North Dakota · County property tax · ACS 2024
Wells County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Wells County pays $1,119 a year, an effective rate of 0.98%, well below the U.S. average.
- $1,119
- Median tax / yr · Below-median bill
- 0.98%
- Effective rate · Above-median rate
- -44%
- vs U.S. average
- #25 of 53
- rank in ND
The verdict
Homeowners in Wells County pay a median $1,119 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.98%, more affordable than 37% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $1,119
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.98%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1972 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -44%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($114,500). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for North Dakota. Population: 3,890. Owner-occupied homes: 1,377.
The median annual property tax in Wells County is $1,119, which is 55% lower than the North Dakota state average and 44% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.98% on a median home value of $114,500. Property taxes represent 1.7% of the median household income in this county.
Wells County's rate standing among U.S. counties
Primary signal
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Wells County's 0.98% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 37%).
Decision signal 2
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Wells County pay a median annual property tax of $1,119, well below the national median and far below the North Dakota state median. On a $114,500 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.98% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 3
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Wells County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.7% of the $66,114 median household income.
Decision signal 4
Near the middle of North Dakota counties by effective rate
Wells County ranks #25 of 53 counties in North Dakota by effective rate (53% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Wells 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 gave way faster than almost anywhere
Between the 2020 and 2024 releases the median home value in Wells County rose 27.8%, from $89,600 to $114,500. The effective rate fell 23.3% over the same span, a steeper move than in 90% of U.S. counties.
The median bill still fell 2.0%, to $1,119. Where the rate drops this far and the bill rises anyway, what changed is the value the rate is applied to.
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 $1,142 in 2020 to $1,119 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: 429 of 1,377 owner-occupied homes (31.2%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
Both the income and the rate here sit in the third quarter nationally, and the median bill is 1.7% of median household income. Two above-average figures pulling in opposite directions is why the rate on its own is a poor guide.
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 Wells County fell from $1,142 to $1,119, a change of -2.0%. 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 Wells County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Wells County homeowners, 429 of 1,377 owner-occupied homes (31.2%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 31.2% (429)
- $800 to $1,499 28.2% (388)
- $1,500 to $1,999 8.9% (122)
- $2,000 to $2,999 13.2% (182)
- $3,000 or more 9.7% (134)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
122 homes here (8.9%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how North Dakota handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Wells County pay a substantially higher bill, 38% more, pointing to a wide home-value gap between the two groups.
Wells County's effective rate vs peers
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value), ACS 2024.
Wells County's effective rate is higher than 53% of the 53 counties in North Dakota - ranking #25 of 53.
Where Wells County sits among every U.S. county
Effective property tax rate (median tax ÷ median home value)
0.98% more affordable than 37% 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
Same rate as North Dakota, a smaller bill
The effective rate here sits within 1% of the North Dakota median, yet the median bill runs 55% below it. When the rate matches and the cheque does not, the difference is in what is being taxed, not how heavily: the same percentage applied to cheaper housing produces $1,119 here. That is why comparing counties on rate alone can invert the answer a homeowner actually cares about.
Wells County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Wells County | North Dakota Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Below-median bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Above-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Light income burden | 1.7% | - | - |
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.
Wells County is UNDER · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · North Dakota counties.
Wells County rate trail · UNDER
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1,119 +1.1% | 0.98% |
| 2023 | $1,107 -2.6% | 1.04% |
| 2022 | $1,137 -3.3% | 1.09% |
| 2021 | $1,176 +3.0% | 1.13% |
| 2020 | $1,142 | 1.27% |
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.
Wells County: tax takes only 1.7% of income
Counties near Wells County's effective rate
On effective rate, Wells County sits nearest Hertford County (NC), Logan County (NE), Silver Bow County (MT).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Taliaferro County (GA), Scott County (IL), Faulk County (SD).
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
IRS county file: no disclosed Wells County Schedule A rows
The IRS county file records no returns reporting real estate taxes on Schedule A for Wells County. That is a limit of the published data rather than a finding about the county: county-level figures are withheld where the counts are too small to disclose safely, which is common in places with few filers. Roughly one county in sixteen is in this position, so the filer view available elsewhere on this site is simply not available here. Source: IRS Statistics of Income county data.
Other Counties in North Dakota
Wells County rate FAQs
- How does Wells County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Wells County run well below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.98% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What is the average property tax in Wells County, North Dakota?
- The median annual property tax in Wells County is $1,119, an effective rate of 0.98% on a $114,500 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- What is the tax affordability score for Wells County?
- Wells County, North Dakota scores C+ (61/100) 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+ (1.73×). 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 Wells County?
- Property taxes in Wells County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.7% of the $66,114 median household income.
- Are property taxes increasing in Wells County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Wells County eased 2.0% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $1,142 to $1,119, 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 Wells County's UNDER rate
Wells County's $1,119 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 1.7% of Wells County's $66,114 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by effective rate (then bill)
Rate-first peers for Wells County's UNDER 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: 0.98%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $1,119/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Wells County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Wells County (UNDER · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER LIGHT
Winkler County, TX
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Wells County at $1,119/yr; rate 0.76% vs Wells County 0.98%.
Bryan County, OK
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,118/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.64% vs Wells County 0.98%.
Columbus County, NC
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,120/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.77% vs Wells County 0.98%.
De Baca County, NM
ABS(median_tax) peer · $1,118/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.60% vs Wells County 0.98%.
North Dakota county set
State ACS overview for every published North Dakota county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Wells County stamps UNDER · 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 Wells County (UNDER · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.