HousingWireHousingWire
Property tax collections on U.S. single-family homes fell slightly in 2024 despite continued growth in home values, according to an analysis released Thursday by ATTOM.
The report, based on tax data from nearly 86 million homes nationwide, found that $357.5 billion in property taxes were levied in 2024 — a 1.6% decrease from the previous year.
But the average tax bill rose to $4,172, up 2.7% from 2023. That increase was smaller than the 4.1% hike seen the year before.
The average effective tax rate — defined as the average tax as a percentage of the property’s estimated market value — dipped slightly to 0.86% in 2024. This reflects a rebound in property values after a rare decline during the previous year.
Rising values, modest tax growth
The nationwide average home value climbed to $486,456 in 2024, a 4.8% year-over-year increase. That followed a 1.7% dip in 2023, the first such drop in several years.
While higher values often raise concerns about bigger tax bills, ATTOM CEO Rob Barber cautioned that the relationship isn’t always direct.
“While rising home values can influence property taxes, they don’t automatically lead to higher bills for homeowners,” he said in the report. “In many areas, we’ve seen taxes increase not just due to property appreciation, but also because of growing costs to operate local governments and schools or shifts in how tax burdens are distributed.”
Regional gaps persist
The Northeast and Midwest continued to carry the heaviest effective tax burdens.
Illinois again topped the nation with a 1.87% rate, followed by New Jersey (1.59%), Connecticut (1.48%), Nebraska (1.32%) and Ohio (1.31%).
In contrast, the lowest rates were concentrated in the South and West. Hawaii led with an average rate of 0.33%, followed by Idaho, Arizona and Alabama (each at 0.41%), and Delaware (0.43%).
var divElement = document.getElementById(‘viz1745003488722’); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName(‘object’)[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width=’600px’;vizElement.style.height=’587px’;} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width=’600px’;vizElement.style.height=’587px’;} else { vizElement.style.width=’100%’;vizElement.style.height=’727px’;} var scriptElement = document.createElement(‘script’); scriptElement.src = ‘https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js’; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement);
When measured in dollars, however, tax bills were highest in the Northeast, where both home values and rates tend to run high.
New Jersey homeowners paid an average of $10,135 in 2024 — the highest amount in the country and nearly 10 times the $1,027 average in West Virginia, the state at the bottom of the list.
Other states with high average bills included Connecticut ($8,402), New Hampshire ($7,723) and Massachusetts ($7,720). States with the lowest averages, after West Virginia, were Alabama ($1,200) and Arkansas ($1,397).
Metro-level trends
Among metro areas with populations of 200,000 or more, the Midwest accounted for 16 of the 25 highest effective tax rates.
Rockford, Illinois, led all metros at 2.06%, followed by Chicago (1.91%); Peoria, Illinois (1.89%); and Trenton, New Jersey (1.88%).
At the opposite end, the lowest rates were found in Salisbury, Maryland (0.29%) and several Southern metros — including Johnson City and Knoxville, Tennessee (0.33%), and Tuscaloosa, Alabama (0.33%).
Among metros with populations of at least 1 million, Raleigh, North Carolina, saw the largest jump in average tax bills during the year at 21.1%. Honolulu, Hawaii, had an increase of 17.2%, with New Orleans at 16%. Conversely, Charlotte (-7.3%), and Atlanta (-6.4%) saw the largest drops.
