12 States With the Lowest Property Taxes

The average American household spends $2,869 annually on property taxes, according to a new report from the personal finance website WalletHub. Even renters pay property taxes, albeit indirectly, as those taxes affect the amount of their monthly bill and also bolster state and local government finances. School districts, counties, municipalities and townships can all collect property taxes. WalletHub, citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and elsewhere, examined how property taxes vary depending on where homeowners live. "Some states charge no property taxes at all, while others charge an arm and a leg," WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe said in a statement. "Americans who are considering moving and want to maximize the amount of money they take home should take into account property tax rates, in addition to other financial factors like the overall cost of living, when deciding on a city." To find out where property taxes are highest and lowest, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia by using U.S. Census Bureau data to determine real-estate property tax rates. Researchers divided the median real estate tax payment by the median home price in each state. They then used the resulting rates to obtain the dollar amount paid as real estate tax on a house worth $281,900, which the Census Bureau indicated was the median value for a U.S. home as of 2022. Of course, the price of a home matters when it comes to total tax bills. We broke ties in WalletHub's ranking of effective tax rates using the annual taxes paid on a home priced at the median value within the state. See the accompanying gallery for the 12 states with the lowest property taxes, according to WalletHub.