Property Taxes by State in 2026

Depending on where you live, property taxes can be anything from a minor annoyance to a significant financial strain. The average U.S. household pays $3,119 per year in property taxes on their home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and residents in the 26 states that levy vehicle property taxes pay an additional $499 annually.

While property taxes may seem irrelevant to the 35% of households that rent, that assumption misses the mark. Whether paid directly or indirectly, nearly everyone bears the cost of property taxes, as they influence rental prices and help fund state and local governments.

So which states place the heaviest property tax burden on residents, and what should taxpayers know about managing and potentially reducing what they owe? To find out, we examined real estate and vehicle property taxes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and consulted a panel of property-tax experts for both practical guidance and policy insight.

Real-Estate Tax Ranking

Real-Estate Property Tax Rates by State

*$332,700 is the median home value in the U.S. as of 2024, the year of the most recent available data.

Changes to Real-Estate Tax Rates Over Time

Red States vs Blue States

Vehicle Property Tax Ranking

Vehicle Property Tax Rates by State

*$29,100 is the value of a Toyota Camry LE four-door Sedan (as of January 2026), the highest-selling car of 2025.

Ask the Experts

Property taxes are an extremely important issue since they impact all of our lives. But how should we incorporate them into our financial decision making? And how should policy makers across the U.S. approach them as well? For answers to those questions and more, we consulted a panel of tax and public-policy experts. You can check out their bios and responses to key questions below.

1. Do people consider property taxes when deciding where to move? Should they?
2. Should nonprofits pay property taxes?
3. Should local tax policy be adjusted to rely more or less on property taxes versus other forms of taxation?
4. Should more types of property be subject to property taxes? If yes, what types?
5. Should certain groups of people be exempt from property taxes or be taxed at a lower rate?

Methodology

In order to determine the states with the highest and lowest property taxes, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia by using U.S. Census Bureau data to determine real-estate property tax rates and applying assumptions based on national auto-sales data to determine vehicle property tax rates.

For real-estate property tax rates, we divided the “median real-estate tax payment” by the “median home price” in each state. We then used the resulting rates to obtain the dollar amount paid as real-estate tax on a house worth $332,700, the median value for a home in the U.S. as of 2024 according to the Census Bureau.

For vehicle property tax rates, we examined data for cities and counties making up at least 50 percent of a given state’s population and extrapolated this to the state level using weighted averages based on population size. For each state, we assumed all residents own the same vehicle: a Toyota Camry LE four-door sedan — 2025’s highest-selling car — valued at $29,100, as of January 2026.

Please note that Georgia formerly imposed vehicle property tax but replaced it in 2013 with a one-time tax imposed on a vehicle’s fair market value (FMV).

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected as of January 29, 2026 from the U.S. Census Bureau and each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

Supporting Video Files:

• YouTube (for web embedding)
• Raw video files (for editing into clips)

Was this article helpful?

Important Disclosures