The 17 US counties where the typical property tax bill tops $10,000

In 17 American counties, the typical homeowner now pays at least $10,000 a year in property tax. That is more than three times the national typical bill of $3,119, and so high that the Census Bureau’s survey stops counting: it records the median in these places only as “$10,000 or more.”

The figures come from the American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024, which asks homeowners what they actually paid in real estate taxes. Of the 3,144 counties and county equivalents in the 50 states and DC, only these 17 hit the cap.

Where they are

Eight are in New Jersey: Bergen, Essex, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties. Six are in New York, all in the New York City area: Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, plus Manhattan (New York County). Two are in California’s Bay Area: Marin and Santa Clara counties. The last is Falls Church, a small independent city in Northern Virginia that the Census treats as a county.

Two very different routes to the same bill

The list mixes two kinds of places.

In New Jersey and the New York suburbs, the main driver is the rate. Passaic County’s typical effective rate is about 2.18%, Putnam County’s about 2.12%, and Hunterdon and Essex counties are both above 1.9%. Homes there are expensive, typically $450,000 to $700,000, but not extreme. A high rate on a pricey home gets the bill over $10,000.

In the Bay Area and Manhattan, the main driver is the home value. Marin and Santa Clara counties have typical rates of only about 0.66% and 0.67%, below the national figure of 0.94%. But the median home in each is worth roughly $1.5 million, so even a low rate produces a five-figure bill. Manhattan’s median owner-occupied home is worth about $1.09 million, and its rate is about 0.92%.

Falls Church sits in between, with a rate close to the national figure and a median home worth just over $1 million.

The real figure is higher

Because the survey caps the median at $10,000, these counties’ true typical bills are higher than any number we can show, and the typical rates on their pages are a floor. Tax collectors’ own averages in several of these counties run well above $10,000. On our county pages for these 17, we show the bill as “$10,000+” and note the cap.

The other end of the scale

At the other extreme, 717 counties have a typical bill under $1,000 a year, mostly in the rural South, the Plains and Alaska. In several Alaska boroughs and census areas, the median is below $200, the survey’s lowest category, because much of the land sits outside any local taxing area. Across all counties, 86 have a typical effective rate of 2% or more, and 497 have a rate under 0.5%.

Common questions

Which county has the highest property tax bill? Seventeen counties tie at the Census survey cap of “$10,000 or more”, led by northern New Jersey, the New York City suburbs, Marin and Santa Clara in California, and Falls Church, Virginia.

Why does a low-rate county appear on the list? Because home values are very high. A 0.67% rate on a $1.5 million home is about $10,000.

Where can I see my county? Search for any county on our home page, or browse by state.