State and local governments collected nearly $397 billion in single-family property taxes last year, assessed against roughly 89.6 million homes across the U.S., according to a new analysis by real estate analytics firm Attom.

The $397 billion figure reflects a 3.7% increase from 2024, with the average single-family homeowner being levied $4,427, a roughly 3% gain from the previous year.

The increase comes despite a drop in estimated home values from 2024 to 2025, according to Attom, which reported that national average single-family home values declined 1.7% to $494,231. The effective single-family property tax rate was 0.9% nationwide last year, the highest level since 1.1% in 2020 and up from 0.86% in 2024, says Attom.

“Property taxes in 2025 demonstrate that tax bills reflect more than just home values,” noted Rob Barber, CEO at Attom, in a statement accompanying the data. He added that the “higher tax bills combined with declining home values” underscores “the role of local government costs and shifting tax policies.”

Adjustments to property taxes are a primary way that homeowners (mortgaged or otherwise) may see the flexible yet ongoing costs of homeownership change, alongside higher homeowners insurance costs or changes to their mortgage insurance. Property taxes have increased in the wake of multiple years of rapid home-price appreciation, which shows up for many homeowners as higher escrow assessments.

Mortgage escrow costs have surged in recent years, fueling concerns about long-term housing affordability as the flexible components of monthly mortgage bills continue to rise. Real estate analytics firm Cotality says average escrow amounts increased 45% from 2019 to 2025, with nation-leading jumps of 77%, 70% and 66% in Colorado, Florida and Wyoming.

As many as 4 in 10 mortgage borrowers recently reported not knowing that their monthly mortgage payments can increase, even if they have a fixed-rate loan.

Property taxes vary by state because states have a range of ways they collect revenue from residents. Attom says its calculation of effective single-family property tax rates shows the average annual property tax expressed as a percentage of average estimated home values in a given geographic region.

Homeowners in the Northeast and Midwest were the most heavily taxed, with Illinois (1.84%), New Jersey (1.58%), Vermont (1.4%), Connecticut (1.36%) and Ohio (1.32%) having the highest effective tax rates in the country, followed by New Hampshire (1.29%), Iowa (1.25%), Pennsylvania (1.24%), Nebraska (1.24%) and New York (1.23%).

States with the lowest single-family property tax rates in 2025 were Hawaii (0.33%), Idaho (0.39%), Wyoming (0.4%), Arizona (0.43%) and Alabama (0.43%), followed by Utah (0.45%), Delaware (0.48%), West Virginia (0.48%), Tennessee (0.5%) and Nevada (0.52%).

Largely due to higher median home values, the highest average tax bills hit homeowners in New Jersey ($10,499), Connecticut ($8,901), New Hampshire ($8,174), Massachusetts ($7,904) and New York ($7,732).

Average tax bills were under $1,700 for homeowners in West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Among the 221 metropolitan areas Attom examined, homeowners in 111 of those metros paid tax bills exceeding the 3% national average increase. Cities with populations of 1 million or more that saw the largest yearly increase in average tax bills were Memphis, Baltimore, St. Louis, Houston and Kansas City, with spikes of 34%, 27%, 11%, 10% and 8%.