West Virginia · County property tax · ACS 2024
Wetzel County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Wetzel County pays $721 a year, an effective rate of 0.67%, far below the U.S. average.
- $721
- Median tax / yr · Low bill
- 0.67%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -64%
- vs U.S. average
- #3 of 55
- rank in WV
The verdict
Homeowners in Wetzel County pay a median $721 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.67%, more affordable than 63% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $721
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.67%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1158 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 ($107,900). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for West Virginia. Population: 14,078. Owner-occupied homes: 5,083.
The median annual property tax in Wetzel County is $721, which is 17% lower than the West Virginia state average and 64% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.67% on a median home value of $107,900. Property taxes represent 1.3% of the median household income in this county.
Why Wetzel County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Wetzel County pay a median annual property tax of $721, far below the national median and notably lower than the West Virginia state median. On a $107,900 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.67% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Low among West Virginia counties by effective rate
Wetzel County ranks #3 of 55 counties in West Virginia by effective rate (95% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Decision signal 3
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Wetzel County run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.3% of the $56,836 median household income.
Decision signal 4
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Wetzel County's 0.67% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 63%).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Wetzel 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
Wetzel County sits in the quarter of U.S. counties whose effective rate moved least over this span: 4.0% up, against a median home value that rose 11.2%.
A near-steady rate on a moving market passes that movement straight through: the median bill rose 15.7%, from $623 to $721.
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 $623 to $721, a gain of 16%. This is a comparison of published ACS medians, not an explanation of a particular property's assessment or tax bill.
The largest reported group here falls at the bottom of the national range: 2,663 of 5,083 owner-occupied homes (52.4%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
Both figures cluster near the middle of the national range, and the median bill comes to 1.3% of median household income. Counties like this are the reason a national average exists at all, and also the reason it explains so little.
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 Wetzel County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Wetzel County homeowners, 2,663 of 5,083 owner-occupied homes (52.4%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 52.4% (2,663)
- $800 to $1,499 30.4% (1,547)
- $1,500 to $1,999 3.9% (198)
- $2,000 to $2,999 4.1% (208)
- $3,000 or more 1.3% (68)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
399 homes here (7.8%) report no real estate tax at all. Exemptions are set by state: how West Virginia handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Wetzel County pay a substantially higher bill, 42% more, pointing to a wide home-value gap between the two groups.
Wetzel County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Wetzel County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
Wetzel County's median bill is 17% below the West Virginia median and 64% below the U.S. median.
A high rate, a smaller bill
Wetzel County taxes property at 0.67%, about 26% above the West Virginia average, yet its median bill of $721 lands roughly 17% below it. The effective rate is the bill divided by the home's value, so a county can only sit on opposite sides of the state average this way when its homes are worth materially less than the state norm. The rate is the policy; the bill is what the housing market does with it.
Wetzel County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Wetzel County | West Virginia Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Low bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Very light income burden | 1.3% | - | - |
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.
Wetzel County is QUIET · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · West Virginia counties.
Wetzel County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $721 +8.6% | 0.67% |
| 2023 | $664 -3.5% | 0.65% |
| 2022 | $688 +9.2% | 0.65% |
| 2021 | $630 +1.1% | 0.63% |
| 2020 | $623 | 0.64% |
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.
Wetzel County: tax takes only 1.3% of income
Counties near Wetzel County's median bill
On effective rate, Wetzel County sits nearest Skamania County (WA), Lewis County (WA), Island County (WA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Manistee County (MI), Conecuh County (AL), Callahan 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
Wetzel County: only 1% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 80 of 6,610 returns from Wetzel County reported real estate taxes, averaging $1,525 - 63% 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 West Virginia
Wetzel County bill FAQs
- How does Wetzel County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Wetzel County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.67% versus 0.92% nationally.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Wetzel County?
- Property taxes in Wetzel County run well below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.3% of the $56,836 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Wetzel County?
- Wetzel County, West Virginia scores B+ (77/100) 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 income room at A+ (1.3%). 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 is the average property tax in Wetzel County, West Virginia?
- The median annual property tax in Wetzel County is $721, an effective rate of 0.67% on a $107,900 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
- Are property taxes increasing in Wetzel County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Wetzel County climbed 15.7% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $623 to $721, 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 Wetzel County's LIGHT bill
Wetzel County's $721 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 1.3% of Wetzel County's $56,836 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Wetzel County's LIGHT 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: 0.67%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $721/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Wetzel County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Wetzel County (QUIET · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
QUIET LIGHT
Appling County, GA
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Wetzel County at $721/yr; rate 0.94% vs Wetzel County 0.67%.
Halifax County, VA
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Wetzel County at $721/yr; rate 0.46% vs Wetzel County 0.67%.
Benton County, MS
ABS(median_tax) peer · $720/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.69% vs Wetzel County 0.67%.
Hickory County, MO
ABS(median_tax) peer · $722/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.41% vs Wetzel County 0.67%.
West Virginia county set
State ACS overview for every published West Virginia county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Wetzel County 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 Wetzel County (QUIET · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.