Property taxes in the United States vary enormously depending on where you live. In the highest-tax counties, homeowners routinely pay more than $10,000 a year. At the other end, there are 15 counties where the median annual bill comes in under $300 — a figure that will strike most Americans as almost implausibly low.
According to analysis by the Tax Foundation, all 15 of these ultra-low-tax counties fall within just four states: Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana and South Dakota. They share a common profile: rural locations, relatively modest home values, and states with structurally low effective property tax rates. The national average property tax payment ran to about $1,900 in 2023, and that number has likely climbed since as rising home values flow through into assessments.
The 15 counties with median property tax bills below $300 in 2024 were: Aleutians East Borough (Alaska), Bethel Census Area (Alaska), Copper River Census Area (Alaska), Kusilvak Census Area (Alaska), Northwest Arctic Borough (Alaska), West Carroll Parish (Louisiana), Oglala Lakota County (South Dakota), Choctaw County (Alabama), Tensas Parish (Louisiana), Avoyelles Parish (Louisiana), Allen Parish (Louisiana), Lamar County (Alabama), East Carroll Parish (Louisiana), Perry County (Alabama), and Bibb County (Alabama).
State-level effective rates tell part of the story. Hawaii has the lowest effective property tax rate in the country at around 0.29%, while New Jersey sits at the top at 1.88%, based on 2024 data. But the counties above combine already-low state rates with home values low enough to produce bills that barely register on a monthly budget.
Low property taxes aren’t a straightforward win for homeowners, though. Property taxes fund a lot of what local government does — schools, roads, emergency services, parks. Areas with very low rates sometimes compensate through higher income or sales taxes, or they simply run leaner public services. The Tax Foundation notes that property taxes are particularly aligned with the benefit principle of taxation: the people paying tend to be the ones using the local schools, roads and emergency services those taxes fund. That alignment breaks down in places where poor fiscal management means high taxes without corresponding services, but it also means that very low taxes can signal constrained public resources.
For anyone evaluating where to buy property, the headline tax figure is worth understanding in context. A $200 annual property tax bill is genuinely attractive, but it’s worth asking what local schools look like, what other taxes apply, and what the cost of basic services might be in an area that generates so little revenue per household.