New Study Highlights Illinois’ Problem with High Property Taxes
If paying your property taxes here in the Rockford area gets your blood up, you'll be happy to know that a new study says that it probably should.
The numbers-crunchers at personal finance website WalletHub turned their attentions and calculators to breaking down the highest and lowest property taxes state-by-state.
I'll warn you ahead of time--you're not going to like what they found here in Illinois, and particularly the Rockford area.
Here's what WalletHub's experts looked at:
The average American household spends $2,197 on property taxes for their homes each year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and residents of the 27 states with vehicle property taxes shell out another $436. Considering these figures and the rising amount of debt in America, it should come as no surprise that more than $14 billion in property taxes go unpaid each year, the National Tax Lien Association has found. In search of answers, we analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of real-estate and vehicle property taxes. We also asked a panel of property-tax experts for practical and political insight.
Let's cut to the chase, here. Illinois has the 2nd highest property tax rates in the U.S., right behind New Jersey.
Property Taxes in Illinois (1st=Lowest; 25th=Avg.):
Real-Estate Property Tax Rank: 50th
Vehicle Property Tax Rank: 1st
Real-Estate Tax on Median State Home Value: $4,058
Real-Estate Tax on Median U.S. Home Value: $4,288
Vehicle Property Tax on Best-Selling Car: $0.00
What's more, WalletHub's analysis found that our property tax rates here in Rockford are much higher than Illinois' already high property taxes.
That's because on average, the 'real property tax rate', or the actual amount of taxes paid annually in property taxes compared to the value of the home, is 2.32% in Illinois according to Wallethub's analysis. However, Rockford's real property tax rate is about double that.
For example, a home on English Lane on Rockford randomly chosen on the real estate website Zillow.com is currently for sale at a price of $181,900. Should the home buyers pay full asking price and have that price assessed as full market value, the new homeowner's property tax bill would be $8461 based on the home's current property tax rate. However, were Rockford at the state average for real property tax rates, their annual bill would be $4220 per year, a savings of more than $350 per month.
In case you're thinking of heading somewhere that has a bit less of a property tax burden for you to shoulder, here are the 5 best states for property taxes:
1) Hawaii
2) Alabama
3) Louisiana
4) Delaware
5) Washington, DC
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