Property taxes on single-family homes up slightly last year

IRVINE, California — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service, recently released its 2019 property-tax analysis for more than 86 million U.S. single-family homes.

The analysis shows that property taxes levied on single-family homes in 2019 totaled $306.4 billion, up 1 percent from $304.6 billion in 2018 and an average tax amount of $3,561 per home — an effective tax rate of 1.14 percent.

The average property taxes of $3,561 for a single-family home in 2019 was up 2 percent from the average property tax of $3,498 in 2018, and the effective property-tax rate of 1.14 percent in 2019 was down from the effective property-tax rate of 1.16 percent in 2018.

The report analyzed property-tax data collected from county tax-assessor offices nationwide at the state, metro and county levels, along with estimated market values of single-family homes calculated using an automated valuation model (AVM).

The effective tax rate was the average annual property tax expressed as a percentage of the average estimated market value of homes in each geographic area.

“Property taxes levied on homeowners rose again in 2019 across most of the country. But the nationwide increase was the smallest in the past three years, a sign that cities, towns and counties are taking stronger steps to clamp down on how much they hit up property owners to support schools and local government services,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer for ATTOM Data Solutions.

“Without major changes in the way local government and educational systems are funded, demands for good schools and other services will continue to put upward pressure on property taxes. But on balance, 2019 was a relatively mild year for taxpayers around the nation.”

States with the highest effective propertytax rates were Illinois (2.22 percent), New Jersey (2.19 percent), Texas (2.11 percent), Vermont (2.11 percent) and Connecticut (2.04 percent).

Other states in the top 10 for highest effective property-tax rates were New Hampshire (1.93 percent), New York (1.87 percent), Pennsylvania (1.75 percent), Ohio (1.68 percent) and Nebraska (1.57 percent).

Among 220 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest effective property-tax rates were Binghamton, New York (3.11 percent); Syracuse, New York (3.00 percent); Rockford, Illinois (2.84 percent); Rochester, New York (2.80 percent); and Atlantic City, New Jersey (2.60 percent).

Out of the 220 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report, 123 (56 percent) posted an increase in average property taxes above the national average of 2 percent.

Those areas included Atlanta (9 percent increase), Phoenix (9 percent increase), Miami (5 percent increase), Washington,

D.C. (4 percent increase), and Boston

(4 percent increase).

Other major markets posting an increase in average property taxes that was above the national average were Detroit (up 9 percent); Austin, Texas (up 9 percent); Denver (up 8 percent); Las Vegas (up 7 percent); and Charlotte, North Carolina (up 5 percent).

States with the lowest effective propertytax rates were Hawaii (0.36 percent), Alabama (0.48 percent), Colorado (0.52 per cent), Utah (0.56 percent) and Nevada (0.58 percent).

Other states in the top 10 for lowest effective property-tax rates were Tennessee (0.61 percent), West Virginia (0.61 percent), Delaware (0.62 percent), Arizona (0.63 percent) and Wyoming (0.65 percent).

Among the 220 metro areas analyzed for the report, those with the lowest effective property-tax rates were Daphne, Alabama (0.33 percent); Honolulu (0.35 percent); Montgomery, Alabama (0.38 percent); Tuscaloosa, Alabama (0.39 percent); and Colorado Springs, Colorado (0.41 percent).

Among 1,448 U.S. counties with at least 10,000 single-family homes, those with the highest average property taxes on single-family homes were largely located in the greater New York metro area.

The area was led by Westchester County, New York ($18,103); Rockland County, New York ($13,048); Marin County, California ($12,250); Essex County, New Jersey ($12,206); and Nassau County, New Jersey ($11,952).

Property taxes levied on homeowners rose again in 2019 across most of the country. But the nationwide increase was the smallest in the past three years.” — Todd Teta, chief product officer for ATTOM Data Solutions