Property tax sticker shock is another recurring reminder of housing affordability challenges
The 2024 property tax season is drawing to a close, with homeowners preparing to either pay tax bills directly or through a lenders’ escrow account.
Thanks to the mixed blessing of high home prices, millions of homeowners across the U.S. are facing some of the highest property taxes in living memory.
Real estate taxes are an ad valorem tax, which means they are determined according to value of a property; they go up when property values go up. While strong property values are good for the community and homeowners who experience gains in homeowner’s equity, these increasing values remain a double-edged sword.
Last year, property taxes ballooned after inflated pandemic-era home price gains. Since then, home prices have continued to reach new heights, rising 4.7% year to date on a year-over-year basis, according to the CoreLogic National Home Price Index. A review of the latest property tax assessment records shows that in 2024, U.S. median property taxes on single-family residential properties was $3,018, up by 5.1% from 2023.
What Can You Expect From the Housing Market in 2025?
While property tax increases are keeping pace with rising home values, the rising costs have far outpaced the rate of inflation year to date, which averages about 3.0%.
Largest Uptick in Homeowners’ Property Taxes by State
The rise in property taxes comes on the heels of fast-rising home prices. Since 2019, home prices nationwide have risen by more than 50%, while homeowner’s property taxes are up by an average of 27%.
At the state level, the rise in property taxes varies. Table 1 shows the 15 states where homeowners have seen the largest increases in their annual property taxes since 2019. See also the Appendix Table for states not captured in Table 1.
Highlights:
- Colorado: Statewide median property taxes rose more than 50% or $888 since 2019. The average annual increase over the last five years was 10.6%. In 2024, the state’s median tax amount was $2,568, which is below the national median. At 0.52%, the state’s property tax rate is among the lowest in U.S., ranking only slightly higher than Alabama, Idaho, and Hawaii where property tax rates are 0.49%, 0.43%, and 0.31%, respectively.
- Georgia: Homeowners have seen a staggering increase in their property tax bills in recent years. In 2024, the state’s median annual tax amount was $2,186, up $743 from 2019 when the median tax amount was $1,443. The state’s property tax rate in 2024 was 0.98%, making the Peach State one of the 22 U.S. states that has an average tax rate below 1.0%.
- Florida: Since 2019 homeowner’s property taxes have increased by 9.5% per year while home prices have shot up by 14.6% annually. In 2024, Florida homeowners’ annual median tax amount was $3,100, making the state the twentieth most expensive in the nation for property taxes. The average property tax rate in Florida is 1.14%, which is right in the middle of all states, including the District of Columbia.
- Texas: Homeowners’ annual property taxes reached $5,100 after rising by 7.1% ($1,332) per year on average since 2019. Home price appreciation averaged 8.4% per year. Texas is now the sixth most expensive state in terms of property taxes. The state ranks eighth in terms of property tax rates. In 2024, the state’s average tax rate was 1.92%.
- North Carolina: With a median property tax amount of $1,750 and tax rate at 0.79%, North Carolina is one the most affordable states for property taxes. Property values in the state have also risen quickly in recent years, outpacing neighboring states South Carolina and Virginia.
Sticker Shock in the Most Populous Counties
Property taxes are generally collected by counties, cities, and townships across the U.S. While different taxing jurisdictions are largely subject to the same statutory laws for property assessment and taxation, differences in property values across a state mean that homeowners’ property tax liabilities can vary widely.
To provide a more granular view of tax liabilities across the U.S., Table 2 offers a snapshot of the nation’s 15 most populous counties. Each of these counties had a population of more than 2 million people and is home to more than 51 million people[1], according to the 2023 Census.
Highlights:
- Homeowners in Broward County, Florida had the largest sticker shock. Since 2019, median property taxes surged 56.8%, or $1,619, and home prices jumped by nearly 60%. In Broward’s larger and more populous neighbor, Miami-Dade, numbers are climbing too. Miami-Dade County saw a 49.5% increase in taxes and 58.9% rise in home prices.
- Property taxes in the five most populous counties in California rose between 25% and 33%, with San Bernardino County leading the way. While residents in San Bernardino County saw the largest increase, homeowners in Orange County pay the highest amount. Orange County’s median annual tax amount in 2024 was $6,143. San Diego and Los Angeles counties followed closely behind, with median payments ringing up at $5,843 and $5,791, respectively.
- The Lone Star State’s four most populous counties, which are home to a population of 11.7 million, recorded between 25% and 33% increases in homeowners’ annual tax bills. Tarrant County, the state’s third-most populous county and part of the Fort Worth-Arlington MSA, had the highest property taxes. In 2024 the median tax amount was $6,633. Dallas County followed closely with a median tax amount of $6,409. Property tax rates range from 2.04% in Harris County (Houston metropolitan areas) to 2.29% in Dallas County. Bexar County (San Antonio metropolitan areas) and Tarrant County fall in between those tax rates.
- Median property taxes in King County, Washington are the highest among the 15 most populous counties in the country. The county’s 2.27 million residents paid a median amount of $7,342 in 2024. Since 2019, home prices are up 37.5% while property taxes have risen by 30.9%. The county’s average property tax rate is 0.99%, which is below the national average.
- Cook County, Illinois recorded a 23.3% increase in property taxes in recent years, amid a similar rise in home prices. In 2024, the median tax amount was $5,171, thanks in part to the county’s high tax rate of 2.34%.
- Maricopa County, Arizona is the third-most populous county in the U.S. and ranks high on the housing affordability scale. In this county of 4.58 million people, the median property tax amount is $1,763 and the tax rate is 0.43%. Property values soared by over 64% between 2019 and 2023, averaging 16.1% per year. In the same time frame, property taxes rose 3.1%, which was much slower than inflation, which averaged 4.8% between 2019 and 2023.
- With a median property tax amount of $1,806 and a tax rate of 0.65%, Clark County, Nevada also ranks high on the housing affordability scale. Still, homeowners’ tax bills have risen by an average of 6.4% per year in recent years.
Property tax sticker shock is yet another reminder of the housing affordability challenges that face homeowners and renters alike[2].
The CoreLogic Home Price Index forecasts that 2025 home prices will rise another 2% to 3% to reach new record highs. That means that property taxes will rise again for millions of homeowners. Without constitutional amendments to limit property tax increases or legislative cuts, homeowners will continue to feel the pinch from high property taxes.
What Can You Expect From the Housing Market in 2025?
[1] The 2023 Census population for Broward County, Florida is 1.963 million, slightly below the 2 million threshold used for the tabulations.
[2] Since property taxes represent a component of operating costs for landlords, renters will ultimately bear the cost as landlords shift it onto renters through higher rents.
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