Releasing property tax data for the 2023 calendar year, ATTOM Data revealed that 89.4 million single-family homes paid a combined $363.3 billion in property taxes in 2023, a number which is 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 also shows that 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.
The data that ATTOM collected is extensive. Not stopping at the state level, ATTOM delved deeper into county property tax rates for all 3,243 counties in the country and generated an interactive county-by-county heat map that gives out county-level details.
According to ATTOM, 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, led by Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and Nebraska
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, led by Hawaii, Arizona, Alabama, Delaware and Tennessee
The 10 states with the lowest effective property tax rates in 2023 were all in the South and West, Topping 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 still 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).
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