Property tax guide
How Property Taxes Work
Property tax is an annual local tax on real estate, calculated by multiplying a home's assessed value by the local mill rate; it funds schools, police, fire departments, and other municipal services. The effective rate, taxes paid divided by market value, is the standard way to compare burden across counties, since assessment practices differ widely.
- $1,993
- county median bill
- 0.92%
- mean county rate
- 3,137
- counties with data
What a typical bill actually is
Across the 3,137 counties with published data, the commonest band is $1,000-$2,000 a year, holding 41% of them, while the national county median sits at $1,993.
- $1,993
- national county median bill
- $1,000-$2,000
- commonest band
- 3,137
- counties with published data
- 17
- counties reported at the $10,001 cap
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024. The ACS caps the published median at $10,001, so the top band means "at or above". It is not a national maximum.
What U.S. counties actually pay
Counties by median annual property-tax bill, ACS 2024
- $0
$0
717 counties
- $1,000
$1,000
1,292 counties
- $2,000
$2,000
629 counties
- $3,000 255
$3,000
255 counties
- $4,000 113
$4,000
113 counties
- $5,000 47
$5,000
47 counties
- $6,000 31
$6,000
31 counties
- $7,000 20
$7,000
20 counties
- $8,000 11
$8,000
11 counties
- $9,000 5
$9,000
5 counties
- $10,000+ 17
$10,000+
17 counties
What this shows The distribution is heavily right-skewed: most counties cluster low, and a long tail of high-cost counties pulls the average well above the commonest band. The final bar is the ACS cap, not a ceiling on real bills.
What Are Property Taxes?
Property taxes are annual taxes levied by local governments on real estate. They are the primary funding source for local services including public schools, fire departments, police, road maintenance, and local government operations. Unlike federal income taxes, property taxes are set and collected locally, meaning rates vary dramatically from county to county.
How Property Taxes Are Calculated
Your property tax bill is determined by two factors:
Property Tax = Assessed Value × Tax Rate (Mill Rate)
Assessed value is determined by your local tax assessor, usually based on the property's fair market value. Some states assess at full market value, while others use a fraction (e.g., 50% in some states).
Tax rate (mill rate) is set by local taxing authorities. One "mill" equals $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value. A 20-mill rate means you pay $20 per $1,000 of assessed value.
What Determines Property Taxes?
Assessed value, the combined mill rate, and any exemptions set each bill. Holding home value roughly constant shows how much the local levy and assessment practice move the result: the three ACS 2024 counties below all sit between $200,000 and $350,000 median home value, yet the highest effective rate is about 20× the lowest.
Same home-value band · ACS 2024
What the published inputs produce
Effective rate = median taxes paid ÷ median home value for owner-occupied homes. These are county medians, not any individual assessment, and they do not recommend moving to or avoiding a place.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates. See also how assessments work and mill rates.
What Is an Effective Tax Rate?
The effective tax rate is the actual percentage of a home's market value paid in property taxes. It accounts for all the complexities of assessment ratios, exemptions, and multiple taxing jurisdictions. On PlainPropertyTax, we calculate it as:
Effective Rate = Median Taxes Paid ÷ Median Home Value
This is the most useful comparison metric because it normalizes across different assessment practices.
Worked example, averaged across every county with 2024 data
Average county median home value: $227,791 · average county median taxes paid: $1,993
$1,993 ÷ $227,791 = 0.87%
Dividing one average by another is not the same as averaging each county's own rate: do it county by county and the answer is 0.92%, which is what our homepage reports. Both are honest; they answer slightly different questions. Any single county's rate divides that county's own median tax by its own median home value, see the county lookup.
Two homes worth the same can carry very different tax bills. The effective rate, not the sticker price, is what to compare.
Why Do Rates Vary So Much?
Property tax rates vary dramatically across the US for several reasons:
- Local funding decisions: Communities that fund more services locally (schools, parks, emergency services) tend to have higher rates.
- State policies: Some states limit property tax rates by law. Others have no income or sales tax and rely more heavily on property taxes.
- Home values: Areas with very high home values can collect more revenue at lower rates. Rural areas with low values may need higher rates.
- Assessment practices: How often properties are reassessed (annually vs. every few years) and whether there are assessment caps affects bills.
Where Do Property Tax Dollars Go?
Property tax is the backbone of local budgets. Across the US, a typical dollar of property tax is distributed roughly as follows, the exact split varies by community.
Where each dollar goes
A typical U.S. property tax dollar
Illustrative national averages. Public-school funding alone is usually the single largest line item in a property tax bill. Your community's split depends on which services it funds locally versus through state aid or other taxes.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Census of Governments (State & Local Government Finances); Urban Institute State & Local Finance Initiative.
About Our Data
PlainPropertyTax uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates. The ACS surveys millions of households annually and reports median property taxes actually paid by homeowners in every county. This self-reported data captures real tax bills including all exemptions and deductions homeowners receive. See our methodology for the exact tables and formulas used.
Explore property tax data: Browse by state · Lowest taxes · Tax estimator
Move from the average to your own number
A national median is a starting point, not an estimate. What you owe depends on your county's rate and your property's assessed value.
- Find what your own county actually collects. Look up a county
- Compare states once you know whether rate or dollar bill is the decision. See the rankings
- Run a specific home value through the local figures. Estimate a bill
Figures are ACS medians for owner-occupied homes, published per county. A median describes a county, not any individual assessment, and the published value is capped at $10,001.
Common questions
What determines property taxes?
Three published inputs set the bill: assessed value (what the local assessor records), the combined mill rate from every taxing authority that covers the parcel, and any exemptions or credits that reduce taxable value. Across counties with similar home values in ACS 2024, effective rates still diverge sharply: local levy choices and assessment practice drive the difference more than sticker home price alone.
How are property taxes calculated?
Property Tax = Assessed Value × Tax Rate (mill rate). One mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value. Because assessment ratios differ by state, PlainPropertyTax also reports the effective rate (median taxes paid ÷ median home value) so counties remain comparable.
How do property taxes work?
Local governments levy an annual tax on real estate to fund schools, public safety, roads, and other municipal services. Assessors set taxable value; taxing authorities set mill rates; the product is the bill. The ACS publishes what owner-occupants actually pay by county, which is the source behind the figures on this page.
PlainPropertyTax is rendered directly from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, no number is typed in by an editor. The 'Where do property tax dollars go' ranges are illustrative reference figures from U.S. Census of Governments surveys and are not computed from the ACS county dataset; all other figures on this page are drawn from Census ACS records. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-26.