Property Taxes by State and County, 2025

Property taxes are the primary tool for financing local governments. In fiscal year 2022, property taxes comprised 27.4 percent of total state and local taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. collections in the United States, more than any other source of tax revenue, despite being levied almost exclusively at the local (not state) level. Local governments rely heavily on property taxes to fund schools, roads, police departments, fire and emergency medical services, and other services associated with residency and property ownership. Property taxes accounted for 70.2 percent of local tax collections in fiscal year 2022.

Some states with high property taxes, like New Hampshire and Texas, rely heavily on them in lieu of other major tax categories. This often involves greater devolution of authority to local governments, which are responsible for more government services than they are in states with greater reliance on state-level revenues like income or sales taxes. Other states, like New Jersey and Illinois, impose high property taxes alongside high rates in the other major tax categories.

While no taxpayers in high-tax jurisdictions will be celebrating their yearly payments, property taxes are largely rooted in the benefit principle of taxation: the people paying the property taxA property tax is primarily levied on immovable property like land and buildings, as well as on tangible personal property that is movable, like vehicles and equipment. Property taxes are the single largest source of state and local revenue in the U.S. and help fund schools, roads, police, and other services. bills are most often the ones benefiting from the services (think about K-12 education, local surface roads, police and fire service, and parks). As Joan Youngman argues, a well-designed property tax, despite being the target of frequent political attacks, can be considered a good tax since it is usually transparent, simple, and stable, satisfying most of the principles of sound tax policy. Property taxes also tend to be more economically efficient than alternative sources of tax revenue.

Because property taxes are almost invariably levied locally, and millages (rates) are not directly comparable with each other across states, providing a useful state-level comparison can be difficult. In an effort to present a multifaceted view, we feature two maps focused on the property tax. The first looks at median property tax bills and effective property tax rates in each county in the United States, and the second compares effective tax rates across states.

How does your county and state compare?