| State | Annual property tax for median priced home | Size of median home [sqft] | Average property tax per square foot [$/sqft] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $ 738 | 2146 | $ 0.34 |
| West Virginia | $ 835 | 1752 | $ 0.48 |
| Arkansas | $ 1,003 | 1860 | $ 0.54 |
| South Carolina | $ 1,199 | 2123 | $ 0.56 |
| Mississippi | $ 1,189 | 2065 | $ 0.58 |
| Louisiana | $ 1,146 | 1955 | $ 0.59 |
| Tennessee | $ 1,400 | 2157 | $ 0.65 |
| Wyoming | $ 1,659 | 2285 | $ 0.73 |
| Indiana | $ 1,496 | 2011 | $ 0.74 |
| Kentucky | $ 1,472 | 1953 | $ 0.75 |
| Delaware | $ 1,731 | 2277 | $ 0.76 |
| Oklahoma | $ 1,520 | 1941 | $ 0.78 |
| New Mexico | $ 1,669 | 2087 | $ 0.80 |
| North Carolina | $ 1,815 | 2152 | $ 0.84 |
| Utah | $ 2,412 | 2800 | $ 0.86 |
| Idaho | $ 2,006 | 2311 | $ 0.87 |
| Arizona | $ 1,858 | 2049 | $ 0.91 |
| Nevada | $ 1,970 | 2060 | $ 0.96 |
| Georgia | $ 2,214 | 2262 | $ 0.98 |
| Colorado | $ 2,448 | 2464 | $ 0.99 |
| Missouri | $ 1,887 | 1848 | $ 1.02 |
| North Dakota | $ 2,392 | 2190 | $ 1.09 |
| Montana | $ 2,535 | 2200 | $ 1.15 |
| Virginia | $ 2,686 | 2105 | $ 1.28 |
| Florida | $ 2,555 | 1960 | $ 1.30 |
| Kansas | $ 2,643 | 2020 | $ 1.31 |
| South Dakota | $ 2,590 | 1915 | $ 1.35 |
| Ohio | $ 2,712 | 1803 | $ 1.50 |
| Minnesota | $ 3,184 | 2026 | $ 1.57 |
| Pennsylvania | $ 3,241 | 2045 | $ 1.58 |
| Michigan | $ 2,795 | 1726 | $ 1.62 |
| Nebraska | $ 3,350 | 2016 | $ 1.66 |
| Iowa | $ 2,795 | 1623 | $ 1.72 |
| Maine | $ 2,926 | 1680 | $ 1.74 |
| Maryland | $ 3,989 | 2207 | $ 1.81 |
| Hawaii | $ 2,183 | 1164 | $ 1.88 |
| Texas | $ 4,111 | 2170 | $ 1.89 |
| Oregon | $ 3,767 | 1946 | $ 1.94 |
| Alaska | $ 3,785 | 1910 | $ 1.98 |
| Washington | $ 4,361 | 2185 | $ 2.00 |
| Wisconsin | $ 3,746 | 1822 | $ 2.06 |
| Vermont | $ 4,956 | 2000 | $ 2.48 |
| Rhode Island | $ 4,854 | 1913 | $ 2.54 |
| California | $ 4,926 | 1860 | $ 2.65 |
| Connecticut | $ 6,575 | 2158 | $ 3.05 |
| Illinois | $ 5,189 | 1700 | $ 3.05 |
| Massachusetts | $ 5,813 | 1800 | $ 3.23 |
| New Hampshire | $ 6,505 | 1934 | $ 3.36 |
| New York | $ 6,450 | 1490 | $ 4.33 |
| New Jersey | $ 9,541 | 1753 | $ 5.44 |
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:
Tabulated the median annual property tax bill for a house in each state.
Tabulated the median house size in each state.
Divided #1/#2 to get a "property tax bill per square foot".
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.
https://professpost.com/top-10-u-s-states-with-the-highest-property-taxes-for-homeowners-in-2025/
New Hampshire has a very high property tax but low income
Which state has the highest property taxes in 2025?
Are property taxes included in a mortgage payment?
Do property taxes go up every year?
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.
Attom's review of effective property tax rates for 2024 in 217 U.S. metro areas found that the highest were in Rockford, where homeowners paid 2.06% of their home's market value in taxes last year. Following Rockford were Chicago (1.91%), Peoria (1.89%) and Champaign-Urbana (1.88%). The sixth-highest was Springfield (1.82%).
That is, half of the 10 highest-taxing metros in the nation are here in Illinois.
I'm moving from Texas (low-tax) to Maryland (high-tax). For those that moved to a higher tax state/city/county, did you regret your move or your resulting lifestyle changes?
I know this has been talked about on this sub before, some people support it saying it gives you better service, some people say its making people leave the state in droves. I wanted nothing more to move to upstate NY I love it there. Me and my family wanted to move from Florida to West central Upstate,ie Ithaca, Corning, Syracuse. We would look on Zillow ,Realtor and see Taxes starting at 5000 a year. only to find out that there is more. It can be an addition 3 to 4 thousand on top of that. Coming close to 10000 a year. I am not sure how people do it. Its so high. Tell me I'm wrong. I wish this wasn't the case. I really love upstate. I lived the First part of my Life born and raised In Brooklyn and Queens. I could never go back there. Upstate is the closest I could come to being back in NY. Now its only a dream for me . Seems only the wealthy can afford to live in NY.
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.