Property Taxes by State Statistics in US 2026 | Key Facts

Property Taxes by State in the US 2026

Property taxes by state in the US 2026 reveal one of the starkest financial divides in the entire country. Whether you are buying your first home, planning a relocation, or managing a real estate portfolio, where you plant your roots in the United States makes an enormous difference in what the government takes from your pocket every single year — and not just from your home. Twenty-six states also levy an annual vehicle property tax, adding another layer of recurring cost that most homebuyers never budget for. According to WalletHub’s 2026 Property Taxes by State report, released on February 17, 2026, and drawing directly on data collected as of January 29, 2026 from the U.S. Census Bureau, the average US household pays $3,119 per year in real estate property taxes, while residents in the 26 states that levy vehicle property taxes pay an additional $499 annually on top of that. These numbers are not academic — they represent the single largest recurring cost of homeownership for millions of Americans, and they are accelerating with every passing quarter.

Beyond the individual household, the macro picture of property taxes in the US 2026 has never been more consequential for state and local governments. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Summary of State & Local Tax Revenue (QTAX), with Q3 2025 data released January 15, 2026, state and local property tax revenue totaled $797 billion in 2024 — a record high, up 8.2% year-over-year, and representing 38% of all state and local tax collections, making it the single largest tax revenue source for local governments in the entire country. Meanwhile, the effective national property tax rate has paradoxically fallen to 0.888% in 2024, its lowest in over a decade, as surging home values continue to outpace the speed at which local assessors update their rolls. The result is a country where property taxes are simultaneously generating record revenue and shrinking as a percentage rate burden — a disparity that has enormous implications for long-term homeowners, new buyers, renters, and investors heading into 2026.

Interesting Key Facts — Property Taxes by State in the US 2026

Data Sources: WalletHub “Property Taxes by State in 2026,” released February 17, 2026 (data collected as of January 29, 2026 from U.S. Census Bureau and state DMV records); U.S. Census Bureau Quarterly Summary of State & Local Tax Revenue (QTAX) — Q3 2025 data released January 15, 2026; Construction Coverage “Where Are U.S. Property Taxes Highest? 2026 Edition” (analysis of U.S. Census Bureau 2024 American Community Survey); Tax Foundation “Property Taxes by State and County, 2025” (October 15, 2025); NAHB Eye on Housing (March 2025; September 2025; December 2024); CPA Practice Advisor, February 18, 2026; CRE Daily, February 18, 2026; CultureMap Dallas, February 19, 2026.

The scale of the numbers in the key facts table above confirms that 2026 is a defining year for property taxes in the US. Total state and local property tax collections hit a record $797 billion in 2024 — a figure that eclipses both individual income tax ($537.4 billion) and general sales tax ($587 billion) by hundreds of billions of dollars, and represents the clearest evidence yet of local governments’ growing reliance on real estate wealth to fund day-to-day operations. The Q3 2024 milestone of $203.9 billion in a single quarter — a historic first — was followed by $203.4 billion in Q2 2025, confirming that property tax collections are now sustainably above the $200 billion per quarter plateau. Meanwhile, the paradox of a falling effective rate (0.888% in 2024, down from 1.147% in 2012) is explained entirely by the structural lag between surging home values and the pace of local reassessment cycles: the taxable base is growing faster than the tax rate, compressing the percentage even as absolute dollar bills climb. For Texas homeowners in 2026, the data is especially striking — $4,232 in annual property taxes on the state’s median-valued home, $360 more than in 2024, underscoring how even states without income taxes are not immune to escalating property tax burdens.

The 26-state vehicle property tax system adds a dimension that the headline real estate numbers entirely miss. The average $499 vehicle levy across those states pushes total annual property tax exposure significantly above $3,119 for millions of households, and in states like Virginia ($1,156/car), Mississippi ($1,007/car), or South Carolina ($736/car), a two-vehicle family faces $1,400–$2,300 in vehicle property taxes alone — before touching their real estate bill. The 27.02% gap between blue-state ($3,594) and red-state ($2,830) average property taxes reflects decades of divergent spending philosophies around public education, infrastructure, and state-level revenue dependence. Vermont‘s extraordinary reliance on property taxes — 27.7% of its entire state government tax revenue in 2024 — stands as the starkest example of how some states have built their entire public finance architecture around a single recurring levy on real estate wealth. These numbers collectively make property taxes by state in the US 2026 not just a personal finance matter, but a fundamental lens through which to understand American public policy, housing affordability, and geographic inequality.

Highest Property Tax States in the US 2026

The Northeast and upper Midwest continue to dominate the highest property tax states in the US 2026, driven by dense public school systems, legacy infrastructure obligations, and deep political reliance on property levies as the primary local revenue engine.

Data Sources: WalletHub “Property Taxes by State in 2026,” February 17, 2026 (data collected as of January 29, 2026 from U.S. Census Bureau); CultureMap Dallas, February 19, 2026; CRE Daily “Property Taxes State Rankings 2026,” February 18, 2026; CPA Practice Advisor, February 18, 2026; Mental Floss “Settling Down in 2026: Best and Worst States for Property Owners,” February 18, 2026.

New Jersey has retained the title of highest property tax state in the US for years running, and in 2026 the picture is starker than ever. At an effective rate of 2.11%, a New Jersey homeowner on the national median-priced home of $332,700 pays $7,022 per year in property taxes — and on New Jersey’s own actual median home value of $454,400, the bill climbs to approximately $9,582 annually, the highest in the nation. The state’s system is structurally tied to its school funding model: New Jersey relies almost entirely on local property levies to fund its K-12 public education system, which consistently ranks among the highest-spending in the country. Illinois follows at 2.01% — the only other state to breach the 2% effective rate threshold — a burden so severe it has been directly cited as a contributing factor to Illinois’s persistent population outflows. Illinois homeowners on the state’s median home would pay approximately $5,200 annually, the sixth-highest median in the country. Connecticut (1.81%) and New Hampshire (1.66%) carry high rates that reflect the Northeast’s legacy of local school finance through property levies, while Vermont (~1.78%) stands apart as a smaller state where property taxes fund not just local schools but 27.7% of all state government revenue — the highest such share in the country. Texas, ranking #44 for highest burden in WalletHub’s 2026 report, underscores the critical insight that no-income-tax states are not low-tax states — at 1.49% effective rate, Texas homeowners on a $332,700 home pay $4,961 annually, and on the state’s actual median home of $283,800 they pay $4,232 in 2026 — $360 more than in 2024.

The geographic pattern in the highest property tax states in the US 2026 is not random — it is the product of choices made over decades. States where local governments control school funding through property levies, rather than relying on state redistribution, consistently carry the highest effective rates. The practical financial consequence is dramatic: a buyer who chooses New Jersey over Alabama on a $332,700 home commits to paying $5,758 more in property taxes every single year — over a 30-year ownership period, that compounds to over $172,000 in additional tax payments, enough to have bought a second modest home in a low-tax state. For Texas and Nebraska — tied at #44 with 1.49% rates — the high effective rate represents the direct cost of operating full state and local services without an income tax, a trade-off that becomes increasingly visible as home values appreciate and the absolute dollar burden rises. Pennsylvania (~1.41%) and Wisconsin (~1.59%) round out the high-burden tier as Rust Belt states where aging infrastructure, pension obligations, and legacy public school spending have locked in structurally high property levies that reform-minded politicians have found extremely difficult to lower without cutting services that communities depend on.

Lowest Property Tax States in the US 2026

At the opposite end, the lowest property tax states in the US 2026 offer dramatically lighter burdens — though as Hawaii’s example demonstrates, a low rate does not always produce the lowest dollar bill, and low-rate states often offset through vehicle taxes or reduced public services.

Data Sources: WalletHub “Property Taxes by State in 2026,” February 17, 2026; Mental Floss “Settling Down in 2026: Best and Worst States for Property Owners,” February 18, 2026; CultureMap Dallas and Fort Worth, February 19–20, 2026; CRE Daily, February 18, 2026.

Hawaii holds the title of lowest property tax state in the US 2026 by a significant margin, with an effective rate of just 0.27% — generating an annual bill of only $888 on a $332,700 home, the lowest absolute amount on the national median property of any state in the country. Even applied to Hawaii’s own extraordinarily high median home value of $839,100 — the highest in the nation — the annual property tax comes to approximately $2,239, still below the national average of $3,119 in absolute terms. Hawaii’s low rate is structural: the state government funds a much larger share of education and public services directly, reducing the need for heavy local property levies. Alabama (#2, 0.38%) is the other standout, combining a low rate with one of the lowest median home values in the country ($209,900) to produce an annual property tax of just $788 — the lowest dollar-amount bill of any state, on the state’s own median home. Nevada (#3, 0.47%), Arizona (#4 tied, ~0.47%), Colorado (#4 tied, ~0.49%), and South Carolina (#4 tied, ~0.49%) all cluster in the very low range, tied in WalletHub’s 2026 rankings. Idaho (#7), Delaware and Tennessee (#8 tied), and Utah (#10) complete a top-ten list dominated by Sun Belt and Mountain West states with alternative revenue models and more modest public spending profiles.

Low property tax rates tell only part of the story for the lowest tax states in the US 2026, and the full picture requires accounting for vehicle property taxes and the actual value of homes in each state. South Carolina, tied at #4 for lowest real estate rate, simultaneously carries a vehicle property tax rate of approximately 2.53% — one of the highest in the country — meaning a South Carolina driver of a $29,100 Camry pays $736 per year in vehicle taxes, effectively erasing much of the real estate rate advantage for car-owning households. Similarly, Nevada (2.12% vehicle rate, $617/year) and Colorado (1.79% vehicle rate, $521/year) impose meaningful vehicle burdens that push total annual property tax costs well above the impression given by real estate rates alone. Tennessee and Delaware are comparatively cleaner cases — both carry low real estate rates and either no or very low vehicle property taxes, offering more genuinely low all-in burdens. It is also worth noting that low property tax revenue typically correlates with lower local government spending — states at the bottom of this list generally invest less per pupil in public education, maintain fewer miles of paved roads per capita, and operate leaner emergency services — trade-offs that matter enormously to families with school-age children or those who rely heavily on local public infrastructure.

Vehicle Property Taxes by State in the US 2026

Twenty-six US states impose an annual vehicle property tax — a recurring levy based on a car’s current market value — that can add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to a household’s total annual property tax burden, on top of real estate taxes.

Data Sources: WalletHub “Property Taxes by State in 2026,” February 17, 2026 — vehicle data collected as of January 29, 2026 from each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles; vehicle benchmark: 2025 Toyota Camry LE, valued at $29,100 (January 2026); rates extrapolated using population-weighted averages covering at least 50% of each state’s population; Mental Floss, February 18, 2026; LiveNOW from FOX, February 17, 2026; CPA Practice Advisor, February 18, 2026.

Virginia leads all 50 states in vehicle property tax rates in 2026 at 3.97%, generating a $1,156 annual bill on a standard $29,100 Toyota Camry LE — the highest vehicle tax burden in the country by a substantial margin. Virginia’s vehicle rate is 39.9 times higher than Louisiana’s, which carries the lowest vehicle property tax among the 26 levying states at approximately 0.10% ($29/year). Mississippi (3.46%, $1,007/year) is the only other state where the annual vehicle property tax on a standard car breaches the $1,000 threshold, making it alongside Virginia a state where owning a car carries a four-figure annual tax bill on top of any real estate tax paid. South Carolina (2.53%), Missouri (2.48%), Maine (2.40%), Massachusetts (2.25%), Nevada (2.12%), and Kansas (2.04%) all carry vehicle rates above 2%, meaning owners of standard vehicles in these states face bills ranging from $594 to $736 per vehicle per year. For a household in Virginia or Mississippi with two cars, vehicle property taxes alone exceed $2,000 annually — rivaling the total combined property tax burden of an Alabama homeowner in absolute terms. WalletHub’s methodology for vehicle rates is rigorous: data covering at least 50% of each state’s population is used, with population-weighted averages applied at the state level.

More than half of all US states — including the four largest, California, Texas, Florida, and New York — levy no annual vehicle property tax whatsoever, providing full relief to car-owning residents on this specific cost. This geographic divide creates striking border-state disparities: a Virginia resident paying $1,156 per car per year may live within miles of a Maryland neighbor paying $0 in vehicle property taxes annually. The average $499 vehicle burden across the 26 levying states means that for households in those states, the true combined annual property tax exposure is $3,618 per year — significantly above the headline $3,119 real estate average. For households making state relocation decisions in 2026, the vehicle property tax deserves serious attention: a family with three vehicles moving from Texas (no vehicle tax) to Virginia (3.97%) would immediately take on $3,468 in new annual recurring tax obligations, before even considering the real estate difference. States that levy both high real estate and high vehicle property taxes — like New Hampshire (1.66% real estate, 1.80% vehicle) or Massachusetts (~1.15% real estate, 2.25% vehicle) — represent among the most comprehensively taxed environments for property of any kind in the entire United States in 2026.

Property Tax Revenue Trends in the US 2026

State and local property tax revenue has outgrown every other major tax category since 2022, driven by unprecedented home price appreciation, and the most current government data through Q2 2025 confirms the trend is extending well into the current year.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau Quarterly Summary of State & Local Tax Revenue (QTAX) — Q3 2025 data released January 15, 2026; NAHB Eye on Housing “Total Property Tax Collections Hit Record High in 2024,” March 2025; NAHB Eye on Housing “Property Taxes Revenue Surpasses $200 Billion,” December 2024; NAHB Eye on Housing “State/Local Property Tax Revenue Share Falls for Third Straight Quarter,” September 2025; Construction Coverage “Where Are U.S. Property Taxes Highest? 2026 Edition,” February 2026; Tax Foundation, October 2025.

The property tax revenue trend in the US is one of the defining fiscal stories of this decade. Full-year 2024 collections hit $797 billion — a record — representing an 8.2% year-over-year increase that dwarfed every other major tax category. General sales tax grew just 1.2% to $587 billion, individual income tax rose 4.7% to $537.4 billion, and corporate income tax inched up 0.2% to $174.5 billion. The gap between property tax and income tax is now more than $259 billion annually, a reversal of the relative positions these two categories held earlier in the decade. From 2022 to 2024, property taxes grew by more than $96 billion (+13.7%), while individual income tax declined by 10% — a swing of over $155 billion in a single two-year period that fundamentally reshapes the fiscal foundation of state and local governments. The Q3 2024 milestone of $203.9 billion in a single seasonally-adjusted quarter was historic — the first time quarterly property tax collections breached $200 billion — and was followed by $203.4 billion in Q2 2025, confirming that the $200 billion per quarter plateau has been sustainably reached. The year-over-year growth rate, however, moderated from 11.2% in Q3 2024 to just 2.5% in Q2 2025, suggesting the peak velocity of the 2023–2024 surge may be cooling as home price appreciation decelerates nationally.

The paradox running through all of these record revenue numbers is the falling effective property tax rate. Even as collections hit all-time highs, the national effective rate dropped from a 2012 peak of 1.147% to 0.888% in 2024 — a more than 23% decline in the effective rate over 12 years, even as absolute tax bills soared in dollar terms. This counterintuitive relationship reflects structural assessment lag baked into virtually every state’s property tax system: formal assessed values are updated periodically — annually in some states, only at sale in others — meaning that during periods of rapid home price appreciation, the denominator (home market value) grows faster than the numerator (taxes assessed), compressing the effective rate even as homeowners pay more each year. As reassessment cycles gradually catch up to the 2020–2024 home price surge, effective rates are likely to begin rising again over the next several years — a trend already visible in states with annual reassessment cycles. For homeowners, this means current effective rates may be artificially low relative to what reassessments will eventually produce. The 18 states and DC with assessment caps provide partial protection for established owners, but create significant equity gaps between neighbors who bought at different times — and contribute to housing inventory shortages by discouraging long-time owners from selling and giving up their low assessed-value advantage.

Property Taxes by State — Full 50-State Rankings in the US 2026

The comprehensive table below presents the effective real estate property tax rate and calculated annual tax on the US median home value of $332,700 for all 50 states and Washington D.C. in 2026, ranked from highest to lowest burden.

Data Sources: WalletHub “Property Taxes by State in 2026,” February 17, 2026 — data collected from U.S. Census Bureau as of January 29, 2026; Construction Coverage “Where Are U.S. Property Taxes Highest? 2026 Edition” (analysis of U.S. Census Bureau 2024 American Community Survey, released February 2026); CRE Daily “Property Taxes State Rankings 2026,” February 18, 2026; CultureMap Dallas, February 19, 2026; World Population Review “Property Taxes by State 2026.” Rates marked with “~” are derived from 2024 ACS effective rate data as published in Construction Coverage 2026 Edition and WalletHub 2026 rankings.

The full 50-state property tax ranking for 2026 makes the geographic concentration of high tax burdens impossible to ignore. The entire top tier — New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York — consists of Northeastern and Midwestern states, all carrying effective rates above 1.6%. The $6,134 annual gap between New Jersey ($7,022) and Hawaii ($888) on the exact same $332,700 home is a difference of 594% — nearly seven times more in recurring annual taxes, purely as a function of geography. California, positioned near the middle-low tier at ~0.71%, appears deceptively affordable by rate — but its actual median home value is among the highest in the nation, meaning recently-purchased California homes face bills far above the $2,362 benchmark shown here for the national median home. California’s low effective rate is a direct product of Proposition 13’s assessment caps, which protect long-term owners but mean that a homeowner who bought in 2023 at market value pays dramatically more than a neighbor who bought the same house in 1995. Texas, at 1.49% effective rate and ranked #44 nationally for highest burden, pays $4,961 annually on the $332,700 benchmark — or $4,232 on its own median home — confirming that the state’s no-income-tax promise is funded in substantial part by homeowners.

The bottom tier — Hawaii (#1 lowest), Alabama (#2), Nevada (#3), Arizona/Colorado/South Carolina (tied #4), Idaho (#7), Delaware/Tennessee (tied #8), Utah (#10) — spans Sun Belt growth states, Mountain West corridors, and select Eastern states with modest public spending models. But as repeatedly emphasized throughout this analysis, the real estate rate alone is an incomplete picture for many of these states. South Carolina’s 2.53% vehicle tax, Nevada’s 2.12% vehicle tax, and Colorado’s 1.79% vehicle tax each impose meaningful annual costs on car-owning households that partially or substantially offset the real estate rate advantage. Only states like Hawaii, Tennessee, Delaware, and Arizona — carrying low real estate rates and either no vehicle property tax or a very modest one — deliver genuinely low all-in annual property tax burdens in the US in 2026. Any homeowner or investor using this data to make a location decision in 2026 must look at both columns: the rate and the dollar amount, across both real estate and vehicles, adjusted for the actual home values in their target market and accounting for any state assessment caps that may phase in higher bills over time. Property taxes by state in the US 2026 are not just a number — they are a long-term financial commitment that follows every homeowner for as long as they own property, in every state, every single year.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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