The average annual residential property tax bill for the 87 million owner-occupied homes in the U.S. was $4,271 in 2024, up about 4% from 2023, according to NAHB Economics team analysis of the 2024 American Community Survey.

As usual, there was wide variation in the average property tax bill and tax rate across the states.

Home owners in New Jersey continued to pay the highest real estate taxes, paying an average of $9,767 per home, $2,194 more than the next closest state, New York, at $7,573. Meanwhile, home owners in West Virginia paid the lowest average total real estate taxes at $1,044.

No state had an average residential property tax bill under $1,000 last year for the first time ever. In 2023, Alabama’s average was $978.

States in the Northeast and California, where home values tend to be higher, pay more on average in real estate taxes compared to states in other parts of the nation. But this doesn’t tell the whole story as some states with lower property values have higher effective property tax rates.

To control for property values and create a more informative state-by-state analysis, NAHB calculates the average effective property tax rates by dividing aggregate real estate taxes paid by aggregate value of owner-occupied housing within each state.

 

For example, the aggregate real estate taxes paid across the U.S. was $370 billion with an aggregate value of owner-occupied real estate totaling $41.7 trillion in 2024. Using these two amounts, the average effective property tax rate nationally was $8.88 per $1,000 in home value.

Jesse Wade, NAHB Director of Tax and Trade Policy and Housing Policy Research, provides more in this Eye on Housing post.