ATTOM, a premier provider of land, property data, and real estate analytics, has released its 2024 property tax report covering 85.7 million single-family homes across the United States. The analysis reveals that homeowners paid a total of $357.5 billion in property taxes in 2024, marking a 1.6% decrease from the previous year.

The report highlights that the average property tax on single-family homes increased by 2.7%, reaching $4,172 in 2024. This increase follows a 4.1% rise observed in 2023.

Nationwide, the average effective tax rate stood at 0.86% in 2024, a slight decline from 0.87% in 2023. Notably, New York data was excluded due to limitations in data availability from ATTOM’s third-party sources.

ATTOM’s analysis utilized property tax records from county tax assessor offices nationwide, evaluated at state, metropolitan, and county levels. Market values for homes were estimated using an automated valuation model (AVM). The effective tax rate represents annual property taxes as a percentage of the average estimated market value.

The report attributes declining effective tax rates to the resurgence of home values, which rose to a national average of $486,456, up 4.8% from 2023. The prior year had seen a rare decline of 1.7% from 2022 home values.

Mortgage rates, after significantly increasing since mid-2021, stabilized in 2024 but remained near their highest levels in the past decade.

“Rising home values don't automatically translate into higher property tax bills,” explained Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “In many regions, tax increases reflect not just appreciating property values but also rising costs for local government services, education, and shifts in tax burdens.” He further noted, “Significant regional differences persist, with higher home values and taxes in the Northeast and Midwest typically supporting robust local services, contrasted by lower values and rates in the South and West.”

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Highest Effective Property Tax Rates in Northeast and Midwest

The ten states with the highest effective tax rates were predominantly located in the Northeast and Midwest, with Illinois topping the list at 1.87%, followed by New Jersey (1.59%), Connecticut (1.48%), Nebraska (1.32%), and Ohio (1.31%). All these states experienced slight reductions from 2023.

Completing the top ten states were Iowa (1.24%), New Hampshire (1.23%), Kansas (1.22%), Vermont (1.22%), and Pennsylvania (1.16%).

Lowest Effective Rates Found in South and West

Conversely, the lowest effective tax rates were primarily in Southern and Western states. Hawaii had the lowest rate at 0.33%, followed by Idaho, Arizona, and Alabama at 0.41%, and Delaware at 0.43%.

Rounding out the lowest ten were Utah (0.45%), Tennessee (0.46%), West Virginia (0.47%), Nevada (0.48%), and Wyoming (0.49%).

Highest Average Tax Bills Remain in the Northeast

Northeastern states continued to have the highest average property tax bills due to higher property values combined with elevated tax rates. New Jersey had the highest average property tax bill at $10,135, nearly ten times West Virginia’s lowest average of $1,027.

Following New Jersey, states with notably high average bills included Connecticut ($8,402), New Hampshire ($7,723), Massachusetts ($7,720), and California ($7,131). States with the lowest average tax bills after West Virginia were Alabama ($1,200), Arkansas ($1,397), Mississippi ($1,440), and Louisiana ($1,585).

Midwest Metro Areas Among Highest Effective Rates

Among 217 metropolitan areas with populations over 200,000, the Midwest region dominated the highest effective tax rates. Illinois notably contained six of these metro areas, led by Rockford (2.06%), Chicago (1.91%), Peoria (1.89%), Champaign-Urbana (1.88%), and Trenton, NJ (1.88%).

The lowest effective tax rates among metro areas were found in Salisbury, MD (0.29%), Johnson City, TN (0.33%), Knoxville, TN (0.33%), Tuscaloosa, AL (0.33%), and Honolulu, HI (0.34%).

Within metro areas exceeding one million residents, Chicago, IL (1.91%) led in effective tax rates, followed by Hartford, CT (1.71%), Cleveland, OH (1.65%), Columbus, OH (1.45%), and Pittsburgh, PA (1.42%). Metro areas with the lowest effective rates included Honolulu, HI (0.34%), Phoenix, AZ (0.37%), Nashville, TN (0.48%), Las Vegas, NV (0.48%), and Salt Lake City, UT (0.48%).

Property Tax Bills Exceed National Average in Most Metro Areas

Of 217 metro areas analyzed, 157 experienced property tax increases above the national average of 3%. The largest increases among metro areas over one million residents occurred in Raleigh, NC (21.1%), Honolulu, HI (17.2%), New Orleans, LA (16%), Richmond, VA (13.1%), and Chicago, IL (12.9%).

Conversely, the largest decreases in average property taxes were observed in Charlotte, NC (down 7.3%), Atlanta, GA (down 6.4%), Houston, TX (down 5.8%), Austin, TX (down 5.4%), and Philadelphia, PA (down 3.4%).

Counties with Highest Property Tax Bills

Nineteen counties, out of 1,438 analyzed with over 10,000 homes, reported average property taxes exceeding $10,000. Bastrop County, TX ($28,297) topped the list, followed by Marin County, CA ($15,881), Essex County, NJ ($13,989), Bergen County, NJ ($13,961), and San Mateo County, CA ($13,627).

Methodology

ATTOM’s property tax analysis for 2024 used tax assessor data from over 85 million single-family homes across 1,438 U.S. counties. Average tax bills were calculated by dividing total taxes collected by the number of homes. Market valuations were estimated using ATTOM’s AVM, and effective tax rates were determined by dividing average tax bills by average home values. New York data was omitted due to data constraints but will be included once available.

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