What is the property tax rate in Maryland?
Maryland’s average effective property tax rate is 0.92% (Tax Foundation 2026, using the 2024 American Community Survey). That figure is median taxes paid divided by median home value for owner-occupied homes, so it is a way to compare states rather than a rate any county bills.
The bill itself is assessed value times the local rate per $100, plus the state rate. The state rate on July 2026 bills is 11.2 cents per $100, the figure in SDAT’s 2026-2027 table and the rate the Commission on State Debt recommended for fiscal year 2027. On top of that sits the county or Baltimore City rate, and in incorporated towns a municipal rate.
How Maryland sets assessed value
SDAT values every property in Maryland once every three years, at its full market value. The state is split into three groups, and about one-third of properties are reassessed each year. Group 2 was revalued for January 1, 2026, and SDAT reported an average increase of 12.7%, with residential values up 13.2% and commercial values up 11%.
An increase is phased in equally over three years. If your building’s value rises by $300,000 at reassessment, its taxable assessment goes up by $100,000 a year for three years. A decrease takes effect all at once in the first year.
Between reassessments, SDAT changes a value only for specific events listed in law, such as a zoning change, a substantial change in use, extensive improvements, an earlier error or a subdivision.
Does Maryland reassess a property when it sells?
No. A sale is not one of the events that lets SDAT change a value between cycles, so the buyer inherits your current phased-in assessment. The sale price still matters, because the assessor uses market sales when the next three-year reassessment comes around.
A new owner who takes title between January 1 and July 1 can appeal the assessment within 60 days of the transfer, as long as the deed is recorded. Buyers use this when a building’s assessment looks high next to the price they paid.
Is there a cap on Maryland property tax increases for apartments?
Not in the way homeowners have one. Maryland’s homestead tax credit limits the yearly increase in a principal residence’s taxable assessment to 10% at the state level, and counties set their own lower caps. For fiscal year 2027, SDAT lists caps from 0% in Talbot and Worcester to 10% in Calvert, Montgomery and Somerset, with Baltimore City at 4%.
The credit covers only an owner-occupied principal residence. A rental apartment building gets the three-year phase-in and nothing else, so its taxable assessment can rise by the full amount of a reassessment, spread over three years. Rate increases are separate again; counties set rates each year, and the constant yield rule requires public notice when a proposed rate would raise more revenue than last year’s.
Maryland property tax rates by county
The table lists the five highest and five lowest combined rates for July 2026 bills (fiscal year 2027), using SDAT’s 2026-2027 table: the general county or Baltimore City rate plus the state’s 11.2 cents, per $100 of assessed value. Town and city rates are extra where they apply.
Some counties also levy special service rates, mainly for fire and other districts, that SDAT’s table does not include. The Department of Legislative Services shows fiscal 2026 totals including those rates of $1.0392 in Montgomery, $1.3740 in Prince George’s, $1.2500 in Howard and $1.2050 in Charles. We left Montgomery out of the low list for that reason, even though its general county rate is only $0.6706.
| County | County rate | County plus state (per $100) | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore City | $2.2480 | $2.3600 | Highest |
| Charles | $1.1410 | $1.2530 | Highest |
| Frederick | $1.1100 | $1.2220 | Highest |
| Baltimore County | $1.1000 | $1.2120 | Highest |
| Howard | $1.0440 | $1.1560 | Highest |
| St. Mary’s | $0.8478 | $0.9598 | Lowest |
| Talbot | $0.8180 | $0.9300 | Lowest |
| Worcester | $0.8150 | $0.9270 | Lowest |
| Queen Anne’s | $0.8000 | $0.9120 | Lowest |
| Wicomico | $0.7799 | $0.8919 | Lowest |
How to appeal a Maryland property tax assessment
You have 45 days from the date on your reassessment notice to appeal, online with the control number on the notice or by mail to the local assessment office. Notices go out at the end of December; Group 2 owners received theirs dated December 30, 2025.
In a year you did not get a notice, you can file a petition for review by the first working day after January 1, and that petition applies to the next tax year. Apartment owners usually argue value on the income approach, so bring a rent roll, operating statements and any recent appraisal to the hearing.
- Supervisor’s level: an informal hearing with the assessor after you file.
- Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board: file within 30 days of the supervisor’s final notice.
- Maryland Tax Court: file within 30 days of the board’s order; the hearing starts fresh.
Property tax credits and exemptions for Maryland apartments
Maryland’s apartment programs are mostly local or negotiated. Developers can sign payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreements that reduce payments for a period to encourage construction. Some nonprofit-owned multifamily housing can be exempt with local approval. The Department of Legislative Services’ guide also describes a Charles County option for a credit on reduced-rent rental housing and a Baltimore City credit for newly constructed market-rate rental projects; confirm current terms with the county or city, since that guide dates from 2018.
If your building has a PILOT or credit, find out before you list whether it transfers to a buyer and when it ends. A buyer will underwrite the full tax from the year the benefit stops, and that change can move the price more than any appeal.
Effective rate or rate per $100: which one to use
Use the rate per $100 on your own bill for your building, and keep the 0.92% effective rate for comparing Maryland with other states. Because Maryland assesses at full market value, the two numbers are closer here than in states that assess at a fraction of value, but they still answer different questions.
The rate per $100 works directly on value. A combined $1.212 per $100 is 1.212% of the assessment, so in Baltimore County a building assessed at market pays a little over 1.2% of its value each year. In Baltimore City the same building pays about 2.36%. Those gaps, not the statewide average, drive what a buyer in each market can pay for the same rent roll.
What to check on your assessment notice before you sell
Most of what a buyer asks about is on the SDAT notice and the county bill.
- The new full value and the phased-in assessment for each of the three years.
- The date of the notice, which starts your 45-day appeal clock.
- Your reassessment group, which tells a buyer when the next revaluation lands.
- Town, special district and fire rates on the bill, which are not in the county rate.
- Any PILOT, credit or exemption on the account, and its end date.
Worked example: property tax on a $2M Maryland apartment building
Take a 20-unit building in Baltimore County assessed at its full market value of $2,000,000. At $1.212 per $100 (county $1.10 plus state 11.2 cents), the yearly tax is $24,240. The same assessment would cost $47,200 in Baltimore City, $25,060 in Charles County and $18,540 in Worcester County.
Now a sale. Say the building’s fully phased-in assessment is $1,650,000, so the current bill is $19,998, and you sell it for $2,000,000. The sale does not change the assessment. At the next three-year reassessment, if SDAT sets value at $2,000,000, the $350,000 increase phases in at $116,667 a year: the buyer’s bill rises to $21,412, then $22,826, then $24,240.
By year three the buyer pays $4,242 a year more than you did, at today’s rate. At an illustrative 6% cap rate, that much less NOI is worth about $70,700 of price. Apartments get no homestead cap, so nothing limits that increase beyond the three-year phase-in.
| Scenario | Assessment | Yearly tax |
|---|---|---|
| Baltimore County, $1.212 | $2,000,000 | $24,240 |
| Baltimore City, $2.360 | $2,000,000 | $47,200 |
| Worcester County, $0.927 | $2,000,000 | $18,540 |
| Before reassessment (Baltimore County) | $1,650,000 | $19,998 |
| Phase-in year 1 | $1,766,667 | $21,412 |
| Phase-in year 2 | $1,883,333 | $22,826 |
| Phase-in year 3 | $2,000,000 | $24,240 |
Transfer and recordation taxes at a Maryland sale
Property tax is not the only tax on a Maryland deal. Counties also charge recordation and transfer taxes when the deed is recorded. For fiscal 2026, the Department of Legislative Services lists county transfer taxes from 0% in Calvert, Carroll, Frederick, Somerset and Wicomico to 1.5% in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel adds a 0.5% surcharge on transactions of $1 million or more.
Who pays these taxes is set in the sale contract, so read that section closely, because on a $2,000,000 sale a 1.5% county transfer tax alone is $30,000.
How property tax affects your sale price
Buyers value apartment buildings on net operating income, so they price in the next reassessment as well as this year’s bill. In Maryland that means asking where your building sits in the three-year cycle, how much of the last increase has yet to phase in and whether the sale price is far above the current assessment.
A building with an increase still phasing in will show a rising tax line for the next year or two. Pull your last notice of assessment from SDAT and your county bill before you go to market so you and the buyer start from the same numbers.
Selling an apartment building in Maryland
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units in Maryland, including Baltimore City and the higher-rate counties around it. We buy directly, close on your timeline, and can work inside 1031 deadlines. We underwrite from your actual assessment and phase-in schedule, not a county average.
For the tax on the sale itself, see Maryland capital gains tax on real estate. For local rent caps and the rules a buyer inherits, see Maryland landlord-tenant law for apartment owners.
