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We've already taken a look at areas with the highest and lowest income tax burden. Now it's time to move on to property taxes. Since property tax is local rather than by state, we'll have more values to work with.
Before we delve into city by city data, let's take a look at the highest and lowest averages by state. We'll start with the highest tax states. So as not to skew the averages, each state included must have at least five cities in the dataset. (Some states don't because they don't have enough big cities.)
| Rank | State | Average property tax % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey | 2.5% |
| 2 | Illinois | 2.2% |
| 3 | Connecticut | 2.1% |
| 4 | New York | 2.1% |
| 5 | Wisconsin | 1.9% |
Now the states with the lowest property tax average...
| Rank | State | Average property tax % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 0.5% |
| 2 | South Carolina | 0.5% |
| 3 | Colorado | 0.5% |
| 4 | Nevada | 0.6% |
| 5 | Louisiana | 0.6% |
Now let's move on to the five cities with the highest property tax burden.
| Rank | City | Average property tax % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camden, New Jersey | 3.5% |
| 2 | Rochester, New York | 3.1% |
| 3 | Paterson, New Jersey | 2.8% |
| 4 | Rockford, Illinois | 2.8% |
| 5 | Syracuse, New York | 2.8% |
What's interesting about this list, besides its geographical concentration, is that most of these cities are relatively affordable, with only one having a median home price over $200,000. Higher property taxes usually mean nicer and more expensive towns, but apparently not in this case.
Going further down the list, the frequency of a few states becomes even more noticeable. Somewhat shockingly, the top 23 (!) cities are all in either New York, New Jersey, or Illinois. The first city not to be in one of those states is Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Now on to the cities with the lowest property tax rates.
| Rank | City | Average property tax % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honolulu, Hawaii | 0.3% |
| 2 | Dothan, Alabama | 0.3% |
| 3 | Colorado Springs, Colorado | 0.4% |
| 4 | Montgomery, Alabama | 0.4% |
| 5 | Charleston, South Carolina | 0.4% |
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