Texas Property Taxes are Higher than Most of the Nation

 Over recent years Texas has shown itself to be among the areas with a high property tax rate.  A survey from the 2008 American Community Survey, conducted by the United States Census Bureau, collected property tax information from states around the nation.  They then used that information to estimate median home values and property tax payments, giving them the data necessary to calculate the tax as a percentage.  With this system, which takes standard market rates in a given region into account, Texas rates the highest percentage of property taxes in the country.

 According to this 2008 survey, the average property tax paid in Texas was $2,232.  With a median home value of $126,800, Texas is left with a property tax percentage of 1.76 percent.  New Jersey, which places second, estimates an average of $6,320 paid in property taxes.  However, with an average house value of $364,100, almost three times that of Texas homes, that still leaves them with a slightly lower percentage of 1.74 percent.  Next comes Nebraska with 1.72 percent, Wisconsin with 1.71 percent, and New Hampshire with 1.7 percent.

More recent research, reported on by the New York Times in late 2010, breaks down property taxes even more by looking at rates county by county.  These reports don’t surprise many, as they find the highest property tax rates in the expensive suburbs of New Hampshire and New Jersey.  The more surprising statistics are that Texas follows at a close third.  In only two years the numbers have changed, with Texas property tax percentages now at 1.81 percent, with New Jersey and New Hampshire resting at 1.89 percent and 1.86 percent, respectively.  While some counties in Texas still remain on the lower end of the property tax rate scale, more metropolitan areas, such as Dallas and Austin, account for the higher average when compared to less populous states.