Surprise... New York Not the Worst for Property Taxes

Written by LANNING TALIAFERRO (Patch Staff)

A new study by WalletHub found out something all its homeowners know—New York has high property taxes.

But it also found something surprising—New York isn’t the worst. It isn’t even in the bottom 10.

WalletHub looked at the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, to see who stood where on both real estate property taxes and vehicle property taxes.

(Just 27 states levy a property tax on vehicles. New York is tied for the No. 1 ranking for vehicle property tax with the other 22 states that don’t have one.)

As for real estate property tax, New York clocks in at No. 41 on WalletHub’s score chart. The median real estate tax payment divided by the median home price equals $2,734.

The states with higher real estate taxes than ours based on WalletHub’s calculations may surprise you.

Just two New England states aren’t on the list. Our neighbors in the New York metro area are.

And while Red States in general have lower real estate property taxes than Blue States, Texas has some of the heftiest.

Highest Real Estate Taxes

No. 42 Rhode Island ($2,779)

No. 43 Vermont ($2,934)

No. 44 Michigan ($3,168)

No. 45 Nebraska ($3,228)

No. 46 Connecticut ($3,301)

No. 47 Texas ($3,327)

No. 48 Wisconsin ($3,398)

No. 49 New Hampshire ($3,649)

No. 50 Illinois ($3,939)

No. 51 New Jersey ($3,971)

“Clearly, property taxes are a critical piece of the personal financial decision to buy a home,” said Diane Lourdes Dick, Assistant Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law and one of the experts interviewed by WalletHub for this report. “But taxation is not only important from a home affordability standpoint; the way that tax revenues are used by the government to fund education, infrastructure and public services should also be considered by prospective buyers.”

The calculations underpinning WalletHub’s report on the States with the Highest & Lowest Property Taxes were made using two components into account: Real Estate Taxes and Vehicle Property Taxes, using Census data as well as assumptions based on national car sales.

Real estate property tax rates were calculated by dividing the median real estate tax payment by the median home price.

Source: Data used to create these rankings were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau and the each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.