The average American household spends $2,690 on property taxes for their homes each year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
And though property taxes might appear to be a non-issue for the 35% of the households in the country that are renters, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Everyone pays property taxes, whether directly or indirectly, as they impact the rent we pay as well as the finances of state and local governments.
But which states have the largest property tax load, and what should clients keep in mind when it comes to meeting and minimizing their tax obligations? A recent study by Wallethub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine which imposed the highest and lowest property tax burdens.
Using U.S. Census Bureau data, the study divided the “median real-estate tax payment” by the “median home price” in each state. It then used the resulting rates to obtain the dollar amount paid as real-estate tax on a house worth $244,900, the median value for a home in the U.S. as of 2021.
Here are the the 10 states with the highest and 10 states with the lowest property taxes.