While homeowners across the country have been battling sticker shock when it comes to property taxes over the past couple of years, a recent report shows that the pace of escalation has slowed.
According to ATTOM, a top curator of land and property data and real estate analytics, its 2024 property tax analysis for 85.7 million U.S. single-family homes showed that a whopping $375.5 billion in property taxes were levied last year. However, that amount is down 1.6% from 2023.
While the average tax on a single-family U.S. home rose to $4,172 in 2024, reflecting a 2.7% increase over the previous year, 2023 witnessed a 4.1% increase over 2022. So while property taxes were still higher year over year, the pace of the increase at least slowed.
The report also showed that, nationwide, the average effective tax rate for single-family homes was 0.86% in 2024, down slightly from the average effective nationwide tax rate of 0.87% in 2023. These figures exclude New York, however, due to limitations on the availability of data.
The effective tax rate shows the average annual property tax expressed as a percentage of the average estimated market value of homes in each geographic area. The drops in effective tax rates seen through much of the country came as estimated home values rebounded to a nationwide average of $486,456, a 4.8% increase over the previous year. In 2023, the national average home value had dropped for the first time in years, by 1.7% from 2022 values.
Also important to note from the report, home mortgage rates, which had been on a steep upward trajectory since mid-2021, leveled off in 2024.
The 10 states with the highest effective tax rates in 2024, according to the ATTOM report, were all in the Northeast and middle of the country, led by Illinois (1.87%), New Jersey (1.59%), Connecticut (1.48%), Nebraska (1.32%) and Ohio (1.31%). The effective rates in all five of those states were slightly lower than the previous year, however.
Rounding out the top 10 in 2024 were Iowa (1.24%), New Hampshire (1.23%), Kansas (1.22%), Vermont (1.22%) and Pennsylvania (1.16%).
Eight of the 10 states with the lowest effective tax rates for single-family homes were in the South and West of the country. Hawaii had the lowest rate (0.33%), followed by Idaho, Arizona and Alabama all at (0.41%), and Delaware (0.43%).
Rounding out the 10 states with the lowest rates were Utah (0.45%), Tennessee (0.46%), West Virginia (0.47%), Nevada (0.48%), and Wyoming (0.49%).
A local real estate professional may be able to shed more light on property taxes in your area or areas of the country you may be interested in moving to.
