Property Tax Calculator by State (2026)

How much property tax will I pay in the USA?

Across the United States the median owner-occupied home is worth $360,600 and pays $3,211 a year in real estate taxes, an effective rate of about 0.89% (Census ACS 2024). On a $400,000 home that works out to roughly $3,562 a year, or $297 a month on top of the mortgage payment.

The state you buy in matters more than almost anything else. The same $400,000 house costs about $1,089 a year in Hawaii, $5,246 in Texas and $7,694 in Illinois. Within a state, county, city and school district rates differ again, which is why the calculator lets you replace the state average with the rate on your own bill.

How property tax is calculated

Every state uses the same basic formula: taxable value × tax rate. What differs is how each piece is defined.

• Market value: what the assessor thinks the home would sell for on the valuation date (January 1 in most states).
• Assessed value: market value × the state's assessment ratio. Some states assess at 100%, Cook County uses 10% and New York City uses 6% for small homes. Several states cap how fast assessed value can rise.
• Exemptions: homestead, senior, veteran and disability exemptions subtract a fixed amount or a percentage from assessed value.
• Tax rate: the sum of every local levy (county, city, school district, special districts), quoted as a percentage, as mills (dollars per $1,000) or as dollars per $100.

Effective property tax rate vs nominal rate

The nominal rate is printed on your bill and applies to taxable value. The effective rate is the tax divided by what the home is actually worth. They can be far apart: a New York City home pays a 19.843% nominal rate on an assessed value that is only 6% of market value, so its effective rate is near 1%. The table above uses effective rates because they are the only figures you can compare across states.

Assessment caps make effective rates fall the longer you own. California's 2% cap and Florida's 3% Save Our Homes cap mean long-time owners often pay half the rate of a new buyer next door, which is one reason the state medians for California (0.71%) and Florida (0.75%) look low.

Property tax rates by state: what drives the differences

States without an income tax lean on property tax: Texas (1.31%) and New Hampshire (1.46%) are well above average. In the Northeast and Midwest, school funding sits mostly on local property tax, which pushes up New Jersey (1.89%), Illinois (1.92%) and Connecticut (1.66%). Southern states such as Alabama (0.38%) and Louisiana (0.53%) sit at the other end. Hawaii (0.27%) combines low rates with the highest home values in the country.

Property tax Texas vs California

On a typical home, Texas charges about 1.31% of value and California about 0.71%. For a $500,000 house that is $6,558 against $3,535 a year. The gap narrows for a new California buyer, who pays 1% plus local bonds (about 1.19% in the City of Los Angeles) on the full price, and widens over time because California assessments can rise only 2% a year while Texas homesteads can rise 10%. Texas has no state income tax, so compare the two using total tax, not property tax alone.

How to use the property tax calculator

Choose a state and the calculator fills in its effective rate. Enter the market value of the home and any exemption in dollars. If you have a tax bill or a listing that shows the local rate, replace the state rate with it: an effective rate is best for comparing states, while your own rate is best for budgeting. For California, Florida, Texas, New York and Illinois, the state calculators model caps, homestead exemptions and each taxing unit separately.