Each year, the average American household spends $2,690 on real-estate property taxes, plus another $444 for residents of the 26 states with vehicle property taxes. With such high costs, it’s no surprise more than $14 billion in property taxes go unpaid each year, according to the National Tax Lien Association.
In order to determine who pays the most relative to their state, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its “2023’s Property Taxes by State” report that compared home and vehicle taxes across the nation.
The states with the highest real estate taxes were New York and Wisconsin (tied for 44th), Texas (46th), Vermont (47th), New Hampshire (48th), Connecticut (49th), Illinois (50th) and New Jersey (51st).
The states with the highest vehicle property taxes were Kansas (44th), Connecticut (45th), Massachusetts (46th), Maine (47th), South Carolina and Missouri (tied, 48th), Mississippi (50th) and Virginia (51st).
Key statistics from the survey included:
- Hawaii has the lowest real-estate tax, $700, which is 8.7 times lower than in New Jersey, the state with the highest at $6,057.
- A total of 26 six states levies some form of vehicle property tax. Of those states, Louisiana has the lowest, $26, which is 40 times lower than in Virginia, the state with the highest at $1,039.
- Blue states have 30.18 percent higher real-estate property taxes, averaging $2,991, than red states, averaging $2,297.