How Maryland's real estate taxes compare nationally

The Tax Foundation is out with its list of the most expensive counties for residential property levies. Amounts are for 2007.

The highest as usual are the New York City suburbs, clocking in at a median annual tax of $7,000 or $8,000 per house. (Median means half the homes were taxed above those amounts and half below.) New York’s Westchester County tops the list at $8,422. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois all have counties near the top of the rankings.

The U.S. county with the least expensive median real estate tax is Apache County, Arizona, at $133.

The most expensive Maryland county is Howard, with a median tax of $3,775. The least expensive in Maryland is Allegany County at $990.

Measuring property taxes in absolute dollars, however, only tells part of the story.
Taxes in Niagara County, N.Y., are only $2,802 per house. But as a percentage of home value they’re the highest in the nation at close to 3 percent.

Baltimore City has Maryland’s highest property tax as a portion of home value – 1.1 percent. Allegany County’s is nearly as high at 0.9 percent. Howard, Prince George’s, Baltimore and Frederick counties are all 0.8 percent. Everybody else is lower.

Ranked against other states, Maryland property taxes are 13th highest in the country in dollar terms, at $2,436 for the median house. But the state ranked 31st highest for property taxes as a percentage of home value and 22nd for property taxes as a percentage of homeowner income.

UPDATE: Commenters correctly point out that the Tax Foundation's tax rates as a percentage of home value for Maryland localities don't correspond to statutory rates. Baltimore City is way off -- 1.1 percent according to the foundation vs. a 2.3 percent real property tax rate on the books. I can't explain the discrepancy -- assessed value vs. market value? The foundation table's footnotes say all data are from the U.S. Census American Community Survey, using the median real estate tax paid on owner-occupied dwellings and the median value for those homes. (By Jay Hancock, Baltimore Sun)