# The Property-Tax Gap 2026 — Same State, Up to 39x the Tax Rate

**URL:** https://statetakehome.com/data-stories/property-tax-gap-2026
**Type:** data story / citable study (open data, CC BY 4.0)
**Data vintage:** US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates, 3,125 counties and county-equivalents.
**Last updated:** 2026-08-14

## What is this study?

StateTakeHome computed the effective property-tax rate — median real-estate tax paid divided by median owner-occupied home value — for 3,125 US counties, and measured how far the cheapest and priciest county diverge INSIDE each state. Existing studies rank states or list counties; this study quantifies the intra-state gap, which is where the decision actually happens for a homeowner choosing between neighboring counties.

## Key findings (2026)

- Nationally, county effective rates run from 0.03% (Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska) to 2.47% (Camden County, New Jersey) — roughly an 82x spread.
- Inside a single state, the gap reaches 39.0x in Alaska (Hoonah-Angoon 0.03% vs Anchorage 1.17%). Alaska's tiny census areas amplify the ratio.
- Among the lower 48, Texas leads at 8.2x (Borden County 0.22% vs El Paso County 1.80%), followed by Tennessee at 8.1x (Pickett 0.12% vs Shelby 0.97%) and Louisiana at 6.5x (St. Helena Parish 0.13% vs Orleans Parish 0.85%).
- On a $300,000 home, the Texas intra-state gap is worth $4,740 per year without leaving the state.
- The smallest median annual property-tax bill in America is $207 (Choctaw County, Alabama). 17 counties — mostly NY/NJ metro — have median bills of $10,000 or more (ACS top-codes the variable at $10,000, so true medians there are at least that high).
- 42 counties have effective rates of 2.00% or more; 105 counties are at 0.30% or less.
- New York paradox: Kings County (Brooklyn) pays an effective 0.56% while Monroe County (Rochester) pays 2.41% — New York City homeowners face a LOWER effective rate than much of upstate, because of NYC class-1 assessment limits.

## Methodology

1. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (median real-estate taxes paid; median owner-occupied home value), 3,125 counties.
2. Effective rate = median tax paid / median home value — what a typical owner actually pays, not the statutory millage.
3. Top-coding: ACS caps median tax paid at $10,000; in the 17 capped counties the effective rates are conservative (understated).
4. Counties with suppressed or zero values are excluded from ratio rankings; states with fewer than 5 counties are listed but not ranked.

## Intra-state gap ranking (states with >= 5 counties)

| # | State | Cheapest county | Priciest county | Gap | On a $300k home |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | Hoonah-Angoon Census Area (0.03%) | Anchorage Municipality (1.17%) | 39.0x | $3,420/yr |
| 2 | Texas | Borden County (0.22%) | El Paso County (1.80%) | 8.2x | $4,740/yr |
| 3 | Tennessee | Pickett County (0.12%) | Shelby County (0.97%) | 8.1x | $2,550/yr |
| 4 | Louisiana | St. Helena Parish (0.13%) | Orleans Parish (0.85%) | 6.5x | $2,160/yr |
| 5 | Montana | Carter County (0.20%) | Liberty County (1.26%) | 6.3x | $3,180/yr |
| 6 | Kentucky | Green County (0.17%) | Campbell County (1.06%) | 6.2x | $2,670/yr |
| 7 | South Dakota | Buffalo County (0.20%) | Potter County (1.23%) | 6.1x | $3,090/yr |
| 8 | Arkansas | Monroe County (0.14%) | Phillips County (0.76%) | 5.4x | $1,860/yr |
| 9 | Massachusetts | Nantucket County (0.27%) | Hampden County (1.41%) | 5.2x | $3,420/yr |
| 10 | North Carolina | Swain County (0.22%) | Orange County (0.96%) | 4.4x | $2,220/yr |
| 11 | Nebraska | Logan County (0.45%) | Hayes County (1.92%) | 4.3x | $4,410/yr |
| 12 | New York | Kings County (0.56%) | Monroe County (2.41%) | 4.3x | $5,550/yr |
| 13 | North Dakota | Sioux County (0.26%) | Cass County (1.11%) | 4.3x | $2,550/yr |
| 14 | New Mexico | Rio Arriba County (0.22%) | Bernalillo County (0.85%) | 3.9x | $1,890/yr |
| 15 | California | Trinity County (0.26%) | Kern County (0.89%) | 3.4x | $1,890/yr |
| 16 | Georgia | Towns County (0.35%) | Dougherty County (1.20%) | 3.4x | $2,550/yr |
| 17 | Missouri | Wright County (0.34%) | St. Louis County (1.14%) | 3.4x | $2,400/yr |
| 18 | Arizona | Apache County (0.21%) | Pima County (0.70%) | 3.3x | $1,470/yr |
| 19 | Alabama | Choctaw County (0.18%) | Jefferson County (0.58%) | 3.2x | $1,200/yr |
| 20 | Colorado | Jackson County (0.22%) | Broomfield County (0.66%) | 3.0x | $1,320/yr |
| 21 | Mississippi | Claiborne County (0.31%) | Washington County (0.92%) | 3.0x | $1,830/yr |
| 22 | Ohio | Noble County (0.64%) | Cuyahoga County (1.89%) | 3.0x | $3,750/yr |
| 23 | Oklahoma | Pushmataha County (0.34%) | Tulsa County (0.98%) | 2.9x | $1,920/yr |
| 24 | Virginia | Brunswick County (0.40%) | Falls Church city (1.15%) | 2.9x | $2,250/yr |
| 25 | Wyoming | Niobrara County (0.26%) | Washakie County (0.72%) | 2.8x | $1,380/yr |
| 26 | Illinois | Hardin County (0.83%) | Winnebago County (2.28%) | 2.7x | $4,350/yr |
| 27 | Michigan | Leelanau County (0.66%) | Ingham County (1.76%) | 2.7x | $3,300/yr |
| 28 | New Jersey | Cape May County (0.93%) | Camden County (2.47%) | 2.7x | $4,620/yr |
| 29 | Wisconsin | Vilas County (0.69%) | Milwaukee County (1.82%) | 2.6x | $3,390/yr |
| 30 | Oregon | Grant County (0.41%) | Multnomah County (1.02%) | 2.5x | $1,830/yr |
| 31 | Idaho | Clark County (0.31%) | Nez Perce County (0.75%) | 2.4x | $1,320/yr |
| 32 | Maryland | Talbot County (0.56%) | Baltimore city (1.37%) | 2.4x | $2,430/yr |
| 33 | Utah | Garfield County (0.27%) | Emery County (0.62%) | 2.3x | $1,050/yr |
| 34 | Florida | Holmes County (0.44%) | Alachua County (0.99%) | 2.2x | $1,650/yr |
| 35 | West Virginia | Calhoun County (0.29%) | Kanawha County (0.63%) | 2.2x | $1,020/yr |
| 36 | Indiana | Brown County (0.45%) | Lake County (0.93%) | 2.1x | $1,440/yr |
| 37 | Kansas | Washington County (0.90%) | Comanche County (1.93%) | 2.1x | $3,090/yr |
| 38 | Minnesota | Cass County (0.56%) | Ramsey County (1.19%) | 2.1x | $1,890/yr |
| 39 | Nevada | Eureka County (0.34%) | Mineral County (0.73%) | 2.1x | $1,170/yr |
| 40 | New Hampshire | Carroll County (0.87%) | Cheshire County (1.87%) | 2.1x | $3,000/yr |
| 41 | Pennsylvania | Bedford County (0.79%) | Monroe County (1.62%) | 2.1x | $2,490/yr |
| 42 | Iowa | Dickinson County (0.78%) | Polk County (1.57%) | 2.0x | $2,370/yr |
| 43 | South Carolina | Calhoun County (0.36%) | Bamberg County (0.71%) | 2.0x | $1,050/yr |
| 44 | Washington | San Juan County (0.53%) | Garfield County (0.96%) | 1.8x | $1,290/yr |
| 45 | Connecticut | Western Connecticut Planning Region (1.17%) | Capitol Planning Region (1.91%) | 1.6x | $2,220/yr |
| 46 | Rhode Island | Newport County (0.86%) | Kent County (1.37%) | 1.6x | $1,530/yr |
| 47 | Maine | Piscataquis County (0.78%) | Androscoggin County (1.19%) | 1.5x | $1,230/yr |
| 48 | Vermont | Grand Isle County (1.33%) | Rutland County (1.65%) | 1.2x | $960/yr |

## Reuse this data

The full 3,125-county table (state, county, effective rate, median home value, median tax paid) is CC BY 4.0:
- CSV: https://statetakehome.com/data/us-property-tax-by-county-2026.csv
- DOI (Harvard Dataverse): https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JDRIUL
- DOI (Zenodo): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21244037
- Catalog and data dictionary: https://statetakehome.com/data
- Attribution: "StateTakeHome, The Property-Tax Gap 2026 — statetakehome.com/data". Press contact: contact@statetakehome.com