Top 10 Counties With the Highest and Lowest Property Taxes—Find Out Where Your Home Ranks

by Julie Gerstein

The pride of homeownership comes with the guarantee of paying property taxes—and where you live plays a role in how much you have to pay.

A new survey from Construction Coverage reveals the counties with the highest and lowest property taxes, and they might not be where you think.

The report found that property tax rates are higher in densely populated areas and communities with older infrastructure–which require more frequent maintenance.

Construction Coverage found that many counties with the highest tax rates are concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, with counties in New Jersey and Illinois dominating the higher end of the property tax matrix.

The average property tax rate in Illinois is 1.825%, while New Jersey averages 1.773%.

In contrast, counties in Alabama and Hawaii had some of the lowest property taxes in the country.

The property rate in DeKalb County, AL—0.157%—is over 10 times less than that of Salem County, NJ, which boasts the highest property tax rate, at 2.382%.

How property taxes are determined

The first thing to know is the difference between your home’s market value and its tax-assessed value. The assessed value is determined by a county tax assessor who evaluates your home based on several criteria, including curb appeal, competitive market, and any improvements you’ve made to the property, and factor in any tax exemptions for which you qualify.

Assessment tax rates are typically between 80% and 90% of your home’s market value.

The other number that factors into your property taxes is the mill levy. Each area’s mill levy is determined by the revenue your local area requires to fund its annual public service budget and translates into your area’s tax rate. Areas with more public amenities and resources or that require more maintenance will have a higher mill levy.

Once the mill levy is determined as a percentage, homeowners multiply it by the assessed value of their homes. If a county’s mill levy is 4% and the home they’ve purchased is assessed at $100,000, they’d pay $4,000 in property taxes—even if the home’s market value is $120,000.

Surprisingly, higher home prices don’t always lead to higher property taxes. That’s partly because there’s often a lag between purchase and property tax assessment. In some counties, property taxes are assessed only once every three years, so the value of your home could be going up while your taxes stay the same.

The average effective tax rate has declined over the past decade, from 1.147% in 2012 to 0.909% in 2023.