What is the property tax rate in Pennsylvania?
The property tax rate in Pennsylvania averages 1.26% of market value for owner-occupied homes (Tax Foundation 2026, using the 2024 American Community Survey). On the same measure, New Jersey is at 1.88%, Ohio 1.36% and New York 1.30%, while Maryland is at 0.92% and Delaware 0.54%.
Your actual bill is set by three local governments, not the state. The county, the municipality and the school district each levy their own rate in mills, and one mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. In Pittsburgh, for example, the school district’s rate is the largest of the three.
How Pennsylvania counties set assessed value
Assessment in Pennsylvania is a county job, except in Philadelphia, where the city’s Office of Property Assessment sets values. Philadelphia values property at what it would likely sell for in today’s market. Most other counties use a base year: every property is valued as of the year of the county’s last countywide reassessment, and that value stays on the books until the next one, which in some counties was decades ago.
Because base-year values drift away from the market, millage rates can look high or low for reasons that have nothing to do with the real tax burden. A county with old, low values needs a high millage rate to raise the same money. Comparing millage between counties without adjusting for this is misleading.
The common level ratio and what it tells you
The common level ratio (CLR) is the state’s measure of how assessed values in a county compare with current sale prices. The State Tax Equalization Board compiles it from sales data each year, and it is applied in assessment appeals and to realty transfer tax on some transfers. The published CLR factor is the multiplier that turns an assessment back into market value.
The 2026-27 factors, effective July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, show how far apart counties are. A factor of 2.00 means assessments are about half of market value; Bucks County’s 17.86 means assessments are under 6% of market value.
| County | CLR factor (2026-27) | Assessment as share of market (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 1.06 to Dec. 31, 2026; 1.00 after | About 94% to 100% |
| Delaware | 1.83 | About 55% |
| Erie | 1.99 | About 50% |
| Lancaster | 2.00 | About 50% |
| Allegheny | 2.03 | About 49% |
| Lehigh | 2.13 | About 47% |
| Dauphin | 2.61 | About 38% |
| Berks | 3.12 | About 32% |
| Chester | 3.27 | About 31% (county CLR 30.6%) |
| Montgomery | 3.36 | About 30% |
| Bucks | 17.86 (highest in the state) | About 6% |
Pennsylvania property tax rates in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
There is no state table ranking Pennsylvania counties by effective tax rate, so the clearest comparison is the two big cities, where the rates are published and the assessment level is known.
Philadelphia’s rate is 1.3998% of the assessed market value, the latest rate the city posts (tax year 2025): 0.6159% for the city and 0.7839% for the School District. Bills are due March 31.
Pittsburgh’s 2026 millage is 26.557 mills on assessed value: 6.43 mills for Allegheny County, 9.67 for the city and 10.457 for the Pittsburgh School District. With Allegheny’s CLR factor of 2.03, that works out to roughly 1.31% of current market value for a property assessed at the county’s average level.
| Jurisdiction | Rate | Applied to |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia (city plus School District) | 1.3998% (tax year 2025, latest posted) | OPA market value |
| Allegheny County | 6.43 mills (2026) | Base-year assessed value |
| City of Pittsburgh | 9.67 mills | Base-year assessed value |
| Pittsburgh School District | 10.457 mills | Base-year assessed value |
| Clairton (highest Allegheny municipal rate) | 40.0 mills | Base-year assessed value |
| Brentwood School District (highest Allegheny school rate) | 39.1977 mills | Base-year assessed value |
Does a sale trigger reassessment in Pennsylvania?
No, a sale does not automatically change your assessment, but in Pennsylvania it often leads to one. School districts and other taxing districts can file their own assessment appeals, and the price you pay is strong evidence of market value.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has set the limits. In Valley Forge Towers (2017) it held that a school district could not appeal only commercial properties, because targeting one type of property breaks the state constitution’s uniformity rule. In GM Berkshire Hills v. Berks County (2023), the court split evenly, leaving in place a ruling that a district may pick recently sold properties above a dollar threshold, as long as the threshold ignores property type and owner.
In practice, if you buy an apartment building in a base-year county for well above its implied assessed value, plan for a district appeal. The new assessment is usually the price multiplied by the county’s common level ratio.
Caps on property tax increases
Pennsylvania has no statewide cap on how fast an individual assessment can rise. Base-year systems limit growth in a different way: values stay put until a countywide reassessment or an appeal. When a county finally reassesses, individual bills can move sharply in either direction, because decades of market change land at once.
How to appeal property taxes in Pennsylvania
Most counties hold an annual appeal window to the county board of assessment appeals, and it commonly closes around the start of August for the following tax year. Berks County accepts annual appeals from June 15 to August 1 at 5:00 p.m., and Chester County from May 1 through the first business day in August. Check your own county’s dates each year.
Philadelphia runs its own calendar. For tax year 2027, owners could ask the Office of Property Assessment for a First Level Review by September 1, 2026, and file a formal appeal with the Board of Revision of Taxes by October 5, 2026.
- The board compares the market value you prove to your assessment using the common level ratio, so bring an appraisal or income data, not just complaints about the bill.
- For apartments, the income approach usually decides the case. Have rent rolls and operating statements ready.
- A taxing district can file a cross-appeal or its own appeal, which can raise the value instead of lowering it.
Exemptions and abatements for apartment buildings
Pennsylvania’s homestead exclusions are for owner-occupied homes, so they rarely help an apartment owner. Abatements matter more, especially in Philadelphia.
- Philadelphia’s 10-year abatement for new residential construction (Ordinance 1456-A). Apply within 60 days of the building permit; it starts the month after the title date.
- Philadelphia’s 10-year abatement for improvements to existing residential property with one or more units (Ordinance 961). Apply by December 31 of the year the permit is issued.
- The state Act 175 abatement in Philadelphia: 30 months for improving unoccupied residential property or converting a building to residential use.
- A building that already has a 10-year residential abatement cannot also get the Philadelphia Homestead Exemption.
Worked example: property tax on a $2M Pennsylvania apartment building
In Philadelphia, a building the Office of Property Assessment values at $2,000,000 pays 1.3998%, or $27,996 a year. If OPA had it at $1,600,000 and the value is raised to the $2,000,000 sale price, the bill rises by $5,599.
In Pittsburgh, take a 24-unit building assessed at $700,000 that sells for $2,000,000. At 26.557 mills its current tax is $18,590. If the school district appeals after the sale, the new assessment is the price times the CLR (1 divided by 2.03), or about $985,222, and the tax becomes about $26,165. That is $7,575 more each year.
A buyer feels that as lower net operating income. At a 6.5% cap rate, $7,575 of lost NOI is worth about $116,533 of value, so a buyer who expects a district appeal will price it in.
| Item | Pittsburgh building |
|---|---|
| Sale price | $2,000,000 |
| Assessment before sale | $700,000 |
| Tax before sale (26.557 mills) | $18,590 |
| Assessment after appeal (price x CLR) | $985,222 |
| Tax after appeal | $26,165 |
| Yearly increase | $7,575 |
| Value effect at a 6.5% cap rate | $116,533 |
What to check on your tax records before you sell
Pull the county record for your parcel before you list. Buyers will, and surprises cost more late in a deal.
- The assessed value, the county’s base year and the current CLR factor. Multiply the assessment by the factor to see the market value the county implies.
- Whether your school district has a policy of appealing recent sales, and its dollar threshold. Ask the district office or check its published board policies.
- Any appeal of your own still pending, and the hearing date. A pending reduction can help your price.
- Abatement start and end dates in Philadelphia. A buyer will price the bill after the abatement runs out, not the bill today.
- Paid receipts for the last three years of county, municipal and school taxes, which a buyer’s lender will ask for.
How property tax affects your sale price
A buyer underwrites the tax bill the building will have after closing, not the one you pay today. In a base-year county with an old assessment, expect a buyer to model a higher number, especially if the local school district has an appeal policy for recent sales. A sale in Philadelphia, where OPA already values at market, carries less of this risk. Realty transfer tax is the other local cost both sides weigh: 1% to the state plus the local share, and 4.578% in total in Philadelphia.
Selling an apartment building in Pennsylvania
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units in Pennsylvania. We buy directly, close on your timeline, and can work inside 1031 deadlines. We look at the assessment, any pending appeal and the transfer tax split up front, so the price you agree to holds.
For the tax on your gain, see Pennsylvania capital gains tax on real estate, and for deferring it, our page on the 1031 exchange in Pennsylvania.
