Homebuyers can’t seem to catch a break on home affordability.
On top of high home prices, mortgage rates and homeowners insurance, property taxes on single-family homes across the United States jumped 2.7% in 2024, reaching $4,172 per home, according to a new report from ATTOM, a property data and analytics firm.
The total amount levied on single-family homes nationwide decreased to $357.5 billion, down 1.6% from 2023, even as the average tax bill per home increased.
While the average effective tax rate nationally fell to 0.86% in 2024 from 0.87% in 2023, it’s worth noting that ATTOM’s analysis excluded New York—one of the states with the highest property tax rates—due to data limitations.
ATTOM’s report analyzed property tax data collected from county tax assessors across the country, along with estimated market values calculated using an automated valuation model.
The declining effective tax rates coincided with rebounding home values, which rose by 4.8% to a nationwide average of $486,456 in 2024. This follows a 1.7% decrease in national average home values in 2023.
“While rising home values can influence property taxes, they don’t automatically lead to higher bills for homeowners,” Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, said in a news release. “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.”
Local governments rely heavily on revenues from property taxes to pay for schools, emergency medical services, police and fire departments, roads and other local services for residents.
Property taxes see largest upticks in Northeast, Midwest
The highest effective property tax rates remained concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. Illinois led the nation at 1.87%, followed by New Jersey (1.59%), Connecticut (1.48%), Nebraska (1.32%) and Ohio (1.31%).
In contrast, eight of the 10 states with the lowest effective tax rates were in the South and West. Hawaii had the lowest rate at 0.33%, followed by Idaho, Arizona, and Alabama (all at 0.41%), and Delaware (0.43%).
New Jersey homeowners paid the highest average property tax bill at $10,135 — nearly 10 times higher than West Virginia’s average of $1,027, which was the nation’s lowest. Other states with high average tax bills included Connecticut ($8,402), New Hampshire ($7,723), Massachusetts ($7,720) and California ($7,131).
Although ATTOM’s data excluded New York, another analysis from the nonprofit Tax Foundation found that New York’s effective property tax rate in 2023 was 1.6%, down slightly from 1.64% the year prior and making it the state with the sixth-highest tax rate in the U.S.