Methodology & data sources
This page documents exactly where the numbers on TaxByCounty come from and how every figure is calculated. Nothing is invented: all values are real Census estimates, and the effective rate and rankings are transparent calculations over them. Where the Census does not publish a value, we show an em dash rather than guess.
The data source
Every figure is from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS), 2023 5-year estimates (vintage 2019-2023 (ACS 2023 5-year)), which is the most recent ACS 5-year release and covers all 51 states and DC. ACS data is in the US public domain. We use four tables, joined per county:
| Table | Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| B25103 | B25103_001E | Median real estate taxes paid, owner-occupied housing units ($/yr) |
| B25077 | B25077_001E | Median home value, owner-occupied ($) |
| B19013 | B19013_001E | Median household income ($) |
| B01003 | B01003_001E | Total population |
The dataset is fetched once and committed as a static snapshot (3,133 counties with usable property-tax data, 51 state aggregates). The site never calls the API at build time. Data as of June 2026.
The effective property-tax rate
The headline metric is the effective property-tax rate, the share of a home's value paid in tax each year:
effective rate (%) = median real estate taxes paid ÷ median home value × 100
For example, a county with a median tax of $3,751 on a home that is worth around the US median would have a rate near the US population-weighted average of 1.08%. Property tax as a share of income uses median taxes ÷ median household income.
State aggregates
Each state's headline rate is the population-weighted mean of its counties' effective rates (weighting each county by its population), so it reflects where people actually live rather than treating a tiny county the same as a large metro. As a robustness check we also compute the median of county rates (shown on each state page); the two are usually close. The state's typical bill and home value are likewise population-weighted county medians.
Rankings & rankable counties
State ranks (1 = highest) use the population-weighted effective rate. County rate rankings are limited to counties with at least ~65,000 people: effective rates in very small counties can swing on a handful of homes, and the ACS publishes wider margins of error for them, so including them produces misleading outliers. Dollar-bill and home-value rankings use the raw county values.
Sources table
| Source | Cadence | License |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 2023 5-year estimates | annual | U.S. public domain |
Limitations (please read)
These are area medians, not your individual property-tax bill. The ACS reports what a typical owner-occupied home in an area paid; your bill depends on your home's assessed value (which can differ markedly from market value and may be capped), your local mill/levy rates, special district assessments, and exemptions you qualify for (homestead, senior, veteran, disability). Effective rates derived from medians can also understate or overstate true rates because the median tax and median value describe different homes. The ACS 5-year estimate blends five years of data, so it lags current conditions, and every estimate carries a margin of error. One specific quirk: the ACS top-codes median real estate taxes at $10,001, so the highest-tax counties (mostly in New Jersey and the New York metro) all show exactly $10,001 and their true median and effective rate are at least that much. Always verify with your county assessor or tax collector before relying on a figure. See our disclaimer.
Last updated: 2026-06-20