New York City Counties Have Highest Property Tax Bills
By Nora Tooher
Count your blessings that you don't have to pay the hefty property taxes in Westchester County, N.Y.
Nationwide, the median property tax in 2013 was $2,132, according to Zillow. But homeowners in Westchester County, just north of New York City, had a whopping median tax bill of $13,842. That's the costliest property tax tab of any county within the nation's 50 major metro areas.
All 10 of the most expensive counties for property taxes, based on the median paid for single-family homes, are in the NewYork metro area.
Rockland County, N.Y., had the second highest tax bill, at $10,550, followed by Bergen County, N.J., $9,546; Essex County, New Jersey, $9,288; Nassau County, N.Y., $9,091; Passaic County, N.J., $8,978; Union County, N.J., $8,926; Morris County, N.J., $8,549; Hudson County, N.J., $8,407; and Hunterdon County, N.J., $8,392.
Homeowners in Tunica County, Miss., had the lowest median tax bill among counties in the 50 largest metro areas, paying only $216.
Bibb County, Ala., had the second lowest, $228, followed by Walker County, Ala., $244; Blount County, Ala., $344; Amelia County, Va., $358; Butler County, Penn., $397; Lincoln, Okla., $402; Fayette, Tenn., $410; Meriwether, Ga., $457; and Saint Clair, Ala., $470.
The Akron metro area was not included in the study. But the median property tax in Greater Cleveland ranged from $2,099 in Lorain County to $3,321 in Geauga County.
To compare property taxes across the country, Zillow divided the 2013 median tax paid by the median home value in the counties in and surrounding the nation's 50 largest metros. The result is the inferred tax rate, which shows who's paying the most and who's paying the least in property taxes.
In Westchester County, New York, for example, the inferred tax rate is 2.7 percent, based on a median property tax of $13,842, divided by a median home value of $520,700.
A property tax is an annual tax on homeowners' property, and the tax amount is based on the home's value. The good news is that you can get a federal tax deduction for state and local property taxes.