What is the property tax rate in Florida?
The property tax rate in Florida averages 0.78% of a home’s value, based on the Tax Foundation’s 2026 table of effective rates from the 2024 American Community Survey. That figure is a statewide average for owner-occupied homes, most of which have homestead exemptions and the Save Our Homes cap, so it understates what an investor pays.
Florida bills are not set by one statewide rate. Each property pays the sum of the millage rates of every taxing authority where it sits: the county, the school board, the city if it is incorporated, the water management district and any special districts. In 2025 those totals ranged from about 14 mills to more than 26 mills in the large counties shown below, and one mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of taxable value.
How Florida property tax is calculated
Florida property tax equals taxable value times total millage, divided by 1,000. The county property appraiser sets just value, which is market value as of January 1 of each year, at 100% before caps and exemptions. Assessed value can be lower than just value because of the annual caps. Taxable value is assessed value minus any exemptions.
Each August the property appraiser mails a TRIM notice (truth in millage) showing your just value, assessed value, exemptions and the proposed millage of each taxing authority, with the dates of their budget hearings. The final bill follows in the fall once the rates are adopted. Cities are capped at 10 mills for operating purposes unless voters approve more, under section 200.081.
The figures in a TRIM notice are the ones to check. A $2,000,000 apartment building in a 19-mill district owes about $38,000 a year if it is taxed at full value. The same building with a capped assessed value can owe thousands less, which matters to both the seller and the buyer.
Florida property tax caps for rental and apartment property
Non-homestead property in Florida, which includes rentals and apartment buildings, has a 10% annual cap on increases in assessed value for all levies except school district levies. Residential property with nine or fewer units falls under section 193.1554. Apartment buildings with 10 or more units are treated as nonresidential property under section 193.1555, with the same 10% cap. School levies have no cap, so the school portion of your bill is always figured on full just value.
Homesteads have a tighter limit. Under section 193.155, the assessed value of a homestead cannot rise more than 3% a year or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. That cap does not help a landlord, because a rental is not the owner’s permanent residence.
Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot
Amendment 3 (HJR 1F) is a proposed constitutional amendment on Florida’s November 3, 2026 ballot, and it needs 60% of the vote to pass. If voters approve it on November 3, 2026, the annual assessment cap for non-homestead property would drop from 10% to 5% starting January 1, 2027, and the first bills affected would be the 2027 bills mailed in November 2027.
The same amendment would raise the homestead exemption against non-school taxes to $150,000 starting January 1, 2027 and to $250,000 starting January 1, 2028. School taxes and the $25,000 school homestead exemption would not change, according to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s summary.
For an apartment owner the cap change is the part to watch. A lower cap would slow the growth of a long-held building’s assessed value, which widens the gap between what the seller pays and what a buyer pays after the reset. Until the vote is counted, the 10% cap is the law.
Does Florida reassess property when it sells?
Yes. Florida reassesses non-homestead property to full just value on January 1 after a change of ownership or control, which wipes out the benefit of the 10% cap for the buyer. Under sections 193.1554 and 193.1555, a change includes a sale, a foreclosure, a transfer of legal or beneficial title, and a cumulative transfer of control or of more than 50% of the entity that owns the property.
That last rule catches many investor sales. Selling the LLC that holds the building, rather than the building itself, still triggers the reset once more than half of the ownership has changed hands. Homesteads reset on sale too.
Florida property tax by county
Total millage in Florida’s six largest counties ran from 14.1079 mills in Winter Park to 26.5315 mills in Lake Buena Vista in 2025, according to each county property appraiser’s published millage table. The Florida Department of Revenue publishes levies by taxing authority but no single statewide table of total millage by district, so the figures below come from the counties’ own 2025 final millage charts. They include county, school, city and district levies and exclude non-ad valorem assessments.
The City of Miami shows how a total is built. Its 19.9878 mills in 2025 break down into 6.6330 for the school board, 4.9911 for Miami-Dade County operating and debt, 7.3616 for the city, 0.2812 for the library district, 0.4638 for The Children’s Trust, 0.2301 for the South Florida Water Management District and its Everglades and Okeechobee levies, and 0.0270 for the Florida Inland Navigation District. A building one street over, in a different city, can pay several mills more or less.
Palm Beach figures are the property appraiser’s 2025 proposed total millage by district, rounded to two decimals; the county, school board and city rates behind them did not change at final adoption. Duval is consolidated with Jacksonville, so it has no unincorporated area.
| County (2025) | Main city | Unincorporated | Lowest district | Highest district |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | Miami 19.9878 | 16.9317 | Key Biscayne 15.5108 (one North Miami Beach code with no city operating levy is 14.9415) | Biscayne Park 24.3227 |
| Broward | Fort Lauderdale 18.4464 | 17.8923 to 19.0509 | Weston (south) 16.2843 | Lauderdale Lakes 23.1875 |
| Palm Beach | West Palm Beach 20.45 | 16.27 | Town of Palm Beach 14.87 | Belle Glade and Pahokee 22.81 |
| Hillsborough | Tampa 19.8428 | 18.2515 | Unincorporated 18.2515 | Tampa 19.8428 |
| Orange | Orlando 18.0878 to 19.2844, by code | Varies by code; 16.1366 in several | Winter Park 14.1079 | Lake Buena Vista 26.5315 |
| Duval | Jacksonville 17.7412 | None (consolidated) | Atlantic Beach 17.2004 | Baldwin 18.9701 |
How to appeal a Florida property tax assessment
You appeal a Florida assessment by filing a petition with the county Value Adjustment Board within 25 days after the property appraiser mails the TRIM notice, under section 194.011(3)(d). For most counties that window runs from mid-August to mid-September, and the exact deadline is printed on the notice.
Before filing, you can ask the property appraiser’s office for an informal conference. It is optional and does not extend the deadline. Apartment owners usually win on income evidence: a rent roll, the trailing 12-month operating statement and recent sales of similar buildings. If the appraiser’s just value implies a cap rate well below what buildings like yours trade at, that is the core of the case.
Florida property tax exemptions for apartments
The main exemption for Florida apartment owners is the Live Local Act exemption in section 196.1978(3), which covers affordable units in newer large developments. A development built within the past five years with more than 70 qualifying units can receive a 100% exemption on units rented at or below 80% of area median income and a 75% exemption on units rented above 80% and up to 120% of area median income.
To claim it, the owner applies to the property appraiser by March 1 with a certification from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. Laws passed in 2025 (chapters 2025-6 and 2025-208) let a taxing authority opt out of the 75% tier by a two-thirds vote, starting with the 2025 roll, but only in counties where a state housing study finds enough affordable units, and a 2026 law (chapter 2026-179) changes the program again from the 2027 roll. Counties and cities may also offer a separate local option affordable housing exemption under section 196.1979.
Older market-rate buildings generally have no exemption. That is why a typical rental pays a higher share of value than the 0.78% homestead-heavy average.
- Live Local Act: newer developments with more than 70 affordable units, apply by March 1
- Local option affordable housing exemption: only where the county or city has adopted it
- Homestead exemption and Save Our Homes cap: owner-occupied homes only, not rentals
Example: Florida property tax on a $2M apartment building
Take a Tampa apartment building with a just value of $2,000,000 in 2025. Tampa’s total 2025 millage is 19.8428, of which 6.3400 is school levies and 13.5028 is everything else. The current owner has held the building for years, and the 10% cap has kept its assessed value for non-school levies at $1,500,000.
The owner’s bill is $12,680 in school tax on the full $2,000,000, plus $20,254 in non-school tax on the capped $1,500,000, for $32,934 a year. After a sale, the next January 1 reset brings the non-school assessed value to $2,000,000 as well. At the same millage, the buyer’s bill rises to $39,686, or $6,751 more each year.
That increase comes straight out of net operating income. At a 6% cap rate, $6,751 of lost NOI is worth about $112,500 of value, so a buyer who underwrites on the seller’s tax bill will overpay. Brokers and buyers in Florida should model taxes on the reset value, and sellers should expect offers to reflect it.
| Tampa, 2025 millage | Seller (capped) | Buyer (after reset) |
|---|---|---|
| School levies, 6.3400 mills on $2,000,000 | $12,680 | $12,680 |
| Non-school levies, 13.5028 mills | $20,254 on $1,500,000 | $27,006 on $2,000,000 |
| Total annual tax | $32,934 | $39,686 |
| Change in NOI | None | Minus $6,751 |
Selling a Florida apartment building
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units in Florida. We underwrite the post-sale tax bill up front, so the number we offer already accounts for the reset. We buy directly, close on your timeline, and can work inside 1031 deadlines.
Related guides cover Florida capital gains tax, Florida landlord-tenant law and 1031 exchange in Florida. The property tax calculator lets you test your own millage and assessed value.
