I put this together because I always see property taxes compared across states talking about % of home value, or raw $ amount. But it always irked me because houses are different sizes in different states. So what I did here is the following:

1. Tabulated the median annual property tax bill for a house in each state.

2. Tabulated the median house size in each state.

3. Divided #1/#2 to get a "property tax bill per square foot".

4. Sorted the table from lowest to highest tax $/sqft

In this way, if we compare column #3, we actually are comparing apples to apples (same home size to same home size). You can see that column #3 is similar to column #1, since there isn't THAT much of a difference in house sizes between states, but there are some interesting differences that cause a few states to jump higher in column 3 than they are in column 1.

Some brief conclusions:

Utah is actually cheaper than it seems because their houses are HUGE

Hawaii is actually more expensive than it seems because their houses are TINY

Missouri is actually a bit more expensive than it seems because their houses are smaller than average

Connecticut is actually a bit cheaper than it seems because their houses are much bigger than their high tax state neighbors (NY, NJ, MA)

New York is much more expensive than it seems (even though it already is towards the top) due to small house sizes.

New Jersey is just super expensive for property taxes, whether you factor in house size or not.

Anyway, hope folks enjoy this little bit of data. Maybe it will help a few people make more educated decisions, maybe not. If nothing else, it's just a curious thing to analyze.

New Hampshire has a very high property tax but low income

If looking at the overall tax burden for an average home owner with a decent paying job, which would states would come first?

For example:

• $200K income

• $550K home

Obviously, has to be weighted, so sales tax would likely be the least worrisome, while income is probably highest concern with property coming in second.

I'm considering a move to an income tax free state in a few years. However, I'm aware that just because there's no income tax, a lot of other taxes may be much higher and therefore offset any advantages of doing so. Things like property tax, automobile tags and automobile sales tax, boat, rv, pwc and off road vehicle tags and taxes along with other taxes I may not be thinking of and in general, sales tax and car and property insurance. Florida, Tennessee and Texas are the 3 on my list and I'm familiar with all the states geographically, politically and ethnically so I'm really just looking tax-wise. For instance, my home state has fairly low income tax but 5% capital gains is much more than zero, and we have low property tax and vehicle tags but high sales tax and tax is collected even when a used vehicle is sold.

https://www.realtor.com/advice/finance/states-eliminate-property-tax/

Florida, Illinois , Kansas, Ohio, North Dakota, Pennsylvania

Proposals to eliminate property taxes in these states—and similar successful legislation in places like Montana to reduce taxes on primary homeowners—show how this movement is gaining momentum. The greatest challenge to these laws, however, is twofold.

Firstly, statewide action risks infringing on local governments, which are responsible for creating their own formulas for levying property taxes. A solution that works for one city is unlikely to work for more rural areas in the state, possibly creating insurmountable revenue shortfalls.

Likewise, any efforts to offset the taxes on wealthier homeowners (like owners of second homes) face significant headwinds at the polls. Overwhelmingly, these are the people who show up to vote.

I’ve compiled a list of US states with an existing property tax cap (and the cap number) and states exploring removing property taxes altogether. My assessment is that property taxes are an important topic for voters as home owners are experiencing both median real wage decline (dollar devaluation) and increasing home assessments. It’s interesting that Pennsylvania (I believe the only state with partial LVT/split rate in some cities) is also exploring removing tax altogether. It’s also interesting to think about the feedback loop from increased property taxes-> increased infrastructure investment -> increased property value -> increased property taxes.

By state: Florida caps homestead assessment growth at 3 %, California has Prop 13 with 2% cap, Oregon and New Mexico at about 3 %, Iowa at 4 %, Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, and Oklahoma around 5 %, South Carolina about 3 % per year over five years, New York City 6–8 % for certain classes, Maryland roughly 10 %, Texas about 10 % with a proposed 3 % cap for all properties, Kansas is voting on a 3 % cap, and Massachusetts limits municipal levy growth to 2.5 % annually.

Proposed: Nebraska capping annual assessed value growth at 3 % and halving taxable values, Florida adjusting the homestead exemption alongside the 3 % cap, Georgia limiting growth to the rate of inflation, Colorado capping revenue growth at 4–6 %, and Washington proposing a 1 % increase limit.

States exploring elimination of property taxes: North Dakota considered a 2024 ballot measure and has a phase-out plan for primary residences, Ohio is pursuing a statewide constitutional amendment, Florida has legislative proposals potentially starting in 2027, Pennsylvania is considering a constitutional amendment by 2030, and Kansas has long-term replacement proposals.

Dreams do come true, my value was 267K got it down to 220K my property taxes are lower than when I moved in.

This graphic appeared in my news feed. It reports the average state and local tax burden by state. State and local tax burden is defined as property tax + state income tax + sale / excise tax. The numbers for each of these components is at https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494 .

What is your tax burden?

I live in CA, in 2023 my totals were:

• Federal Income Tax -- 16.7% of AGI

• Property Tax -- 7.4% of AGI

• State Income Tax -- 5.9% of AGI

• Social Security -- 5.8% of AGI

• Medicare -- 1.4% of AGI

• Sales Tax -- ~1% of AGI

• Local Income Tax -- 0.8% of AGI

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• Total State + Local Tax = 15% of AGI

• Total Fed + State + Local Tax = 32% of AGI

• Total Tax + SS/Med = 39% of AGI