What are your property taxes?

[TheWifeHalf]

NW Ohio
3600 sq ft home, value I think $275,000 (1/3 built 1915, 2/3 built 1992)
1 acre in a small town, with sidewalks and street lights
$3200

[kanga1622]

We have a 1/4 acre lot and our taxes are just over $2400 a year.

[katsiki]

A bit over 1 acre, 1900 sq ft home

$1700-1800 / year (it goes up and down every few years)

Louisiana

[Saving4Fire]

2 Bedroom Condo (w office) in Chicago.  7.5k

[rws]

$12,000 / year
1600 sq ft home
1/3 acre
Central NJ :(

[Clean Shaven]

$5000 per year property tax.
4000 sq ft home on 2 acres, approx $1MM value.

Nevada, land of low property tax, no income tax, ~8% sales tax, and inadequate funding of public services as a result of all that.  Real property tax in NV is based on a percentage of assessed land + improvement values, but it can increase only a max of 3% YOY. 

Strangely, Nevada depreciates house (constructed improvements) values for tax purposes.  This results in newer-constructed houses having higher property taxes.  My house is about 25 years old; if it were built in 2018, I'm guessing that my tax bill would be about twice as high as it is.

[FreshPrincess]

Central Ohio
2400 sq ft home 1.25 acres (it's actually closer to 2, but I'm not sure the auditor realizes we have 2 lots and I'm not going to be the one to tell them)
$6,500/yr
Market Value $365k

[Cgbg]

Metro Pdx, Oregon
1/2 acre, 2200 sq ft house
$8200/year ($1200 is sewer bill paid in property tax bill)

[Cranky]

NE Ohio - double lot + house, taxes are around $1100/year. (We do have both city and state income taxes.)

[Roothy]

size, acreage, "assessed value"--none of this is really apples to apples for the worth of your house.

What is the market (zillow, if you want) value of your home/property?  What taxes do you pay per year?

Me: market value is $184,000.  Taxes are $6000 a year, almost on the nose.

This is Illinois.  I think Illinois and Massachusetts usually "win" in this contest.

[PiobStache]

5000 square foot main house, 800 square foot pool/guest house, 3 acres, 13k in southern Arizona.

[Jrr85]

size, acreage, "assessed value"--none of this is really apples to apples for the worth of your house.

What is the market (zillow, if you want) value of your home/property?  What taxes do you pay per year?

Me: market value is $184,000.  Taxes are $6000 a year, almost on the nose.

This is Illinois.  I think Illinois and Massachusetts usually "win" in this contest.

That is brutal. 

[DreamFIRE]

Indiana - $1200, 2 lots (not an excessively sized house/yard), just under 1500 sq ft.

There's a reason I moved to Indiana. Illinois is horrible.

Yep.  Each year, I'm paying over 8% of my assessed home value.

[LeRainDrop]

In 2017, $5,200 for a 1250 sq. ft. condo in Atlanta with the homestead exemption.  It was going to be $5,600, but due to protests in one area, the tax commission agreed to give the whole county a freeze for 2017.  This amount will jump up in 2018.  I think these are pretty high taxes -- even though Georgia is known for a very reasonable cost of living, it's the City of Atlanta taxes that will punch you.

[BudgetSlasher]

Our are about 3,800 for 5 acres, but most of the value is in the house, not the land.

Having live it Vermont previously, I can say that the property tax RATE, is higher than is some of the other states/cities that I have lived (175% of where I grew up). On the flip side in Vermont (and here in Maine) 66 acres can vary greatly in price depending on where it is located; near a "major" city 66 acres would be worth a pretty penny, while further out the land values can get shockingly low.

[Michael in ABQ]

In Albuquerque, NM our house is around 2,000 SF on 0.162 acres in a typical suburban neighborhood. Market value is probably around $200-220k though it's assessed at just $165k because it's limited to 3% increases per year and our landlord bought it cheap after the recession when it was a foreclosure.

Taxes for 2017 were $2,273 or about 1% of the market value.

[Michael in ABQ]

$5000 per year property tax.
4000 sq ft home on 2 acres, approx $1MM value.

Nevada, land of low property tax, no income tax, ~8% sales tax, and inadequate funding of public services as a result of all that.  Real property tax in NV is based on a percentage of assessed land + improvement values, but it can increase only a max of 3% YOY. 

Strangely, Nevada depreciates house (constructed improvements) values for tax purposes.  This results in newer-constructed houses having higher property taxes.  My house is about 25 years old; if it were built in 2018, I'm guessing that my tax bill would be about twice as high as it is.

This is pretty standard. Typically the increase in value for homes is due to the land increasing in value, not the improvements.  Improvements depreciate and this should be recognized by the assessor. After all, if your neighbor's house burnt down and it was rebuilt brand-new the same design as yours which do you think would sell for more? Obviously given the choice between a property with a brand new roof, water heater, HVAC, etc. and one where those components are 25 years old (maybe 5-10 for the water heater or HVAC) you would pick the former.

Since most people replace things like the roof, water heater, HVAC, etc. as they wear out the value of the improvements goes back up. Also, inflation in construction costs can cause the value of the improvements to rise. But it's a basic economic principal that no one should be willing to pay more for a used property than a new one, all things being equal (size, design, quality of materials, location, etc.).

[BTDretire]

Don't get me started. I am fuming as I type this.

Primary property $13500 for 1/3 acre property.
Investment property $13200 for 1/2 acre property.
Both located in NJ.

But just think about all the benefits you get!

[BTDretire]

 Our property taxes are $1,073 for 3 bedroom 2 bath on just over 1/2 acre.
 Such a deal, except I think property taxes are the worst type of tax,
you never ever, ever, own your home, you must pay rent to the government!

[martyconlonontherun]

~$6000 for 1800 sqft house on 1/10 an acre in metro-Boston. It stings a bit.

I'm pretty close. 5,000 for 2,000 SQ feet 1/10 acre in Milwaukee county (10 min north of city). And our house has lower assessed value that similar houses (I assume because no garage and actually?)

[calimom]

3+ bedroom 1970s ranch style house on 2.5 acres in a non-glamorous part of California. Property taxes are just shy of $3,000 per year. As with most of California, due to Prop 13, houses on either side pay $800 and $3,400 because of purchase date.

[littlebird]

Wow, those Illinois numbers are shocking! We're paying around 1% in Massachusetts, so Illinois is way worse than here. The dollar value comes out similar but our house value is much higher. I never would have suspected that Illinois was so bad.

[CBnCO]

Our property taxes are pretty reasonable...around $800 per year for a 1400 sq. ft cabin/house on 1/3 acre in the Colorado mountains (20 min drive to ski resort).

That said, I'm always fascinated by the concept that the government owns all of the land and any upgrades to the land, like houses. Then, they charge the "owners" rent payments (taxes) in exchange for certain use rights. Ultimately, if you don't pay the rent, the property will be confiscated and you evicted. Seems like there should be a better way to fund our government than taxing property and is it a bit depressing to consider that under this system we never really own property in a fee simple fashion??

[Dave1442397]

That said, I'm always fascinated by the concept that the government owns all of the land and any upgrades to the land, like houses. Then, they charge the "owners" rent payments (taxes) in exchange for certain use rights. Ultimately, if you don't pay the rent, the property will be confiscated and you evicted. Seems like there should be a better way to fund our government than taxing property and is it a bit depressing to consider that under this system we never really own property in a fee simple fashion??

This is something that I, as an immigrant, found absolutely unbelievable. In the land of the free, nobody actually owns their property.

[I'm a red panda]

So...this is kind of another Frugalwoods thread...

In their spending report, they say they pay $6,895.63 in property taxes (on 66 acres!).  This is described as "high"- and Vermont often is listed as a high property tax state.


My state, is never on those lists.  But my annual property tax bill is over $6,000 and that is after a $1,800 military credit is applied. 
I live on a 1/3 of an acre lot.


But Iowa never makes the "high" property tax state lists.

So what are your property taxes?  Where you live is $7,000 for 66 acres high or low?  What about the same amount for 1/3 acre?

saw this on their blog for 2017:  "Vermont Property Taxes (annual total)   $8,556.57. Paid once a year, our property taxes cover our full 66-acre parcel along with our home and barn"

Sold my 1000 sf house in coastal Cali last year for over $600k. Prop taxes were approx $2k/year. Prop 13 FTW (at least for homeowners)

The number I posted was also in from their blog, I think it was 2016. She described them as expensive.  They just did not seem expensive at all to me, but it's obviously relative- hence wanting to know what others paid.

The numbers people are posting here for Illinois and New York are expensive.

[SilveradoBojangles]

We pay $5000 a year on a 1000 sq foot house that cost us 290K. Our lot is about 5500 sq feet.

[dude]

1,100 sq. ft. condo in one of the most densely packed Greater Boston Area towns; town appraises it at $561k (Zillow says $714k), property taxes @$3300/yr.  Real estate prices around here have gone insane -- a new 2400 sq st detached townhouse on my street just sold for $1.6mil -- and town appraisals have been climbing steadily. Ours went up 9% from last year.

[CBnCO]

That said, I'm always fascinated by the concept that the government owns all of the land and any upgrades to the land, like houses. Then, they charge the "owners" rent payments (taxes) in exchange for certain use rights. Ultimately, if you don't pay the rent, the property will be confiscated and you evicted. Seems like there should be a better way to fund our government than taxing property and is it a bit depressing to consider that under this system we never really own property in a fee simple fashion??

This is something that I, as an immigrant, found absolutely unbelievable. In the land of the free, nobody actually owns their property.

We've always wanted a little more space separating us from our neighbors; but, the more land you "own", the more taxes you pay. So, the hack we've imagined is to find a small, cheap property that borders public land. All the benefits of open space without the maintenance or taxes. Of course, this will likely only be available to us if we move further away from amenities and, to date, the taxes we pay are worth the convenience of easy access.

[sokoloff]

$11K taxes (after the residential exemption which is around $1K IIRC) for ~2600 ft^2 $2MM single family with a small yard.

[DirtDiva]

Colorado

1863 sq ft condo, 1 car garage, on a postage stamp of land, walking distance to everything and a view of 14,000 foot mountains, valued at 500k

$1650/year

[LaineyAZ]

Central Phoenix, one bedroom 620 sq. foot house on 7,000 square feet = $400/year

SE Phoenix, four bedroom 1400 sq. foot house on 7,000 square feet = $1,400/year
(in 1995 the property taxes on this same house were $1,100, so taxes have only gone up $300 in 22 years...)

There are some adjustments available for seniors, or those on low fixed income, or rentals to family members.  The one bedroom house is a family rental so taxes are not the same as if it were a normal commercial rental.

[zolotiyeruki]

Illinois.  We pay about $11k on a home appraised at $350k

(about 3200sqft of living space on 1/4 acre)

[FINate]

One thing is becoming clear...stay the hell out of Illinois. Those property taxes are brutal. Plus a 4.95% flat income tax and a sales tax. Ouch! Seems excessive, why does anyone stay and put up with this?

[FINate]

Yep, Illinois right up there with California: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494/

[swampwiz]

I pay $200 per year for a renovated 1100 ft2 house under beam in a depressed industrial town in Louisiana.  Before then, in a different town, I paid $0 for new 1520 ft2 home.

[zolotiyeruki]

One thing is becoming clear...stay the hell out of Illinois. Those property taxes are brutal. Plus a 4.95% flat income tax and a sales tax. Ouch! Seems excessive, why does anyone stay and put up with this?

The funny thing is that the state is still borderline bankrupt.  Decades of buying off public employee unions will do that.

And people *aren't* putting up with it.  There's a pretty steady migration of people out of Illinois to greener pastures.  I'm hoping to do just that this year.

[FINate]

One thing is becoming clear...stay the hell out of Illinois. Those property taxes are brutal. Plus a 4.95% flat income tax and a sales tax. Ouch! Seems excessive, why does anyone stay and put up with this?

The funny thing is that the state is still borderline bankrupt.  Decades of buying off public employee unions will do that.

And people *aren't* putting up with it.  There's a pretty steady migration of people out of Illinois to greener pastures.  I'm hoping to do just that this year.

California is headed down the same path. We're on a 2 year plan to get out. Selling off real estate and exploring other areas.

[YttriumNitrate]

My $340k primary residence in northwest Indiana comes in at $3,000 a year while my $140k rental property is at $3,115 this year. Indiana caps primary residences at 1% of assessed value and rentals at 2%, however the rental is in an area that voted for a 0.37% surcharge to help the schools.

The tax bills seem a lot less painful when my Illinois coworkers mention how much they pay.

[texxan1]

In Texas on the coast.. My house is valued at 355k and may taxes are about 8900 per year.. and increase about 10 percent a year... Seriously considering moving to a lower cost of living area in 3 years once I Fire... florida maybe, who knows.. I love my house and hate to leave it, its perfect for my needs . Its paid for, so may just rough it out but it will just cost more in the long run

[Jrr85]

One thing is becoming clear...stay the hell out of Illinois. Those property taxes are brutal. Plus a 4.95% flat income tax and a sales tax. Ouch! Seems excessive, why does anyone stay and put up with this?

The funny thing is that the state is still borderline bankrupt.  Decades of buying off public employee unions will do that.

And people *aren't* putting up with it.  There's a pretty steady migration of people out of Illinois to greener pastures.  I'm hoping to do just that this year.

There's a steady outmigration, but not nearly as quickly as you'd expect.  I'm just curious as to what property owners in Illinois are expecting to happen.  The pensioners to get stiffed? A federal bailout?  It just seems more likely that property owners are going to get hammered.  I would agree with them that a bailout is likely, but the bailout has to come from somewhere.  With California and New Jersey being close behind them, I'm not sure a federal bailout is really possible.  I think ultimately the pensioners and property owners and workers are going to share some pain, but I would consider it an emergency and time to evacuate if I had any flexibility to get away from Illinois.

[bluebelle]

For 2018, Toronto's residential property taxes are 0.4632369%.  That works out to about 3000$ a year for our 2100 sq ft home.

interesting....I haven't gotten my 2018 residential tax rate, but for 2017
My rate was .6592928 (.48 municipal and .179 education)  Our 2017 taxes were $4332 on a 1750 sq ft home (1/6 of an acre)....it's house value not size that determines taxes.  Toronto has a low tax rate compared to our ridiculous house prices (not value, price)

future retirememnt home is empty land, 2.8 acres and taxes are $2400 a year.  I expect it will hit $10-12K once the house is built...on a private road with little services.

[SimpleCycle]

One thing is becoming clear...stay the hell out of Illinois. Those property taxes are brutal. Plus a 4.95% flat income tax and a sales tax. Ouch! Seems excessive, why does anyone stay and put up with this?

The funny thing is that the state is still borderline bankrupt.  Decades of buying off public employee unions will do that.

And people *aren't* putting up with it.  There's a pretty steady migration of people out of Illinois to greener pastures.  I'm hoping to do just that this year.

There's a steady outmigration, but not nearly as quickly as you'd expect.  I'm just curious as to what property owners in Illinois are expecting to happen.  The pensioners to get stiffed? A federal bailout?  It just seems more likely that property owners are going to get hammered.  I would agree with them that a bailout is likely, but the bailout has to come from somewhere.  With California and New Jersey being close behind them, I'm not sure a federal bailout is really possible.  I think ultimately the pensioners and property owners and workers are going to share some pain, but I would consider it an emergency and time to evacuate if I had any flexibility to get away from Illinois.

Well, I mean, most people have ties and lives here and migration is much harder when you consider that.

I figure it will be shared pain.  Fixing the state's finances is my voting issue, to be sure, but I also know that I don't have a lot of control here and it is what it is.  We make really good salaries for the COL, despite the tax burden, so it's worth it to stay put.

[YttriumNitrate]

There's a steady outmigration, but not nearly as quickly as you'd expect.  I'm just curious as to what property owners in Illinois are expecting to happen.  The pensioners to get stiffed? A federal bailout?  It just seems more likely that property owners are going to get hammered.  I would agree with them that a bailout is likely, but the bailout has to come from somewhere.  With California and New Jersey being close behind them, I'm not sure a federal bailout is really possible.  I think ultimately the pensioners and property owners and workers are going to share some pain, but I would consider it an emergency and time to evacuate if I had any flexibility to get away from Illinois.

It's very true that there are a lot of things keeping people in Illinois. So far, I have yet to convince another in-the-loop co-worker to join me in calling Indiana home (and their train commutes would stay almost exactly the same). Admittedly, Indiana does look like a cross between Mordor and Dante's Inferno when you first enter it from Chicago, but Chicago also has its rough parts.

As for what will happen with Illinois. My guess is A) income taxes will continue to go up and to make it more palatable it will be a progressive income tax, B) property taxes will continue to rise.

[FireHiker]

I am floored by the Illinois numbers; I had no idea.

[Jrr85]

...

As for what will happen with Illinois. My guess is A) income taxes will continue to go up and to make it more palatable it will be a progressive income tax, B) property taxes will continue to rise.

They'll keep going up, and illinois's income and sale tax aren't that high, so there is some room to move up (although Chicago's sales tax is pretty damn stiff).  But I'm not sure how high they can go.  California is California and in additional to being California has silicon valley (and they're still experience domestic outmigration, although immigration by foreigners keeps their population growth rate positive).  Chicago is awesome, but I'm not sure people in illinois will put up with a similar tax burden. 

[zolotiyeruki]

... I'm just curious as to what property owners in Illinois are expecting to happen.  The pensioners to get stiffed? A federal bailout?  It just seems more likely that property owners are going to get hammered.  I would agree with them that a bailout is likely, but the bailout has to come from somewhere.

Yup, that's the $64 billion question.  Several years ago, the state raised income taxes from 3% to 5% "temporarily" to get a one-time cash infusion to fix things.  That rate hike expired last year, at which point it was supposed to eventually drop back to 3.25% or something like that.  Instead, the legislature voted it back up to 4.95% permanently.  The biggest driver of the financial situation is the retirement benefit system.  The public employee unions were smart--several years ago, they got a constitutional amendment passed which bars the state from retroactively reducing retiree benefits.  In other words, even if the state literally goes bankrupt, it *still* has to pay benefits, as I understand it.  The state has already cut education funding (for our district, a 6% hole in the budget) and has a reputation for delaying payments on contracts.

Given the current makeup of Congress, I don't see a bailout on the horizon, either.

As for what will happen with Illinois. My guess is A) income taxes will continue to go up and to make it more palatable it will be a progressive income tax, B) property taxes will continue to rise.

They'll keep going up, and illinois's income and sale tax aren't that high, so there is some room to move up (although Chicago's sales tax is pretty damn stiff).  But I'm not sure how high they can go.  California is California and in additional to being California has silicon valley (and they're still experience domestic outmigration, although immigration by foreigners keeps their population growth rate positive).  Chicago is awesome, but I'm not sure people in illinois will put up with a similar tax burden. 

We're already over 8% sales tax, on top of the 5% income tax and (effective) 3% property tax.  That puts us close to California on sales taxes, and close to Texas on property taxes (and TX has no income tax).  Illinois is already very near the top in overall tax burden, and I expect that continued increases will only drive further emigration, resulting in lower tax receipts, etc.  So I don't think there's a whole lot of "room to move up."

[ohio4life]

5,458.20 on a 1100 sq ft beat up old house in Columbus, OH

[FINate]

...

As for what will happen with Illinois. My guess is A) income taxes will continue to go up and to make it more palatable it will be a progressive income tax, B) property taxes will continue to rise.

They'll keep going up, and illinois's income and sale tax aren't that high, so there is some room to move up (although Chicago's sales tax is pretty damn stiff).  But I'm not sure how high they can go.  California is California and in additional to being California has silicon valley (and they're still experience domestic outmigration, although immigration by foreigners keeps their population growth rate positive).  Chicago is awesome, but I'm not sure people in illinois will put up with a similar tax burden.

Silly Valley will eventually be the downfall of California. I say this as a lifelong resident who worked in tech for ~20 years. The tech industry has produced something of a "paradox of plenty" in the state; it's so extremely lucrative that we are now overly dependent on it and have neglected (even shunned) most other industries. E.g. the business environment is so unfriendly that only the most profitable companies survive, which tend to be tech companies exploiting near monopoly power via a core brand, technology, or intellectual property. About 65% of the general fund is funded by income taxes, and about half of all income taxes are paid by the top 1%, which means our tax structure is extremely volatile (e.g. high risk in finance terms). So the state government is doing okay right now, but cities are running deficits (increasing pension costs) and the shit will really hit the fan the next time tech has issues.

Tech is cyclical, and Silicon Valley has a history of reinventing itself after each tech wreck. Question is, how many times can it reinvent, in particular because the expense of doing business here has increased so dramatically? I get that the area is loaded with talented engineers and VC capital and top universities...there's a reason t's the tech hub of the world in spite of the extreme HCOL, taxes, traffic, and lack of housing. But at some point things will hit a tipping point. Engineers can move, and most of the folks working in SV are not from here, have no family here, and workers don't necessarily need to be physically located in any given region.  There are already signs that some companies are realizing that they are better off setting up shop elsewhere. There are many great places to live, and many many great engineering schools outside of SV.

[NoraLenderbee]

Don't have the exact numbers at hand.
Tax: ~$8,000
1450 sq feet plus detached garage and small basement (unusual around here)
6700 sq ft lot
90 year old house
We bought in 2004 for a bit north of 0.5 million.
San Jose,
CA

My immediate neighborhood is old and unglamorous and lags the region. However, the house next door just sold for 1.1 mill and another down the street is going for the same price. This is a huge jump all at once and is probably due to Google's announcement of a new campus nearby. I'm not sure what we'll do, if anything. I'd love the money but if we sell, we'll be unable to afford elsewhere in the Bay Area and we don't know where else we'd go.

[DreamFIRE]

One thing is becoming clear...stay the hell out of Illinois. Those property taxes are brutal. Plus a 4.95% flat income tax and a sales tax. Ouch! Seems excessive, why does anyone stay and put up with this?

Let's just call it 5%.  They aren't fooling me by making it 4.95% as if that's closer to 4 than 5% with little deductible.  They didn't fool me when they raised it to 5% some years back under the premise of it being temporary, decreased it years later to 3.75% (which was still higher than it had been), but ~5% soon became permanent as I fully expected.

Illinois income tax is 65% higher than what it was most of my career, and there's very little I can deduct off my income.  My property taxes have increased 56% since I bought my house while its value is about 20% higher .  With local sales taxes added, I'm paying close to 10%.  Illinois also charges a gasoline tax on top of the federal taxes.  Is there any relief?  Well, most grocery items are taxed at 1%, and IL doesn't tax SS and retirement income just yet, but some pro-tax folks can't stop talking about taxing retirement income so that we can keep paying those government pensions and healthcare.  The move to a progressive tax structure has never caught any steam.

You're already paying more taxes due to increased home valuations and income increases over time, so percentage increases on top of that make you feel like you're getting hit twice as hard - increases on top of increases.

Why does someone stay?  Different reasons.  First, many are leaving.  I have heard IL is among the top states for people leaving.  10 years ago, things didn't seem quite as bad.  And, in my case, I'm living in a LCOLA as far as the cost of homes in good neighborhoods, which helps offset some of the high tax burden.  But, my main reasons for staying are family/friends in the area and the fact that I have a senior IT job that I like (own office, no cubicle) that pays well that I will most likely FIRE from in 2019 or 2020.  So that's right around the corner, and I have been investigating relocation options for the last 6 months.  I want to do some traveling around to different areas before I make any final decisions.