With home prices continuing to rise, it’s more important than ever to get your real estate finances in order. This includes reassessing your property tax bill. But a new report from Realtor.com found that nearly 41 percent of Americans are overpaying in property taxes—and worst of all, most homeowners don’t even know it.
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In 2024, the median property tax bill increased by 2.8 percent to $3,500. According to Realtor.com, changes in local tax rates and rising home values are primarily responsible for inflation. However, some states, including Georgia and Texas, have imposed “far more dramatic spikes” that are creating a “burden” for homeowners.
Realtor.com put the following list together, indicating the top five states with the biggest tax burden hikes between 2023 and 2024:
- Georgia (15.6 percent increase)
- Texas (7.8 percent increase)
- Maine (5.9 percent increase)
- New Hampshire (5.6 percent increase)
- Wisconsin (5.5 percent increase)
Conversely, a small handful of Midwest and southern states experienced decreases or no changes in their property taxes. These include Nebraska, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Washington.
For those of us without a real estate or financial background, assessing how much we should be paying in property taxes can feel daunting. To make the process a little less stressful, Realtor.com has launched its new tax protesting calculator, which can help homeowners uncover potential savings and get “the evidence they need to challenge over-assessed property values.”
Per their analysis, the median potential savings is $539 per year. That’s more than 15 percent of the average property tax bill in the U.S. The good news is that if you own property in Texas, South Dakota, California, Iowa, or Illinois, your opportunity for tax relief is the highest. Here’s the full breakdown:
- Texas: 51.2 percent, with an estimated $606.66 in median savings
- South Dakota: 48.3 percent, with an estimated $431.23 in median savings
- California: 47.8 percent, with an estimated $1,875.12 in median savings
- Iowa: 47.3 percent, with an estimated $368.91 in median savings
- Illinois: 46.5 percent, with an estimated $629.76 in median savings
“Long-standing caps on annual assessment increases have created significant variation between similar homes, which makes it more complicated to collect comparable properties because neighbors might be locked into an old assessment. This can inflate the number of properties that look like they are overassessed,” explained the company. California is a prime example of this.
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To find out if you’re part of the 40 percent of Americans overpaying in property taxes, simply type your address into Realtor.com’s tax protest calculator. This will unlock property-specific estimates, market comparisons, local tax rates, and more comparable data to help build your case. Plus, you can get in touch with a local realtor for additional support.
“Most homeowners don’t realize they can protest their property taxes, and even fewer know how to do it,” David Masters, senior director of product at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “We built this resource to simplify what has traditionally been a confusing and intimidating process.”
“By integrating it into the My Home dashboard, we’re giving homeowners a clear view into what they might be overpaying, equipping them with solid evidence, and making it easy to take action. Our goal is to help people feel more confident navigating the protest process, and potentially save money,” he added.
Content shared from bestlifeonline.com.