Property Taxes on Single-Family Homes Rose 7%% Across U.S. in 2023, to $363 Billion

IRVINE, CA—ATTOM, a curator of land, property, and real estate data, has released its 2023 property tax analysis for 89.4 million U.S. single family homes, which showed that $363.3 billion in property taxes were levied on single-family homes in 2023, up 6.9% from $339.8 billion in 2022. The increase was almost double the 3.6% growth rate in 2022—and the largest in the past five years.

The report, released on April 4, also showed the average tax on single-family homes in the U.S. increased 4.1% in 2023, to $4,062, after going up 3% the previous year.

The latest average tax resulted in an effective tax rate nationwide of 0.87%. That was up slightly from 0.83% in 2022, marking the first increase since 2017.

Effective rates increased last year throughout much of the U.S. amid a combination of declining home values and rising tax bills. Nationwide, the average home value dipped 1.7% as the nation's decade-long housing market boom cooled off in 2023, especially in the second half of the year when median home-sale prices declined. The decrease in values, along with rising taxes, resulted in a small increase in effective rates.

Rate trends this year will depend heavily on whether recent drop-offs in home mortgage rates and a historically tight supply of homes for sale around the nation prompt a market rebound. A renewed spike in values that outpaces tax increases would lower effective rates, while the opposite would likely happen if prices stagnate.

“Property taxes took an unusually high turn upward last year, pushing effective rates up, while huge gaps in average tax bills between different parts of country remained in place,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “The tax increases were likely connected, at least in part, to inflationary pressures on the cost of operating local governments and schools, along with rising public employee wages and other major expenses.”

He added that ‘ongoing disparities in how much homeowners pay in different parts of the country are usually related to a couple of important things: varying levels of government services and reduced economies of scale in metro areas with many small municipalities that each maintain separate local governments and school systems.”

Highest Effective Property Tax Rates in Northeast and Midwest

The top 10 states with the highest effective property tax rates in 2023 were all in the Northeast and Midwest. They were led by Illinois (1.88%), New Jersey (1.64%), Connecticut (1.54%), New York (1.46%) and Nebraska (1.46%).

Other states in the top 10 for highest effective property tax rates were Ohio (1.37%), Pennsylvania (1.33%), Vermont (1.29%), Kansas (1.26%) and New Hampshire (1.25%).

Lowest Effective Rates in South and West

The 10 states with the lowest effective property tax rates in 2023 were all in the South and West, Tops on that list were: Hawaii (0.31%), Arizona (0.41%), Alabama (0.42%), Delaware (0.43%) and Tennessee (0.44%).

Other states with low effective property tax rates last year were Idaho (0.44%), Utah (0.45%), Nevada (0.48%), Colorado (0.48%) and West Virginia (0.49%).

Northeastern States Have Average Taxes

Up to 10 Times Higher Than Elsewhere

States in the Northeast region had seven of the 10 highest average property taxes in the U.S. in 2023. They were led by New Jersey, where the average single-family-home property tax of $9,488 in 2023 was almost 10 times the average of $989 in West Virginia, which had the nation's smallest average levy. Others states in the top five last year were Connecticut ($8,022), New York ($7,936), Massachusetts ($7,414) and New Hampshire ($7,172).

The 10 states with the lowest average tax in 2023 were all in the South. Aside from West Virginia, the lowest were Alabama ($1,104), Arkansas ($1,296), Mississippi ($1,367) and Louisiana ($1,418).

Among 223 metropolitan statistical areas around the country with a population of at least 200,000 in 2023, 15 of the 25 highest effective tax rates were in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Metro areas with the highest effective property tax rates in 2023 were Akron, OH (2.71%); Rockford, IL (2.41%); Champaign, IL (1.95%); Trenton, NJ (1.94%) and Peoria, IL (1.91%).

The highest effective rates among metro areas with a population of at least 1 million in 2023 were in Chicago, IL (1.84%); Rochester, NY (1.77%); Hartford, CT (1.76%); Cleveland, OH (1.66%) and Columbus, OH (1.45%).

The lowest effective rates in 2023 were in Daphne-Fairhope, AL (0.27%); Salisbury, MD (0.30%); Honolulu, HI (0.31%); Knoxville, TN (0.32%) and Tuscaloosa, AL (0.32%).

Aside from Honolulu, the lowest rates among metro areas with a population of at least 1 million in 2023 were in Phoenix, AZ (0.38%); Nashville, TN (0.45%); Las Vegas, NV (0.48%) and Salt Lake City, UT (0.49%).

Average property taxes rose by more than the national increase of 4.1% last year in 118, or 52.9%, of the 223 metro areas analyzed in the report.

Metro areas with a population of at least 1 million that had the largest increases in average property taxes from 2022 to 2023 were Charlotte, NC (up 31.5%); Indianapolis, IN (up 18.8%); Kansas City, MO (up 16.8%); Denver, CO (up 15.7%) and Atlanta, GA (up 15.2%).

Major markets with the largest decreases in average property taxes last year included Rochester, NY (down 28.6%); Houston, TX (down 26%); San Antonio, TX (down 11%); Baltimore, MD (down 8.3%) and Buffalo, NY (down 3%).

Average Annual Property Tax Tops $10,000 In 21 Counties

Among 1,502 U.S. counties with at least 10,000 single-family homes in 2023, 21 had an average single-family-home property tax of more than $10,000. Of those, 12 were in the New York City metro area. The top five average taxes in counties with at least 100,000 single-family homes were in Essex County, NJ (outside New York City ($13,145); Bergen County, NJ (outside New York City) ($13,112); Nassau County (outside New York City), NY ($13,059); San Mateo County, CA ($13,001) and Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA ($12,462).

The report analyzed property tax data collected from county tax assessor offices nationwide at the state, metro and county levels along with estimated market values of single-family homes calculated using an automated valuation model (AVM). The effective tax rate shows the average annual property tax expressed as a percentage of the average estimated market value of homes in each geographic area.