These are the U.S. states with the highest property taxes—New York and California aren’t in the top 10

The median effective property tax rate for all states and the District of Columbia is 0.91%. Only New Jersey and Illinois have property taxes that are higher than 2%.

In New Jersey, there’s a strong emphasis on local control of public services, particularly education. Those education costs are amongst the highest in the nation, and they’re mostly paid through property taxes.

Likewise, Illinois has more units of local government than any other state, according to the state’s legislative handbook. These are funded by property taxes, with a big chunk of those taxes paying for education and state employee pension obligations.

By contrast, Hawaii’s government is more centralized at the state level and relies on tourism more than property taxes to pay for government services. As a result, property taxes are the lowest in the country.

However, even with low property taxes, Hawaii is still the most expensive state to buy a house, according to a recent LendingTree study.

Notably, relatively low-tax states like New Hampshire and Texas are amongst the states with the highest effective property tax rates. Since neither state levies income taxes, they’re more reliant on property taxes to pay for a greater share of government services.

For purposes of the study, the effective property tax reflects average taxes paid against a home’s value, for owner-occupied homes only. The rate was calculated using 2021 U.S. Census data, the most recent available.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/16/us-states-where-property-taxes-are-highestnew-jersey-is-no-1.html