The total property taxes levied on single family homes in 2019 increased by 1 percent from 2018, reaching a total of $306.4 billion, according to Attom Data Solutions’ 2019 Property Tax Analysis.
The average property tax on a single-family home rose 2 percent to $3,561 in 2019, up from $3,498 in 2018. However, the effective property tax rate — the average annual property tax exhibited as a percentage of the average estimated market value of homes — decreased slightly in 2019 to 1.14 percent down from 1.16 percent in 2018.
Todd Teta | ATTOM Data Solutions
“Property taxes levied on homeowners rose again in 2019 across most of the country,” Todd Teta, chief product officer for Attom Data Solutions, said in a statement. “But the nationwide increase was the smallest in the last three years, a sign that cities, towns and counties are taking stronger steps to clamp down on how much they hit up property owners to support schools and local government services.”
The top ten states with the highest property taxes included Illinois (2.22 percent), New Jersey (2.19 percent), Texas (2.11 percent), Vermont (2.11 percent), Connecticut (2.04 percent), New Hampshire (1.93 percent), New York (1.87 percent), Pennsylvania (1.75 percent), Ohio (1.68 percent) and Nebraska (1.57 percent).
Metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000 that had the highest effective property tax rates included Binghamton, New York (3.11 percent); Syracuse, New York (3.00 percent); Rockford, Illinois (2.84 percent); Rochester, New York (2.80 percent); and Atlantic City, New Jersey (2.60 percent).
In over half of markets (56 percent), property taxes increased faster than the national average of 2 percent, including in Atlanta (9 percent increase); Phoenix (9 percent increase); Detroit (9 percent increase); Austin (9 percent increase); Denver (8 percent increase); Las Vegas (7 percent increase); Charlotte, North Carolina (5 percent increase); Miami (5 percent increase); Washington, D.C. (4 percent increase); and Boston (4 percent increase).
Homebuyers seeking lower property taxes might search for a home in one of the states that posted the lowest effective property tax rates: Hawaii (0.36 percent), Alabama (0.48 percent), Colorado (0.52 percent), Utah (0.56 percent), Tennessee (0.61 percent), West Virginia (0.61 percent), Delaware (0.62 percent), Arizona (0.63 percent) and Wyoming (0.56 percent).
At the metro level, Daphne, Alabama (0.33 percent); Honolulu, Hawaii (0.35 percent); Montgomery, Alabama (0.38 percent); Tuscaloosa, Alabama (0.39 percent); and Colorado Springs, Colorado (0.41 percent) had the lowest effective property tax rates.
A handful of counties had to pay average annual property taxes of more than $10,000, many of which were located in the greater New York metro area, including Westchester (average annual taxes of $18,103) and Rockland counties (average annual taxes of $13,048) in New York, and Essex (average annual taxes of $12,206) and Nassau counties in New Jersey (average annual taxes of $11,952).
“Without major changes in the way local government and educational systems are funded, demands for good schools and other services will continue to put upward pressure on property taxes,” Teta said in a statement. “But on balance, 2019 was a relatively mild year for taxpayers around the nation.”