is $3,260, which is 72% higher than the North Carolina state average and 64% above the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.71% on a median home value of $461,300. Property taxes represent 3.1% of the median household income in this county.
Why Wake County's ACS bill runs high vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well above the national median
Homeowners in Wake County pay a median annual property tax of $3,260, far above the national median and far above the North Carolina state median. On a $461,300 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.71% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Near the middle of North Carolina counties by effective rate
Wake County ranks #37 of 100 counties in North Carolina by effective rate (63% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Wake County's 0.71% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 58%).
Decision signal 4
Income and the tax bill sit in the middle band
Property taxes in Wake County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 3.1% of the $105,768 median household income.
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Wake 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
Wake County's effective rate fell 15.4% across the 4-year span while its median home value rose 53.0%, leaving the median bill 29.4% higher at $3,260. That rate move is larger than the one in 66% 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 $2,519 to $3,260. 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: 161,387 of 295,069 owner-occupied homes (54.7%) 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 3.1% 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 Wake County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Wake County homeowners, 161,387 of 295,069 owner-occupied homes (54.7%), pays $3,000 or more a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 3.9% (11,495)
- $800 to $1,499 8.4% (24,838)
- $1,500 to $1,999 9.4% (27,772)
- $2,000 to $2,999 22.2% (65,552)
- $3,000 or more 54.7% (161,387)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
4,025 homes here (1.4%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how North Carolina handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged and non-mortgaged homeowners in Wake County pay about the same bill, a 1% gap.
Wake County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Wake County's HEAVY ACS 2024 figure.
Wake County's median bill is 72% above the North Carolina median and 64% above the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Wake County moved from $2,519 in the 2020 release to $3,260 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.
Wake County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Wake County | North Carolina Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax High bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Above-median income burden | 3.1% | - | - |
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 Wake County's $3,260 median bill appeal-worthy?
At Wake County's $3,260 ACS median (HEAVY), a 10% assessment cut is worth about $326/yr before exemptions. Appeal Savings Estimator · appeal guide for North Carolina.
Wake County bill trail · HEAVY
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $3,260 +7.8% | 0.71% |
| 2023 | $3,023 +4.5% | 0.71% |
| 2022 | $2,894 +8.5% | 0.75% |
| 2021 | $2,668 +5.9% | 0.82% |
| 2020 | $2,519 | 0.84% |
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.
Wake County: tax-to-income at 3.1%
Counties near Wake County's median bill
On effective rate, Wake County sits nearest Kings County (NY), Loup County (NE), Madison County (MO).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are San Patricio County (TX), Bronx County (NY), Haralson County (GA).
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
Wake County: only 11% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 59,760 of 557,740 returns from Wake County reported real estate taxes, averaging $5,347 - 41% 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 North Carolina
Wake County bill FAQs
- How does Wake County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Wake County run far above the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.71% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in Wake County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Wake County jumped 29.4% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $2,519 to $3,260, 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 average property tax in Wake County, North Carolina?
- The median annual property tax in Wake County is $3,260, an effective rate of 0.71% on a $461,300 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Wake County?
- Property taxes in Wake County run within the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 3.1% of the $105,768 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Wake County?
- Wake County, North Carolina 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 mortgage premium at A (+$38). 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 Wake County's HEAVY bill
Wake County's $3,260 median bill sits well above the U.S. median - size a personal estimate before treating the county headline as your budget. Estimate your bill →
Wake County ranks #37 of 100 North Carolina counties by effective rate - on the higher-burden half of the state ACS set. North Carolina overview →
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Wake 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: 0.71%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $3,260/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Wake County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Wake County (UNDER · HEAVY), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER HEAVY
Linn County, OR
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,261/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.87% vs Wake County 0.71%.
Nome Census Area, AK
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,264/yr (near-tied bill ABS $4); rate 1.55% vs Wake County 0.71%.
Pennington County, SD
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,265/yr (near-tied bill ABS $5); rate 1.08% vs Wake County 0.71%.
Piatt County, IL
ABS(median_tax) peer · $3,265/yr (near-tied bill ABS $5); rate 1.81% vs Wake County 0.71%.
North Carolina county set
State ACS overview for every published North Carolina county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Wake 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 Wake County (UNDER · HEAVY) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.