August 22, 2019
Cities Where Real Estate Taxes are Highest
One concern many potential homebuyers have when deciding to get into the home market is the costs above and beyond the purchase price of a home—and chief among these tends to be the amount of tax one will have to pay on a property. These taxes are applied at various levels of governance—federal, state, county, and municipal. Federal tax is the least of concerns, because it applies roughly the same over the entire nation. But property taxes can vary wildly by state, county, and municipality. Naturally, there are some cities where real estate taxes are highest.
And, yes, we do mean cities. In an April report, LendingTree.com looked at the tax rates applied to property nationwide, and determined that the highest taxes really did tend to accrue to properties located in urban areas—including New York, New York; San Jose, California; and San Francisco, California—where real estate taxes averaged around $9,400 per year, which was more than double the average amount paid across the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. Mainly these highest-tax cities tended to fall in states with a high concentration of urban areas, while cities where taxes tended to be lower were ones that had more rural areas over the rest of the state in which they were found—such as Louisville, Kentucky; Birmingham, Alabama; and Salt Lake City, Utah, where real estate taxes came out to an average of $2,600, the lowest among the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas.
Among cities in our service area, Tampa, Florida came in at spot 24, with taxes averaging $4,383; Providence, Rhode Island came in at spot 32, with taxes averaging $5,133; Miami, Florida came in at spot 38, with taxes averaging $6,154; and Boston, Massachusetts came in at spot 44, with taxes averaging $7,198.
Of course, to achieve the lowest real estate tax rates overall, people would need to flee municipal centers and head toward rural areas with little-to-no amenities or spending on infrastructure. This trade-off may not be worth it, depending on what a homeowner wants from their locale.
For those in high tax-rate zones, though, who feel chronically overburdened by high real estate taxes, it may make sense to leave a high tax-rate area for someplace like Louisville, where the cost of living is likely to be lower overall, and the tax burden much lower.
Whatever the tax rate where you decide to buy a home in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Florida, we at Topouzis & Associates, P.C.perform title searches to confirm (or refute) claims of deed and title, and to fix any defects if possible. We do things by the book, but think outside the box to ensure every element of the title conveyed is free and clear of any unanticipated problems.
