Which U.S. States Have the Highest and Lowest Property Taxes?

Home values have skyrocketed in recent years, rising almost 27% faster than inflation since 2020, raising discontent among voters who pay high property taxes, according to the Tax Foundation.

Local governments rely heavily on property taxes to fund things like schools, roads, police departments, fire and emergency medical services.

A recent study by the Tax Foundation reveals which U.S. states and counties pay the highest property taxes.

 

Since property taxes are often tied to home values, naturally the places with high-price real estate pay the highest dollar amounts, such as the counties surrounding New York City and San Francisco, and along California’s coast, according to research by the Tax Foundation.

But you may be surprised to learn that 34 states have higher effective property tax rates than California and all of the states have higher effective rates than Hawaii. Effective tax rate is the total real taxes paid divided by the total home value.

Taxes paid / home value = effective tax rate

The study by the Tax Foundation found the five counties with the highest property tax burdens all have an effective property tax rate above 2.95%. They are: Allegany and Orleans counties in New York, Camden and Salem counties in New Jersey, and Menominee County in Wisconsin.

The five counties with the lowest burdens all have an effective property tax rate below 0.18%. They include two places in Alaska, Choctaw County in Alabama, East Feliciana Parish in Louisiana, and Maui County in Hawaii.

The Tax Foundation used U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey and calculated the median property taxes paid by county, 2023 (5-year estimate) and property taxes paid as a percentage of owner-occupied housing value by state in 2023. See the full study and ranking of all 50 states at TaxFoundation.org.

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