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Property Tax Calculator

See what a home's property tax will be each year and each month, from its value, any exemptions and your local tax rate in percent or mills.

Level: Grade 7

  • Common Core standard 7.RP.A.3Use proportional relationships to solve multistep ratio and percent problems. Examples: simple interest, tax, markups and markdowns, gratuities and commissions, fees, percent increase and decrease, percent error.
Printable worksheet

Property Tax Calculator

Know the answer you need? Pick an input to work backward.

Inputs

The share of market value that gets taxed. Many places use 100%. Others tax a set share.

Dollar amount taken off the assessed value, such as a homestead exemption.

Tax rate given as

The combined rate of all taxing bodies (county, city, school district) on your bill.

Result

Annual property tax

$3,850.00

Estimated property tax: $3,850.00 a year, or $320.83 a month.

Per month
$320.83
Assessed value
$350,000.00
Taxable value
$350,000.00
Tax rate in mills
11 mills
Effective tax rate (of market value)
1.1%

See the step-by-step solution ↓

Step-by-step solution

  1. Find the assessed value, the part of the home's value your area taxes

    $350,000.00×100100=$350,000.00

  2. Apply the tax rate to the taxable value to get the yearly tax

    $350,000.00×1.1100=$3,850.00

  3. Divide by 12 months to see what to set aside each month

    $3,850.0012=$320.83

  4. Compare the tax with the full market value to get the effective rate

    $3,850.00$350,000.00×100=1.1%

Test yourself

20 quick questions built from this calculator's formula: work out results, predict what happens when an input changes, and work backward from an answer. Every answer comes with the working.

Please note: Results are estimates for planning and comparison. Lenders, banks, and tax authorities may round differently or include fees not modeled here, so confirm figures with your provider before deciding.

What this calculator does

Find out how much property tax a home will cost you each year and each month. After the mortgage itself, property tax is usually the biggest cost of owning a home. A tax bill can look confusing, but it follows a few plain steps. The home's value is turned into an "assessed value", the part the law taxes. Any exemptions come off, and then your local rate is applied to what's left.

This calculator walks you through those steps with your own numbers. It gives the yearly tax and a monthly amount for budgeting or escrow (the account your lender uses to pay the bill for you). It also shows the effective rate, which is the tax as a share of the home's full market value. Rules differ a lot between states, counties and towns, so nothing is built in. You enter the assessment ratio, your exemptions and the combined tax rate. You'll find all three on your assessment notice, your tax bill or your local assessor's website. The result is an estimate to plan with, not a bill.

Where it's used

Why this math matters outside the classroom:

  • Comparing homes. A buyer works out that a $350,000 home taxed at 1.1% costs $3,850 a year, about $320.83 a month.
  • Reading a tax bill. A homeowner converts a 25-mill rate to 2.5% by dividing by 10, then checks the bill against the taxable value.
  • Exemption savings. A retiree finds that a $25,000 senior exemption at a 1.1% rate takes $275 off the yearly bill.
  • Escrow budgeting. A lender divides a $3,200 yearly tax by 12 and collects about $266.67 a month with each mortgage payment.
  • Town budgets. Civics students see how a town sets a mill rate by dividing the money it must raise by the total taxable value.

Grade level and standards: Grade 7; Common Core State Standards for Mathematics 7.RP.A.3. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

How to use it

  1. Enter the home's market or appraised value. Use the value your assessor set, or the price of a home you're thinking of buying.
  2. Enter the assessment ratio, which is 100% if your area taxes the full value. Add any exemption amount.
  3. Choose whether your rate is shown in percent or in mills, and enter it.
  4. Read the yearly tax, the monthly amount and the effective rate.

What the inputs mean

Assessment ratio
Some places tax the full market value. Others tax only a set share of it, and that share can differ for homes, farms and businesses. Your assessment notice usually shows both the market value and the assessed value. Divide the assessed value by the market value to get the ratio.
Exemptions (optional)
Common exemptions are for homesteads (the home you live in), seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. Enter the dollar amount that comes off the assessed value. Exemptions that work as a percent, a tax credit or a cap on yearly increases aren't included.
Tax rate
The combined rate of all taxing bodies (county, city, school district) on your bill.
Mill rate
A mill is one-thousandth of a dollar. So 25 mills means $25 of tax for each $1,000 of taxable value, the same as 2.5%. Bills often list a separate rate for each taxing body, such as the county and the schools. Add them together.

Formula and method

assessed value = market value × assessment ratio
taxable value = max(0, assessed value − exemptions)
annual tax = taxable value × rate % ÷ 100   or   taxable value × mills ÷ 1,000
monthly = annual tax ÷ 12;  effective rate = annual tax ÷ market value × 100

Market value is what the home would likely sell for. The assessment ratio is the share of that value the law taxes, and multiplying by it gives the assessed value. Then exemptions come off to give the taxable value. "max(0, …)" means the taxable value never drops below zero. Finally, the rate is applied to what's left.

A rate in percent is divided by 100, and a rate in mills is divided by 1,000. So 1% and 10 mills give the same tax. The effective rate divides the tax by the full market value. That makes it easy to compare homes in places with different ratios and rates.

Worked example

A home valued at $300,000 in an area that assesses 40% of market value, with a $20,000 homestead exemption and a combined rate of 32 mills.

  1. Assessed value: $300,000 × 40 ÷ 100 = $120,000.
  2. Taxable value: $120,000 − $20,000 = $100,000.
  3. Annual tax: $100,000 × 32 ÷ 1,000 = $3,200.
  4. Monthly: $3,200 ÷ 12 = $266.67.
  5. Effective rate: $3,200 ÷ $300,000 × 100 = 1.067%.

Result: The estimated property tax is $3,200 a year, or about $266.67 a month. That's an effective rate of about 1.067% of market value.

Understanding the result

The effective rate is the best number for comparing places. A high rate on the bill, applied to a small share of the value, can cost less than a low rate on the full value.

If you pay the tax through a mortgage escrow account, your lender usually collects about the monthly amount with each payment. The lender adjusts it each year as the real bills come in.

Assumptions and limitations

  • The rate you enter is the total of every taxing body on the bill: county, city, schools and special districts.
  • Exemptions are a flat dollar amount taken off the assessed value.
  • The value and the rate stay the same for the whole year.
  • No state or local rules are built in. It doesn't handle caps on assessments, increases phased in over years, percent-based exemptions or tax credits. It also leaves out circuit-breaker programs (relief tied to your income) and special assessments.
  • A home that was just bought may be reassessed at the purchase price. So the seller's current bill can be lower than what a buyer will pay.
  • Real bills may round differently, add fixed fees, or be split into payments due on local dates.

Frequently asked questions

What is a mill rate?

A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value, which is one-tenth of one percent. To turn mills into a percent, divide by 10: 25 mills is 2.5%.

What is the difference between market value and assessed value?

Market value is what the assessor thinks the home would sell for. Assessed value is the part of it that gets taxed. You find it by multiplying the market value by the assessment ratio. Where the ratio is 100%, the two are the same.

How do I find my local property tax rate?

Your latest tax bill lists the rate of each taxing body. County assessor or treasurer websites usually publish them too. If you only know last year's bill, divide the tax by the taxable value to get the rate.

Does a homestead exemption lower my tax by the exemption amount?

No, and this is a common mix-up. It lowers your taxable value by that amount, not your tax. The tax you save is the exemption times the rate: a $25,000 exemption at 1.1% saves $275 a year.

How this calculator is checked

Method: Standard ad valorem property tax calculation: market value × assessment ratio, less exemptions, times the rate (percent ÷ 100 or mills ÷ 1,000). The calculation is covered by automated tests with known reference values and edge cases. Last updated 2026-10-18. Found a problem? Tell us.

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