Calculators
Property tax calculator
Two ways in: the typical rate of your state, or the numbers printed on your own tax bill.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
A property tax bill is the taxable value of a home multiplied by the combined levy of every local government that taxes it. This calculator starts from what a typical owner pays in the state you choose: the median real estate tax divided by the median home value, from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2024. That ratio runs from 0.27% in Hawaii to 1.92% in Illinois, so the same $350,000 house is a $952 bill in one and $6,731 in the other. When you have your own bill or your assessor's notice, switch to “My mill rate”: enter the market value, the assessment ratio your state uses, the exemptions you receive and the total mill rate, and the calculator rebuilds the bill line by line, ready to compare with what the county sent.
Estimated property tax per year
$4,592
$383 a month · 1.31% of market value
| Median bill in Texas | $4,108 |
| Median home value in Texas | $313,200 |
Typical rate: what owners in Texas paid, as a share of value (Census ACS 2024, homestead exemptions already included). Your county and city set the real levy. How this is calculated.
Reading your own bill
Every county prints the same chain in its own words. The market value (also called appraised, full cash or just value) is the assessor's estimate of what the home would sell for on the assessment date. The assessed value is that figure times the assessment ratio set by the state: 100% in many states, a fixed fraction in others. Exemptions are then subtracted to give the taxable value, and every local levy, from the county to the school district and the fire district, is applied to it in mills. Add the mill rates of the lines on your bill and you have the total the calculator asks for.
Example: a $320,000 home in a full-value state, with a $50,000 homestead exemption and a combined levy of 18.5 mills, has a taxable value of $270,000 and owes $4,995 a year, $416 a month, which is 1.56% of its market value. Without the exemption the same levy would cost $5,920.
Typical rate or your rate: which to use
The typical rate is the right tool before you buy, when you compare states or want an order of magnitude for a budget. It already includes the exemptions and caps that owners in the state receive, because it is computed from the taxes they actually paid. It does not know your county: within one state, the effective rate can easily double from one county to the next. Once you have an address, the mill rate mode is more precise, and for a home you already own, last year's bill is the best starting point of all.
What the calculator leaves out
Special assessments for sidewalks or sewers, flat fees added to the bill, penalties and installment schedules are not included. Assessment caps such as California's Proposition 13 or Florida's Save Our Homes keep a long-held home's taxable value below market value; if you have owned for years, use the assessed value printed on your notice rather than a market estimate. The state pages describe the main relief programs of each state, and how property tax is calculated walks through each step with more examples. To compare the typical bill of all states at once, see property tax by state.