Property Taxes: Where Does Your State Rank?

Residents of New Jersey pay roughly eight times more in real-estate property taxes on average than residents of Hawaii.

The Garden State has earned the dubious distinction of ranking highest in the nation in WalletHub’s latest annual assessment of real-estate property taxes. The Aloha State earned the lowest rank among the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

These rankings are based on annual property taxes for real estate valued at $176,000, the median home value in the U.S. That amount ranges from $4,029 in New Jersey to $489 in Hawaii.

The average American household, by comparison, spends $2,127 on real-estate property taxes each year, WalletHub reports. In the 27 states that also levy vehicle property taxes, households pay an additional $412 in property taxes.

WalletHub adds:

Considering these figures and the debt-fueled environment to which we have grown so accustomed, it should come as no surprise that roughly $11.8 billion in property taxes go unpaid each year, the National Tax Lien Association has found.

The states with the lowest effective real-estate tax rates are spread across various regions of the U.S. The top 10 — based on a home valued at $176,000 — are:

• Hawaii: 0.28 effective real-estate tax rate ($489 in annual taxes)
• Alabama: 0.43 percent ($764)
• Louisiana: 0.48 percent ($841)
• Delaware: 0.53 percent ($929)
• District of Columbia: 0.57 percent ($1,005)
• South Carolina: 0.57 percent ($1,009)
• West Virginia: 0.59 percent ($1,035)
• Arkansas: 0.62 percent ($1,088)
• Colorado: 0.62 percent ($1,097)
• Wyoming: 0.62 percent ($1,094)

The states with the highest rates mostly are concentrated in the Midwest and New England regions. The top 10 — again based on a home valued at $176,000 — are:

• New Jersey: 2.29 percent ($4,029)
• Illinois: 2.25 percent ($3,959)
• New Hampshire: 2.1 percent ($3,698)
• Wisconsin: 1.97 percent ($3,459)
• Texas: 1.93 percent ($3,392)
• Connecticut: 1.91 percent ($3,357)
• Nebraska: 1.88 percent ($3,301)
• Michigan: 1.83 percent ($3,220)
• Vermont: 1.72 percent ($3,021)
• Rhode Island: 1.61 percent ($2,829)

In the states that have vehicle property taxes, rates range from 0.37 percent in Montana (meaning taxes on a $23,070 2016 Toyota Camry LE four-door sedan, the highest-selling car of 2015, amount to $86) to 4.76 percent in Rhode Island (meaning taxes on the same vehicle amount to $1,099).

Complete rankings are available in WalletHub’s “2016’s Property Taxes by State” analysis.

How do you feel about property tax rates in your area? Sound off in a comment below or on our Facebook page.