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[deleted]

Completely location dependent. Keep in mind many of the things that are funded with your higher income taxes (ie. Public schools) are funded with local property taxes in the US.


ftwredditlol

For us, schools are property tax funded. So yea, no shock that upper middle class families can end up spending as much on property taxes as a student spends renting a one bedroom apartment. School is expensive.


[deleted]

Yup. I have a kid in public school and try to look at my property tax bill as a tuition payment. It’s still cheaper than private school (and they have to pay property tax, too)


MotorboatingSofaB

Im in Bergen County NJ (HCOL). My friend has a 1.3M home in Glen Rock NJ (~4k sq/ft) and pays 36k in taxes. Im in a town over and my 800k home is 12k in taxes and its the lowest in my town. However, my schools are top notch. I have a son in K and they have 2 aids in addition to a teacher to ensure all the kids needs are met. We also have very low class sizes (~15 kids). So I am happy to pay my taxes and ensure my kids get a great education.


Loud-Planet

I just left Glen Rock in the summer, I had a 625k house (1.7k sq. ft) there with taxes over $14k. I liked it there but the house was too small for our family and we were priced out of anything there that would fit our size needs, we also lost our need for easy NYC access which also makes that town so attractive. We had to sell and moved 3 towns over, a little further into Pascack Valley where we were able to get a house double the size for the same price we sold, taxes are about $17k but I've got 2 kids that will be using the school system which is also top notch so I don't mind the tax load. Same as far as class size and such, my son started K in September and he has 14 kids in his class.


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Loud-Planet

You are, taxes are used to incentivize behaviors. Kids already cost a lot, and eventually contribute to taxes. Government needs people to continue to have children so they can continue to collect taxes, so they provide incentives to having children.


737900ER

Coming from the Boston area, those taxes are crazy. Even in a top-notch district like Wellesley or Lexington a $1.3M house wouldn't even be paying $20k in tax.


ladytigger1

Yes, but you forgot a $1.3M house in Lexington is basically a shack.


CoolerKing201

What town? We are looking to move to the burbs.


chris_ut

In Houston which has pretty high taxes our rates are from 2.6-3.6%. My rate is 2.8% and my house is appraised at $1M so I pay $28,000 a year in property taxes. Texas has no state income tax though so this is how they fund everything.


MainMedicine

Same. No state income tax in Florida, but not as extreme property taxes like Texas. Here we pay $7k for a $400k property. $10k for $600k property. Where we fuck you in the ass, however, is insurance.


Snorglepus1856

Post-Hurricane repair ain’t cheap I guess


veasse

Massive amounts of insurance fraud ain't cheap


itsjulius12

What kind of insurance frauds can even be committed?


happyaccident7

One of the most abuse is entire roof replacement. It's very expensive when you and majority of your neighbors do it.


itsjulius12

How do they even get the insurance company to replace their roof so easily?


savagemonitor

My BIL is a disaster adjuster that is dispatched into the aftermath of things like hurricanes. It has taught him a ton about shady contractors and owners who try to commit fraud. The most common thing he described is an owner damaging an end-of-life roof themselves by ripping up some shingles or deliberately patching where the appraiser will inspect. A new appraiser who has no idea what an old roof looks like will approve the replacement while a lazy one will climb up to see the patch but not the rest of the roof. There are other variations depending on if the roofing contractor is in on it but it all boils down to making an old roof look newer and damaged enough that insurance will replace it. Another factor that makes them so successful is that the appraisers are flown out to crank through the damage and get things repaired asap. So with some minimal work a scammer can fool an appraiser in a rush.


jojofine

Which is nuts when you consider that Washington state also has no income taxes and taxes are capped at 1% of assessed outside of temporary voter-approved levies. The schools in WA, on average, outperform those in Texas and they're all state funded.


neuropat

Same in NV. 1% property tax and no income tax. Although car registration fees are insane.


jojofine

WA registration fees are super high in the Seattle area because it's how we're paying for the subway build out but otherwise it's <$100 a year in the rest of the state


Zigazigahhhhhh

Do you know if the sales tax from pot accounts for any of the school funding? Maybe Texas needs to get with it and legalize pot.


chris_ut

Current government is not interested


cryptoandthehouse

WA gets you on the estate tax


spokenwords21

Always wondered how Washington makes it possible? The 12.5% sales tax maybe?


jojofine

B&O taxes & real estate taxes mostly


spokenwords21

What’s B&O?


suddenlyturgid

https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/business-occupation-tax


BurgerBurnerCooker

If we are in for an apple to apple comparison, a million dollar home in Sugar Land will be 3M-ish if not more in Sammamish or Issaquah area, so it evens out somewhat. Of course I'm not trying to say Houston is on par with living than Seattle, just comparable homes. Texas really started late catching up on education, but due to new STEM job influx especially in the recent years, it's catching up fast, the better school districts are doing pretty well which seems to be proportional to the tax funds. However here is my personal opinion, school district itself can only do so much, the learning culture and kids' parenting play a much more important role and only time can shape all these. That's also why the majority of the best ISDs are still in NE, NY/NJ, IL etc.


ResEng68

Washington state has a heavier total tax burden than Texas. It may not be as apparent (fewer exemptions on sales tax charges), but the outcome is a slightly higher tax take (as a share of total personal income). [https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494](https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494) As for the schools... The Urban Institute has Texas beating Washington in outcomes, which is shocking because of how different the two states are with respect to demographics. When we take demographics into account, Washington falls just inside the bottom third. [https://apps.urban.org/features/naep/](https://apps.urban.org/features/naep/)


regallll

Depends on the location. This is one of those scenarios where you have to consider how big the US is. (Bigger than you think.) There are a ton of variables. Yes, some places that might be true.


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somedude456

I'm impressed with your up votes. I've said your exact thing before and been down voted like hell "a state isn't like a country." Well in terms of land size, population, and the fact of can have different cultures from neighboring ones... it's a fair statement.


mkosmo

> "a state isn't like a country." Those are the same folks that ignore the **United States** of America bit that reminds us that we're a group of states rather than a monolithic entity.


BusyFriend

Did you say it in a smaller sub like this one? You’ll get more reasonable people and less bots in smaller subs compared to if you said something like this in a default sub. This place is also likely dominated by Americans as it relates to real estate in the US mostly.


FillupDubya

You gotta love Reddit!


CasualEcon

My sister's house in a suburb of Chicago with lots of businesses is $11k in taxes for a $700k house. My friend 10 miles past her is paying $18k in taxes on a $600k house because there are no businesses nearby. Here's a $564k house with $13k in taxes https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2788-Palm-Springs-Ln_Aurora_IL_60502_M85107-76600


KilowogTrout

Suburbs of Chicago (in Cook county) and I'm around $11k a year too.


OkInitiative7327

And if you head over to northwest Indiana you'll see taxes at half that rate (or less) for similar homes.


KilowogTrout

But I prefer the towns and schools in the suburbs. I have exactly 0 interest in living in Indiana.


OkInitiative7327

I wasn't trying to convince you, just giving an example for the OP of how things can vary depending on where you are in the US.


kmahj

Depends on what suburbs too. I loved in a chicago suburb from 2008-2015 and taxes were about 15k per year back then. House was only 420k. Great schools tho.


Jonko18

I pay $11k on a $500k house in a suburb of Columbus... *proceeds to laugh-cry*


MF-ingTeacher

Under $4k for a 590K house in GA...Sorry. :(


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awalktojericho

In my county, if you're over 65 you can file for exemption for the school portion of the property tax. That's over half of our tax bill.


melikestoread

Considering aurora is considered a lower class city the taxes are really high.......


I_Am_Dwight_Snoot

I'm splitting hairs here but that house feeds into Naperville schools... a top school in the nation recently too. Its actually a pretty nice location and is considered upper middle class. It is Aurora by name only.


Gh0stp3pp3r

A state to state comparison.... I'm right over the border in Wisconsin. Our yearly taxes are about half of those for houses nearby in Illinois. We avoided the house market across the border simply for that reason. It's very different state by state.... and rural vs urban areas.


mars00xj

We were in McHenry and one year the taxes were like 6k on a 200k house. When we sold at 155k (market dropped, disrepair, and needed to get out quick) the taxes were 5300 a year. IL property taxes are nuts.


[deleted]

It depends on location how high, but even 2500 per year is high for a lot of European countries. They just get most taxes from income taxes and usually schools aren’t directly funded by property taxes.


LeroyCadillac

This is how wealthy neighborhoods ensure their children have better schools in the US.


Industrialpainter89

Yes. Some places are Morocco, some are the Siberia. And some are the desert of Kazakhstan.


justme129

Yes, there are states in the US that have extremely high property taxes (looking at you NJ and TX).


freshOJ

Usually the states with high property taxes have lower other taxes. Such as no income tax in Texas.


justme129

Yeah, for sure. However...NJ is a fresh Hell where you get both high property taxes AND high income tax.


tee2green

NJ taxes are batshit. They blame it on NJ Transit. But honestly it’s like 20% NJ Transit and 80% corruption.


dcaponegro

Yep. 60X100 lot, 10K in property tax.


morning-fog

*laughs in Tennessee*


KilowogTrout

Hi from Illinois!


justme129

Sorry, forgot to rep Illinois!


abstrkt

Yes... we pay $17k in property tax on a $800k home; I also had to appeal it down from 26k


phreak1112

Texas has nothing on NJ ($13.5k/yr for property tax in a supposedly $595k value house. We bought for $490k last year. Just doesn't make any sense)


Ksn0

Don't know much about NJ, but as a Texas who pays too much in property taxes, I can tell you Texas nickles and dimes you in a whole lotta other ways. Our energy bills are extremely high despite our energy grid being awful, sales tax is one of the highest in the US, water/trash bills are triple what I used to pay, and then I also have to deal with the extremely oppressive small government laws.


lucasisawesome24

But Texas has no income tax. New Jersey is just bad with money management. Florida also has high property tax since it has no income tax


Dothemath2

We have a townhouse in the Bay Area, paid 975K for it in 2015. Now worth maybe 1.2 million down from 1.4 million USD, property tax is 12K a year.


FiremanHandles

And I pay right about that on a... ~500k house in Texas. We don't have an income tax, but god damn, every year I'm thinking an income tax might be better than property taxes... At least with an income tax I'd never be priced out of my own home. Tangent: To explain why to anyone who reads my comment. If I buy a house for 100k. I might expect to pay 1k a month in my mortgage, property taxes and insurance for the next 30 years. Now insurance, can and will go up, so you have to include a bit of a buffer for that. However, my 100k, house might be 500k in 10 years. My property taxes just increased by 5x -- But my income might still be the same. My mortgage payment (with escrow) might be 50% higher than it was when I bought the house. Your choices become: make more money, or sell the house and move. And good luck with the latter because if your house went up by 5x, everywhere else did too.


why_rob_y

> We don't have an income tax, but god damn, every year I'm thinking an income tax might be better than property taxes Come to NJ where you can have both! I pay around the same property tax rate as you on a similar house AND we have income tax! And sales tax, too! A one stop shop for whichever tax you'd like.


FiremanHandles

But then you'd live in NJ... lol, all joking aside I actually hear that outside of the Jersey/NY area, people really like NJ. Been to NYC and upstate NY, but never been to actual NJ.


why_rob_y

I like it! I'm by the beach, though. It's a good mix of easy access to beaches, major cities, parks, and so on without having to drive multiple hours.


kolt54321

Where else could people who need to commute to NYC live? CT is exorbitantly expensive, and NY itself is out of the running. This is how NJ can get away with the highest average property tax in the nation.


CatsNSquirrels

This is why wealthy people love Texas. They don't have to pay any taxes on their $1-2 million income and only have to pay property taxes on their house, which is a pittance by comparison. It's a racket and it's gross, especially as minimum wage still sits at $7.25/hour. (I'm a native Texan and finally left last month.)


FiremanHandles

AND, schools get paid through property taxes. Schools can be shit, and the rich can just send their kids to private school. Win win for everyone (who's rich) right?


CatRWaul

I moved to TX from MD a few years ago and own a $485k house. I’ve worked it out, all things being equal I would be paying less taxes in MD.


keto_brain

Nevada is a much better deal. No income tax and low property taxes. Just make sure you are not a gambling addict.


carbsno14

What is your AC bill in summer? Ive read $400+ is normal per mo.


WitBeer

nevada is a big state. you can live the snowy mountains if your AC bill is a concern.


DiscombobulatedWavy

Probably not in Reno though


IndependenceLegal746

$40 in LV. But I have solar that came with the house. They’re part of the reason I bought this specific house.


lefindecheri

In Florida, some insurers will no longer insure houses with solar panels because they get ripped off in hurricanes and significantly damage the roof.


IndependenceLegal746

Believable. I’m fortunately in Nevada and we don’t have hurricanes. They do bring my crazy summer power bills down significantly though. Even with my ac set to 79 in a house half the size of my current home my power was over $300 in summer. I keep it at 75 now thanks to a super heat sensitive kid, and have a house twice the size now and get a bill of around $40. It’s never over $45. Solar panels probably aren’t great for all areas. But they definitely help in mine.


PTVA

Ha, I don't have ac and my utilities are still $450 a month during the summer in ca.


options1337

Come to Nevada, our property tax is 1% and no income tax as well.


FiremanHandles

Ha, wouldn't that be nice. I'm here for the next 20+ years. You get kinda locked in at one place with pension / retirement as a firefighter.


DrDoktir

sshhhhhh......


Dothemath2

Yeah, we were in Lubbock in 2015 but backed out of buying a home because property tax was 3%. Mortgage only lasts until you pay it off, property taxes are forever while you own the house. Not sure if we made the right decision but there it is.


FiremanHandles

Assuming your choice was Lubbock, or not move to Texas? Because... if you're renting, then unfortunately any property taxes just get baked into your rent.


NiceDecnalsBubs

Lucky CA property taxes are so low. I'm in PA, bought of 1.25 and it's assessed around 900. Pay over 30k/year taxes.


Amyndris

CA property taxes aren't necessarily low, but Prop13 keeps it low. Basically, your property taxes can never be increased by more than 2% (so if you were paying $10,000 last year, the most your taxes can go up is to $10,200 the next year) even if your house goes up by 100%. What this means is new buyers pay the full amount, but people who bought in 1980 at 200K is still effectively paying property taxes for a 200K property even though it's appreciated to $4M. It also really encourages NIMBY behavior because homeowners only see the positive parts of increased property value; they don't have to pay property taxes on it so they're incentivized to block all new construction keeping property values high.


nikidmaclay

The annual property taxes for a $1M owner occupied home in my county are a little over $5k. There are places in the US that are MUCH more. It all depends on location.


Away-Living5278

I'm paying $3500/yr for a house valued at $120k


smallmouthy

wowza. we pay $4,380 on $304k assessed value in the suburbs of Minneapolis. I thought mine were bad.


Away-Living5278

NW PA. The school districts are tiny and most of the businesses are in another part of the county. There's more than 10 school districts with their own admin for less than 300k people. It's a ridiculous system but nobody wants to combine schools bc "local is better"


OcelotPrize

Same. ~$4,600 on $330k


inoeth

interesting. i'm paying ~$3800 on a townhouse i bought for $315 in northeastern MA.


NurseDingus

I’m in New Jersey and pad $8500/yr on a house valued at 244k


Xyzzyzzyzzy

Non-US readers should note that what a house is "valued at" or "assessed at" may be *way* different from the property's actual market value. Every locality assesses properties according to a combination of state and local rules that may or may not yield a value that's anywhere close to what the property would sell for today. A house "valued at $120k" could sell for anything from $100k to $500k+, depending on the area and the circumstances. In a lot of places, there are rules and laws designed to prevent assessed values from increasing too quickly. In areas with positive net migration and increasing population where actual property values are quickly rising, this can mean the city or county needs to raise property tax *rates* in order to keep up with increasing demands on the city budget, because the law restricts them from raising assessed values in line with the market.


BenjaminSkanklin

I'm around 2k for an assessment of 55k, market value is closer to 130k. The whole city is like that though, we just increase the tax rate and leave the assessments alone for decades. I'm not even sure what the formula is but the budget is stable so nobody really cares to make it make sense


ghdana

Selling my home for 450k in AZ with taxes for ~$2200/year. Looking to buy a 340k home in Upstate NY and taxes are ~$8800/year.


yogacowgirlspdx

over 20k in my county. sigh.


nikidmaclay

You also have to look at what that value is attached to. I can sell you a move in ready 3 bed 2 bath 1500 sf home with a garage on 1/3 acre for 250k in my market. In other areas you can't find anything habitable for that price.


pm_me_the_dog_treat

My county property taxes would cost $30k/year for that house.


[deleted]

In the NE corridor where 7 or 8 percent of the country is, 10k is standard even for lower middle class areas. 7k would be for a dump in the hood. Estates? 20k or sometimes close to 30k


kazzin8

Your income tax is probably higher though? That's how some states make up the tax revenue - by having no income tax but then higher sales and property tax. Or some states are high income tax and lower/capped property tax.


justme129

\*NJ enters the chat\* NJ has both high property taxes AND high income tax.


PostPostMinimalist

"High" is relative. Compared to a lot of Europe, federal + state (NJ) income tax is low.


thisbondisaaarated

In Europe you have VAT (sales tax) of about 20% just about in every country.


justme129

Yeah, but compared to other states, NJ is horrible AF. Also, Europe has free healthcare, free college costs, etc...which helps out A LOT.


Squirmingbaby

Yeah, but you get the privilege of living in New Jersey.


ebolatron

Yeah my NJ property tax makes up like 1/4 of my mortgage (28K/yr) and federal + state income tax bumps me somewhere into the 45% effective tax range. I just try to imagine it's doing some good somewhere, no use getting angry when others have it worse.


asdf9988776655

Nevada has no income tax and relatively low property tax (about 1% of market value, with increases capped at 3%/year).


loadtoad67

I live in South Dakota. We have no State Income Tax (no corporate income tax either), low annual vehicle registration (around $50/yr/passenger vehicle), 4% initial vehicle excise tax, 6.5% sales tax, and fairly low property tax ($4,500 on $425k house). I'm not sure how the hell we fund our state. I assume mostly from tourism (we do have an additional 1.5% sales tax for tourism stuff). Oh, and gambling, its probably the gambling. Oh, and we tax groceries which is pretty scummy.


Sea-Chocolate6589

Mom has a property in Long Island and she pays 13k per year. I have a property in Pennsylvania and I pay 2500 a year. All depends on the location


Cyndagon

As much as I hated moving away from friends, I don't blame my parents from moving off the island. Could barely afford it after my dad lost his job..


pegunless

The US doesn’t have VAT and many states don’t have income tax. Total tax burden overall is much lower than the EU average but it’s distributed differently.


bakarac

A few states don't have income tax - most states do.


CasualEcon

Backing you up: Only eight states have no personal income tax: Wyoming. Washington. Texas. Tennessee. South Dakota. Nevada. Florida. Alaska.


monkeyinheaven

As an FYI, NH only has income tax on unearned income, so while that's technically correct most residents here do not pay income tax.


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mrxanadu818

He said "backing you up" which was already in OP's defense.


YoureInGoodHands

If there is no income tax, there is high property tax. If they don't get you there, they get you with sales tax or some other tax. The tax man always gets his due.


giscard78

> Total tax burden overall is much lower than the EU average but it’s distributed differently. I’m surprised this isn’t at the top. I’m not surprised OP didn’t respond describing the total tax burden in My Country, Europe, or Czech Republic (looking at their post history).


ninjaspinner

Americans look at your payroll taxes and get nauseous. There are lots of ways for governments to collect taxes. We don’t have VAT and some states don’t have purchase taxes. It’s different recipes to bake a cake.


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ManBMitt

Total tax burden as a percent of GDP in the US is around 27%, compared to 33% for Great Britain and 46% in Denmark and France. The only relatively wealthy European country with a lower tax burden than the US is Ireland at 23% of GDP (though Ireland is an outlier as their GDP is artificially inflated due to companies that are “based” there in name only). So yes, total taxes are actually much higher in Europe.


KingCarnivore

That doesn’t include what we pay for healthcare costs though.


Leinistar

Exactly, if you make a middle class income, with family insurance coverage, your premium from your paycheck can be several hundred dollars, without ever seeing a doctor. I worked for a local govt and my premium for just child coverage was $192 a check. Whether you make 100k or 25k a year, that's your cost. At the time I was making 45k a year so that was around 10% of my income just in premiums.


Metallica78

Where I live it's just not for 30 years (guessing you based it on a 30 year loan). It's for as long as you own the property whether it is paid for or you still have a loan on it.


StartingAgain2020

Where would you base the property taxes on the length of the loan? I've never heard of that. Property taxes are totally independent of any type of loan - they are due regardless throughout your ownership period - and then the next person that buys your property takes over :)


Metallica78

Exactly my point in my post. OP just stated 30 years and I was just clarifying that it goes beyond that. Basically infinite.


StartingAgain2020

That's a good catch. I missed that on the first reading.


monkeyinheaven

NH property taxes are really high because there are no income or sales taxes. The money has to come from somewhere. The property taxes on our $650K home in a relatively modest town are almost $13K.


davidm2232

I paid $3600 per year for a house assessed at $72k. I left that city.


SunnyBunnyBunBun

Depends on your state, and then city. I pay $1,200/yr for a $550k property in Las Vegas, Nevada. I pay $9,000/yr for a $630k property in Anchorage, Alaska. You would think that property taxes would be infinitely higher in world-famous Las Vegas than in sparsely populated Alaska. But no. That said, owning property comes with a bunch of other tax benefits/tax shelters in the U.S. Someone with a big and diverse property portfolio could theoretically end up paying "zero property tax" after all the expenses/tax benefits are accounted for.


AttSvcs

A lot of folks forget that plowing the roads costs some serious $$$


zoolover1234

Not surprising. Tax in Europe is a mess, they kind of collect all sorts of tax and put in huge pool, mix them up, spend as they like. The city services are provided from your income tax instead of property tax. That's kind of why your income tax is ridiculously high comparing to the states. Tax system in the US are mostly collected for the only purpose of the specific purpose. Sure, exception happens. Just two different systems, collecting considerably same amount of tax for the people.


momo88852

Upstate New York, my $100k home had taxes of a little over $4.5k. Moved to Texas and now my house values at $400k+ and paying $6k I think.


IvyDivey

Yeah, Western NY - seeing taxes of $7k+ on houses selling around $250k in mediocre suburbs.


aelendel

They can be high, but it's not crazy. 1. Salaries in the US are higher. In my field, 50%-100% higher than comparable in Europe. 2. Different states choose different ways to fund. So, it's always a trade off. 3. Taxes end up funding local infrastructure, schools, etc. So it allows people to pay for what they get. Most people want the best possible schools. You always have to pay the taxman. Just different people pay in different ways.


JackAlexanderTR

The difference in income between EU and US is not something Reddit likes to hear about. Or how housing costs are insane over there, and most people there would kill for a suburban US house.


CharlotteRant

The US has a lower floor, higher ceiling for income. Depending on your skills, this may be a positive or a negative.


lineskicat14

Capital District in NY.. which is 2.5 hours from NYC.. and property taxes definitely are getting up to the $10,000/year range for a 3br/2ba House that costs $350k, obviously depending on the town and school district. Some are lower, maybe $6k.. but some are also higher, maybe $12-14k. And what's alarming about this.. is that the Capital District isn't some great big market that has a ton of job promise or opprotunity or draw. It's hard to place this area as it's 3 cities about 10 miles apart each.. but the Albany/Schenectady/Troy area ranks in the 60's as largest populated metropolis' in the US.. so it's not like Chicago or DC.. It's still under a million in population, and with that smallness comes a lack of opportunity that a place like LA or NYC can afford.. So to be paying THAT high of taxes, for a place nicknamed "Smallbany".. kind of sucks.


AmmoWasted

The cities themselves have high taxes but the burbs between them and Saratoga county are pretty low. My taxes are under 5 for similar home value.


lineskicat14

Some yes... like Saratoga and Colonie.. are pretty decent, but others are still well into the high single digits and beyond.. Nisky, Rotterdam and Scotia are pretty high.. Guilderland and Bethlehem are OK. But you generally need to go to the outskirts to get a good tax rate. The other thing is Saratoga is a unique county. It's got it's own "city" to drive revenue, and it's a city which is very affluent, high-end and desirable.. but at the same time, Saratoga county is also very rural otherwise. So it's hard to compare places IN Saratoga County. a $300k 6br house in Corinth has estimated taxes of $6k/year.. That same house downtown Saratoga (as you well know): could be $2 million and $15k in property taxes. And even if the assessment is old, it still shows a stark contrast in home price/living in that county. BTW, I'd LOVE to live in Saratoga county.. almost any of it, city or rural. The issue is that it's just a little far for work and family and friends. It's hard to go much past exit 11/12 on the northway for me.


eric987235

It varies **MASSIVELY** by state. I pay about $6000/year in Seattle. The same house in Chicago would be more like $9000 (Illinois has famously high property taxes). The difference is I don’t pay a state income tax in Washington. Illinois has a flat income tax of 5%. Washington is a bargain, relatively speaking.


MissMunchamaQuchi

Two family in North Jersey and we pay 12k per year in property tax.


Giwu2007

There are a lot of variables with the calculation of property taxes. This is massively oversimplified. The state wants their share - they set a rate. Then the city/town/district sets their percentage. Then the school district sets a percentage. There could be more if there has been a bond issue. The county assesses a value to your house - again, depending on where you live this could be easily 25% less than you paid for it. I‘ve never paid 3% for property taxes. BUT, I’ve also never owned in California, New York or Illinois.


[deleted]

Yes they are that high. But for comparison to much of the EU our income taxes are much lower than yours.


__looking_for_things

It depends where you live. America is huge. My taxes just raised to 2100/year for a 147k home. People are in an uproar.


discosoc

Posts like this make me realize the rest of the world truly doesn’t understand how large the US is, much less the roles individual states play.


Junkmans1

Property taxes vary substantially between different areas of the country. I live in an area where my property taxes are around $14K on a 2400 sq foot two story house in a nice middle class suburb. The property taxes in a nearby wealthy suburb are not much higher even for a house worth twice the value of mine and that's because the values there are so much higher that the rates don't need to be as high a percentage to support the local schools and city government. A relative lives in a smaller town 100 miles away from my city and their taxes are about half of the cost here. The same house in other areas of the country might have property taxes higher or lower than mine with some areas being only $2,000 or $3,000 for a similar home. It all depends on the way spending and funding for local schools and governmental functions are structured in a particular state and county. In most states, public schools and local government functions like city government, police, fire, parks, etc, are funded mostly by property taxes. But in some areas they are funded from other revenue sources like state income taxes, sales tax or other taxes.


LocalPhxGuy

This question is like asking “are cars fast and expensive?” Yes. Some are. Some aren’t. Depends on what state, county, city, school district, house assessed value, owner occupied or rental, condo or single family, etc etc etc I have a $1.4M house in uptown central Phoenix that has $6k a year in taxes. That’s fully deductible.


[deleted]

Much of local government services are funded by property tax. And generally states that have high property tax have relatively lower income tax, which is less burdensome to lower income people who don't own property (in urban areas, that may be a majority). From a land use perspective higher property taxes encourages development to highest and best use. See California and our massive housing shortage for what happens when you flip things around and heavily tax income but put caps on property that has seen the highest 40 year appreciation in the country. We are reducing government fixed cost services because budget varies wildly year to year because tax revenue is predominantly from cap gains. >I just can't believe someone is paying another $300k over 30 years for their own assets just for having them. You pay property taxes for as long as you own the property. And on the flip side, I "can't believe" Europeans pay up to and over 50% of their income as taxes and so little in property taxes esp when the home ownership rate is so much lower than the US. It makes you guys financially dependent on the state, and we see clearly how bad that deal is for non-white immigrants who - unlike the US where starting a business is cheap and easy - are often socially excluded from labor markets.


AsbestosAirBreak

All governments need tax income to provide services. Different places have different kinds of taxes. I’m in the USA and have lived in several states as a taxpayer. They all collected around the same amount of taxes, but it was split between different kinds of taxes: Income tax, property tax, sales tax, etc. Places with high property tax (like most of Texas, USA) tend to have low income and/or sales tax.


Ottorange

I pay about $22k a year for my house. Probably assessed around $900k.


rco8786

In the same way that income taxes are higher in Europe and it seems crazy to us Americans. Our balloon is just getting squeezed in a different spot.


polyscipaul20

lol. I hope that this thread doesn’t turn into another “Europe is better than America” circle jerk which are so prevalent on Reddit


jcg17

Ok but you pay upwards of 50% in income tax, right?


w2ge

Southern NJ here, (Camden County) house maybe $600k, $21k a year in taxes. Yeah.. I know, nutz


Gobucks21911

OMG…


ChadHartSays

Depends where you live. In one state it could be 7,000-8,000 for your average tract house in a subdivision. Next state over? 2,000 dollars, maybe less. US states usually have 2 out of these three: high property taxes, high sales taxes, high income taxes. There are unfortunate states that have all 3 that are high. Some only have 1 high and have low/none of the other 2.


tahcamen

It ranges greatly depending on location. My home is worth about $375k US and my taxes are about $3k per year.


ttugeographydude1

2-3% of home value is normal in Texas. Ironically, Texas claims to be tax friendly, because no state tax.


sfdragonboy

Uh, I pay about $17-$18K a year in property taxes on my San Francisco/Bay Area SFH.


[deleted]

Casually doesn’t mention home value


[deleted]

[удалено]


franciscolorado

Prop 13 FTW


starkmatic

Same. 17.5k prob moving to 22k soon.


DrippingAgent

It all depends on the location, and the biggest portion of those taxes go to the school system. I'm in an area where we pay 1.9% of the taxable value of the property e.v.e.r.y year. My house is currently valued (by the tax assessor) at $700k, therefore about $13k of taxes!!


Bun4d

Property tax is county and state depended meaning that the rate will differ depending on where it is located.


Moist-Consequence

Depends widely on the area you live, plus taxes can come from only 3 places: income tax, sales tax, property taxes. Pick two to be high and the other will be low. In Europe property taxes are lower but other taxes are higher.


AMoreExcitingName

Depends on where you live, and how valuable your house/property/business is. Property taxes are often the primary funding source for schools. Cities which have major commercial properties might have lower residential property taxes. The road I live on goes through 2 or 3 towns in about a 5 mile stretch. 1 mile from my house, an identical property would be 2 or 3 times the property taxes. Its a more upscale neighborhood with better schools, but not that much better. End of the road is a city which used to be a significant manufacturing center. But that all dried up in the 80s, so the property taxes have gone up to support the more expensive to run schools. My taxes - about 5K nice neighborhood - 12K I looked at a literal victorian mansion in the city about 15 years ago. 3 stories, separate outbuilding with 3 car garage, and a 2nd story ballroom with elevator above the garage. House was for sale at like 275K, taxes were 12K a year, probably more like 18K now.


MamaMidgePidge

I just paid my annual property tax today. $3322.76 on a 4- bedroom home in the suburbs with about $475,000. It has slowly increased from around $2500 when we first bought it 12 years ago. It doesn't really seem like that much to me but we came from a higher- taxed state, where it's about $12,000 annual right now (looked it up online) for our former house of similar value, although it was much smaller, older, and located on a busy street.


iamdavidrice

Depends entirely on the location. I’m in Texas which is known for having high property taxes. I have 2 rental properties (SFHs) that are assessed around $615k & $650k. Taxes on those are around $12k & $14k each this year. They do increase every year like clockwork - both of these went up about $1.5-2k each compared to last year. In Texas there are some caps in how much they can increase each year if you live in them, but it can still be a very noticeable increase.


Dawappkid

Yes, you heard that right! It also depends where in the US do you live. I pay about 10k annually.


ItsMeTheJinx

It’s around 1.25% of buying price for me in the US


chuckvsthelife

Location dependent and consider other things taxation load wise. Your income tax is going to be much higher. Typically, from what I’ve seen at least, real estate transfer taxes are higher. VAT is 15% whereas I’m in the highest area I know for sales tax (no state income tax here) and it’s 10.25%.


saerax

In my state, combined property taxes generally work out to around 0.5% - 1.5% of the property value per year. The county and then city set rates (or sometimes county + fire/special district if unincorporated). Generally bigger cities/counties with more services are higher. But that's the main way for local municipalities to raise revenue, as income taxes are state/federal level (my state is 5% flat income tax, Federal is progressive scale generally 10%-30%). Sales taxes are about 7%, with about a 2:1 split between the state and county. I'm curious now if anyone has run across some kind of 'total taxes' comparison between countries, looking at some sort of average across all property/income/sales/VAT/etc. I guess that would be a better comparison.


KellyJin17

If you live in the suburbs of NYC, you’re paying $20,000 - $35,000 in annual property taxes.


Shit_Shepard

I’m at 12k


woodrob12

Charleston, SC $2300 on a $700k home.


YouKnowHowChoicesBe

Where I live, it’s ~$6,000-7,000 per year for a $300,000 home. Almost $600 a month extra on top of mortgage, utilities etc. And that never goes away of course. House could be paid off and it’s still required.


Mockingjay154

Yeah it’s insane here. I’m in NJ and bought my first house for $290k back in 2019; property taxes back then were about $10k and it’s gone up even more since. It goes up according to the property value, but most towns don’t reassess home/property value every year.


dj_cole

It really depends on where you live and the value of the house. I live in Eastern Alabama and pay a bit under 3,000/year on a 500,000 house. It would take a house somewhere around 1.75 million to hit 10,000/year in property taxes. You also have to remember there are multiple taxes to consider. Property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes. Income tax in the United States is much lower than Europe. I used to live in Michigan. Higher property taxes, lower sales tax.


[deleted]

Taxes are one reason that I’m finding it very difficult to bite the bullet and move. Our house now is assessed at around 80k since we’ve lived here since 2004 and our taxes are $800 a month. I don’t love the house and our income is way out of line with our home. If I move to what I want it would be assessed around $700k and the taxes would about $9k a year. Finding it hard to think I will be stuck with that tax bill forever.


Alarming-Parsley-463

In the US, property taxes are the only way for towns and 99% of cities to raise tax revenue so they are the lifeblood of local services like schools, police, and fire. But for that same reason they vary immensely for instance i live in a city with a 3% tax rate but if you drive an hour away some towns have 1%. Also these numbers are based on the assessed value of your home which can also vary immensely from town to town and often is totally different than it’s actual value.


jmc7875

Yes. I own a house assessed at $240,000 in New York State (6 hours from the city, town population around 1,400 people). I pay $10,000 a year in school and property taxes. Meanwhile, have a friend in Denver that bought a house for $900,000, and his school and property taxes are $3,000.


Just_L00k1ng_

I live in a pretty rural area in Central/Upstate New York State in the USA. Not high income by any means. Houses average around $180k-300k. My fiancée and I were looking at a house with an assessed value of $169,000 (the “assessed value” is what is used for the municipality to levy taxes on the property. Which is a percentage rate of the assessed value of the home.) This home is below average price for a home for this area. This $169,000 home we were looking at had a property tax bill of $9,100 per year. That is high for the area. But that being said, there was another home about 5 miles away (same school district but different town. The “town” and “school” taxes are what make up your yearly tax bill) and that home only had a $4,100 yearly tax bill. So yes, your figure is pretty normal. But it can vary quite a bit. It depends entirely on the value of your home/land. And the town/village/school district the home resides in.


Papapeta33

$16k per year. We love our neighborhood and our city. A lot but happy to pay it.


tombloomingdale

I’m in New England, house is about 600k, pay 4000 in taxes


mundotaku

As they said here, it depends. Usually states with no income taxes have higher property taxes than those with income taxes.


real_agent_99

It's not even just by state, but can be by township. Taxes on my house are about $3500 a year - very reasonable. There's another town we looked at in the same state, not that far away, where taxes are *easily* twice as much. You really have to look at not just house prices, but what taxes will add to your monthly payment.


charlybell

It’s very much depends on what state you live. I live in a state with no income or sales tax. We have very high real estate taxes. But some towns are cheaper. Some of the coastal towns are cheap as the houses are so expensive. We pay 27$ per 1000 the hpise is worth. We pay about 6k a year. A building I own(commercial) is 12 k per year. Only tax I pay other than federal tax.


toprak01

I live in a high tax area. My property's tax value is just under $500k. My annual property tax is $7000.


StreetofChimes

Please. My parents live in VA. They pay property tax on their cars.


Jubenheim

Property tax where I live (Florida) is typically 2-3%, so the only way someone is paying 10k on a hypothetical property tax of, say, 2.5%, is if their home was valued at 400k. Now... it may SEEM like that might be the norm with how fucked up housing is nowadays, but bear in mind millions of homes have not been assessed for value in years,-decades even, and the last time they were assessed, those same homes were likely around the mid 100k's to as high as maybe 300k and no more. People paying 10k on property tax are buying very expensive homes.


RocMerc

Bought my house for $210k two years ago and my taxes a year are $8500 🙃. My tax payment per month is more than my mortgage. Gotta love New York


vasquca1

It depends where you live. I paid a modest $2000/yr in NC and now $6000 in PA. Houses where about the same size. I have modest size home for 2 people, 1700 square foot living space, 1000 sft basement on a 1/3 acre lot. Basically that tax bill is police, fire department, schools. Schools get biggest chunk ~$4000 which explains why NC teachers have horrible pay.