Interactive Map: U.S. Property Taxes by State
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Interactive Map: U.S. Property Taxes by State

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Mapped: U.S. Property Taxes by State

Almost $600 billion in revenue was generated from U.S. state and local property tax revenue in 2020, a figure that has gradually risen over the last several decades.

Yet these taxes, and how much people feel their effects, vary meaningfully across states based on factors like median incomes, effective property tax rates, and home values.

The above interactive graphic from USAFacts shows the states with the highest and lowest property tax burdens as a percentage of personal income in 2020.

Which U.S. States Have the Highest Property Tax Burdens?

Overall, Maine collects the most burdensome property taxes, at 5.21% of personal income. That means that, for every $100,000 in annual salary earned by a Maine resident, $5,210 would go towards property taxes on average.

Below, we show how much people pay in property tax as a portion of their personal income, based on data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis as of 2020:

RankStateProperty Tax
(% Personal Income)
1Maine5.21%
2Vermont4.82%
3New Jersey4.80%
4New Hampshire4.79%
5District of Columbia4.73%
6New York4.36%
7Connecticut4.20%
8Rhode Island4.09%
9Texas3.99%
10Illinois3.65%
11Nebraska3.64%
12Alaska3.63%
13Iowa3.39%
14Massachusetts3.37%
15Montana3.34%
16Wyoming3.29%
17Wisconsin3.07%
18Kansas3.06%
19Oregon3.04%
20 (tie)Colorado2.99%
20 (tie)Michigan2.99%
22Virginia2.94%
23Minnesota2.85%
24California2.77%
25Mississippi2.73%
26 (tie)Ohio2.72%
26 (tie)Hawaii2.72%
28Pennsylvania2.71%
29Florida2.69%
30South Carolina2.68%
31 (tie)South Dakota2.66%
31 (tie)Maryland2.66%
33Georgia2.57%
34 (tie)North Dakota2.53%
34 (tie)Washington2.53%
36Utah2.32%
37Arizona2.31%
38Idaho2.28%
39West Virginia2.22%
40Indiana2.19%
41Missouri2.14%
42 (tie)North Carolina2.08%
42 (tie)Nevada2.08%
44New Mexico1.92%
45Kentucky1.91%
46Delaware1.86%
47Louisiana1.80%
48Oklahoma1.75%
49Arkansas1.69%
50Tennessee1.61%
51Alabama1.37%

At third, people living in New Jersey pay 4.8% of their income on property tax. The state not only has high property tax rates but some of the most expensive housing in the country, causing property taxes to feel elevated.

Falling in the middle of the pack is Hawaii, with 2.7% of personal income paid to property taxes. While the state has the lowest effective property tax rate at 0.3%, soaring home prices have led the actual tax costs to increase.

The lowest tax costs were seen in Alabama, making up 1.4% of a person’s income.

The Highest Property Taxes per Person

Breaking down the property tax revenues of different states by person, instead of by income, reveals a slightly different ranking:

On a per-capita basis, many populous Northeastern states rank higher. At the top, New Jersey had the highest per capita property tax revenues at $3,580 in 2020, followed by New Hampshire and Connecticut at $3,300.

Once again falling at the end of the pack are Southern states with smaller populations. Alabama saw $647 paid per person in property taxes—or less than a fifth of New Jersey’s tax costs.

Role in Education Funding

Today, the vast majority of public education funding comes from local property tax revenue.

It’s no surprise that higher local tax revenues have been tied with improved levels of public education including better access to advanced curriculum, higher quality buildings, stronger student achievement, and a decrease in disciplinary problems.

Meanwhile, residents in lower-income neighborhoods have been shown to pay higher effective property tax rates than residents in affluent ones. For instance, Silicon Valley's Palo Alto had the lowest effective property tax rate in California in 2015 thanks to soaring property values, since houses in California are taxed on assessed values from when homes are sold.

Overall, we can see that wide disparities in property taxes exist by each state. This is seen not only in their percent of personal income, but on total tax collected, and local tax rates.

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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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How the U.S. Economy Outgrew the UK Over 17 Years

U.S. vs UK economy: A 17-year comparison shows America’s strong gains in wealth and markets, while the UK has stagnated.

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How the U.S. Economy Outgrew the UK Over 17 Years

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • America has grown substantially since the 2008 crisis, both in stock market valuation (e.g. S&P 500) and in traditional wealth metrics (e.g. wealth per capita)
  • The UK has stalled over the same timeframe, with wealth per capita actually shrinking by 10% in U.S. dollar terms

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the economic paths of the U.S. and UK have sharply diverged due to differences in productivity, investment, and currency performance.

To see what this divergence really looks like, we’ve compared the two countries across GDP, stock market, and traditional wealth metrics from 2007 to 2024.

The U.S. vs UK Economy

The data featured in this visualization was compiled by Henley & Partners. Note that all figures are in U.S. dollar terms.

Index/MetricChange (2007–2024)
🇺🇸 S&P 500306%
🇺🇸 DJIA226%
🌍 MSCI World134%
🇺🇸 USA wealth per capita121%
🇺🇸 USA GDP per capita72%
🌍 World GDP per capita52%
🇬🇧 UK GDP per capita-2%
🇬🇧 UK wealth per capita-10%
🇬🇧 FTSE 100-20%
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 USD per GBP-37%

U.S. Market and Wealth Growth Has Been Robust

Over the past 17 years, the U.S. economy has seen major gains across key metrics. The S&P 500 surged 306%, driven by strong corporate profits and the rise of tech giants. Meanwhile, wealth per capita more than doubled, and GDP per capita rose 72%.

According to Henley & Partners, drivers of America’s wealth boom include:

  • Florida becoming a top destination for the world’s high net worth individuals (HNWIs)
  • Large forex inflows into U.S. stock exchanges (e.g. NYSE), particularly from Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa
  • U.S. dominance in high-growth tech sectors such as software, chip design, and AI

UK Economy Faces Long-Term Stagnation

Since the Global Financial Crisis, wealth per capita in the UK has actually decreased by 10%.

Henley & Partners cites the following reasons for the country’s poor performance:

  • High capital gains tax and estate duty rates (among the highest globally) deter wealthy individuals from living in the UK.
  • Brexit added years of uncertainty, discouraging business investment and weakening trade particularly in the services sector.
  • The dwindling importance of the London Stock Exchange, once the world’s largest stock market by market cap, which now ranks 11th globally.
  • Pound Weakness Amplifies the Gap

    Currency depreciation has further widened the gap between the U.S. and UK.

    According to this analysis, the British pound has lost 37% of its value against the U.S. dollar since 2007. This not only impacts trade, but also reduces the global purchasing power of UK-based investors and households.

    Learn More on the Voronoi App

    If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The G7’S Global Footprint in 2025 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

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