Property taxes are an important tool to help finance state and local governments. In fiscal year 2016, property taxes comprised 31.5 percent of total state and local tax collections in the United States, more than any other source of tax revenue. In that same year, property taxes accounted for 46 percent of localities’ revenue from their own sources, and 27 percent of overall local government revenue.[1]
Median property taxes paid vary widely among the 50 states. The lowest bills in the country are in 13 counties with median property taxes of less than $200 a year. This group is made up of three counties in Alaska (Aleutians East Borough, Kusivlak Census Area, and Southeast Fairbanks Census Area), seven parishes in Louisiana (Allen, Avoyelles, Bienville, East Feliciana, Madison, Red River, and Winn), Alabama’s Choctaw County, New Mexico’s Harding County, and Kenedy County in Texas. The next-lowest median property tax is $215 in Lamar County, Alabama, near the Mississippi border and about halfway up the state.
The five counties with the highest median property tax payments all have bills exceeding $10,000— Bergen and Essex Counties in New Jersey, and Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester Counties in New York. All five of these counties are located near New York City.
The Tax Foundation
Janelle Cammenga
August 7, 2019