19 Cities Where Americans Are Feeling the Pinch of Higher Property Taxes

Recently had a conversation with your neighbor about their high property taxes? When was the last time you looked at your property taxes and compared them to national levels? When these taxes are often collected automatically, it can be easy to forget they exist. Unless you are working-class, of course, in which case they can force you out of your home.

We looked at the U.S. cities that force their residents to pay the highest percentage of their home value in property taxes. We also included a little information about how these high property taxes have contributed to the poverty rate in each city.

Background on Property Taxes

Most of the property taxes paid in the United States go to local governments, with around 97% going to community colleges, local schools, municipalities, counties, and local government agencies (libraries, museums, parks, and more).

Tax rates typically range between 0% and 4%. There is incentive for governments to improve their city to raise property values which leads to increased tax revenue without needing to actually raise taxes.

However, corporations and government incompetence can lead to home prices growing too fast, pricing families out of their homes as real estate investors buy homes and raise rents that locals can’t afford. Families are priced out of their own homes as local prices and taxes become too expensive for them to survive.

For example, in Illinois, high property taxes are caused by a complex system of tax districts, huge pension debt, rising home values, and state corruption which have led to rising home prices (thus, higher taxes) that outpace wage growth.

For this article, we focus on the effective tax rate, which is how much someone pays compared to the home value, not on the total amount of taxes paid. Homeowners in Beverly Hills might pay much more money in property taxes because their homes are so valuable, but as a percentage of the home itself, the rate is much lower than a working-class family whose home value has risen beyond their ability to make payments. For every rich person who complains about high property taxes, there are a dozen working-class families being evicted for missing a mortgage payment at a fraction of the amount.

All these data are taken from the U.S. Census Bureau. Please remember that as laws and property values change, these effective tax rates and median taxes will also change constantly at variable rates.

#19 San Antonio, TX

• Median real estate taxes: $4,486
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.04%

San Antonio constitutes the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest in the United States. Texas doesn’t have an income tax, so the state makes up the difference with high property taxes and other high taxes on consumer goods.

#18 Brownsville, TX

• Median real estate taxes: $2,699
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.08%

Like San Antonio, Brownsville is a deeply Hispanic city with a large Hispanic population and rich culture. Around 93% of the city is Hispanic, the fourth-highest of any U.S. city. Most of the economy in Brownsville comes from international trade.

#17 Milwaukee, WI

• Median real estate taxes: $3,469
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.09%

Milwaukee is one of the most racially-segregated cities in the country due to 20th-century redlining policies. It grew quickly from huge influxes of European immigrants, this helped it survive during the decline of many Rust Belt cities like itself when steel mills and manufacturers abandoned the region for cheaper labor elsewhere.

#16 Springfield, IL

• Median real estate taxes: $3,152
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.16%

The capital of Illinois and the 11th-most populous city in the country, Springfield has a growing population of people below the poverty line. The largest employer in Illinois is the state government, followed by Memorial Health System, Hospital Sisters Health System, and Springfield Clinic, giving a hint as to why property taxes are so high and poverty rates remain elevated.

#15 Pearland, TX

• Median real estate taxes: $7,847
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.2%

Pearland is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. It began as an agricultural center for the region and has evolved into a healthcare and science-focused city. Large developers bought massive tracts of land in the city and built enormous master-planned suburban communities.

#14 Rochester, NY

• Median real estate taxes: $3,001
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.2%

Rochester is a hub of art and culture in New York and remained an industrial center after a sharp population decline and deindustrialization when mills and manufacturers abandoned the city. It has successfully transitioned to research and technology.

#13 Aurora, IL

• Median real estate taxes: $6,310
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.2%

Aurora is one of the fastest-growing cities in Illinois and maintains a large population of families living under the poverty line. When companies abandoned the city after the manufacturing boom, they left behind abandoned buildings and vacant lots that contributed to gang violence in the decades after. They also left the river extremely contaminated and forced the city to clean up their mess. Social and economic reforms have all but eliminated gang violence.

#12 Elgin, IL

• Median real estate taxes: $6,394
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.2%

Elgin was built on Native American burial mounds after the passing of the Indian Removal Act. It has recently been at the top of the list of new home construction and developments. Almost half the population of the city is Latino and it also has a sizeable Laotian community.  

#11 Hartford, CT

• Median real estate taxes: $3,962
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.27%

Hartford is the capital of Connecticut and home to many of the oldest buildings in the country. It was the richest city in the country for much of the latter 1800s and has come to be known as “America’s filing cabinet” due to the number of insurance companies located in it. It has long had a high unemployment rate and has the highest unemployment rate in the region, well above the national average.

#10 Newark, NJ

• Median real estate taxes: $7,551
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.28%

Newark was founded way back in 1666 and remains a primary hub for international shipping with the busiest seaport on the East Coast. More than 100,000 people commute into Newark every day, which means the city has become prime real estate for businesses and investors, pricing homeowners and local workers out of their homes. This means the state and city have reaped huge rewards for high property taxes that those still living in the area have to pay.

This has resulted in 28.4% of all residents of the city living below the poverty line (around 25.5% of all families). More than 8.5% of city residents are unemployed.

#9 Edinburg, TX

• Median real estate taxes: $3,491
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.28%

Edinburg is a relatively new city, being founded in the early 1900s, near the U.S.-Mexico border with an overwhelmingly white population. Around 29.2% of the population of Edinburg lives below the poverty line, with the majority being under 18.

#8 El Paso, TX

• Median real estate taxes: $3,795
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.3%

El Paso has won the All-America City Award five times, which is given to cities that have performed significant work in using inclusive civic engagement to create stronger communities and address critical social issues. It is also one of the safest of the large cities in the United States. Around 20.3% of the population lives below the poverty line. Only 58% of the people living in El Paso actually own their own home.

#7 Joliet, IL

• Median real estate taxes: $5,320
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.3%

The unemployment rate in Joliet has hovered around 8.6% for almost two decades, due primarily to steel and manufacturing businesses abandoning the city. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has since become the biggest employer in the city, but its low wages and inhumane working conditions continue to keep people living in poverty. Around 12.2% of all citizens live in poverty.

#6 Paterson, NJ

• Median real estate taxes: $10,000
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.3%

Paterson has long been a major destination for international immigration, with large amounts of Turks, Arabs, and South Asians coming to the city which now boasts the second-biggest Muslim population in the country. Parts of Paterson form an Urban Enterprise Zone which allows businesses to charge a much lower sales tax than the rest of the state. Around 26.6% of the city lives below the poverty line.

#5 Albany, NY

• Median real estate taxes: $5,561
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.3%

Albany is the capital of New York and maintains one of the highest populations of lawyers in the country. Around 21.7% of the population live below the poverty line, resulting in a violent crime rate that is more than double that of similarly-sized cities, and significantly higher than the rest of the state average.

#4 Syracuse, NY

• Median real estate taxes: $3,254
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.4%

Yet another city that shrank and struggled after manufacturing companies abandoned the area, Syracuse pivoted to higher education, research, and healthcare. Large U.S. companies have been able to move in, taking advantage of high poverty and unemployment. Today, more than 35.1% of the city’s population lives below the poverty line.

In 2020, it was revealed that Syracuse had experienced its first period of population growth in more than 70 years.

#3 Waterbury, CT

• Median real estate taxes: $5,607
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.4%

Waterbury is just down the street from Hartford (also on this list) so many of the same issues plague both cities. After manufacturing and brass mills abandoned the city, Waterbury ranked at the bottom of the list for quality of life among all U.S. metropolitan areas and was called the “worst place for businesses and careers in America” by Forbes. Today, around 24.2% of the population lives below the poverty line and it has triple the national average of children living below the poverty line (36.8%).

#2 Rockford, IL

• Median real estate taxes: $3,452
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.5%

Yet another Midwestern town that grew successful from industry and metal production with a robust hardware, tools, furniture, and heavy machinery industry. It also struggled like other cities after the companies abandoned the town. Around 14% of the population lives below the poverty line.

#1 Peoria, IL

• Median real estate taxes: $4,455
• Effective value of home paid in taxes: 2.6%

After mills and factories left the city, Peoria pivoted to healthcare, but Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) remains one of the top employers in the city. Even so, around 19.7% of the population lives below the poverty line and its population has gradually declined over the last several years. Historical segregation and redlining have resulted in Peoria being the 5th-worst city for Black Americans when compared to White citizens in the same city.

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