According to the latest Property Tax Delinquency Report from Cotality, delinquencies ticked up to 5.1% in 2025, after hitting 4.5% in 2024—slightly above the all-time low of 4.3% reported in 2019. Property taxes have risen 27% from 2019 to 2025.
“Many homebuyers assume that securing a mortgage means locking in stable monthly payments for the long term,” said Molly Boesel, Senior Principal Economist at Cotality. “However, rising home values often lead to higher property taxes, and over the past six years, this has become a reality for many homeowners. Whether they’re paying off a mortgage or own their home outright, rising monthly costs can put pressure on household budgets. Those without sufficient financial buffers, such as steady income or savings, may find themselves struggling to keep up with growing tax bills.”
States with higher unemployment rates are seeing a significant increase in property tax delinquencies from the national average, with the following states topping the list in terms of increases:
- Mississippi (13.8%)
- New Jersey (9.9%)
- West Virginia (9.9%)
- Washington, D.C. (9.5%),
- New Mexico (9.4%)
- Delaware (9.3%)
Of the six states that topped the tax delinquency list in 2024, three of them have higher unemployment than the U.S. average. Two of the states that have lower unemployment than the U.S. average, Mississippi and West Virginia, are states with a low median household income.
On the other end of the spectrum, the states reporting the lowest increases in property tax delinquencies included:
- Wisconsin (1%)
- North Dakota (1.1%)
- Wyoming (2.3%)
- Minnesota (2.5%)
- Pennsylvania (2.8%)
All five of these states reported unemployment rates significantly under the national average of 4.1%.
Cotality’s Property Tax Delinquency Report also found that tax lien states have a higher average property tax delinquency (6.2%) than tax deed states (4.9%). Of the six states with the highest tax delinquency in 2024, five states were tax lien states. As indicated by the averages shown above, tax lien states tend to have higher delinquency rates than tax deed states.
As property taxes continue to rise, along with other costs of homeownership like insurance and repairs, delinquencies could also keep rising, threatening long-term homeownership.
The delinquency rates are based on a proprietary data set of nearly 15 million tax reporting events on approximately eight million non-escrowed mortgage loans for which Cotality manages the tax servicing. Delinquency is defined as a property tax payment that is overdue, regardless of the length of time the property tax payment is overdue. Delinquency rates provided are based on the number of tax reporting events that are considered delinquent divided by the total number of tax reporting events.
According to a recent survey by Ownwell, 74% of Americans worry about property taxes, yet few appeal those taxes. Many homeowners are skeptical of their home’s appraised value, and others don’t even know they can appeal their property’s appraised value. The study found that nearly three in four polled worry about significant increases to their annual property tax bills, especially in states like Colorado (85%), New Jersey (81%), California (80%), and New York (78%), where property tax bills are among the highest in the nation.
Click here for more on Cotality’s Property Tax Delinquency Report.
