States Without Property Tax (and the Lowest-Tax States) in 2026

By Skyline Capital Investments · Updated October 26, 2026 · 7 min read

Are there any states without property tax?

No. Every state in the U.S., plus the District of Columbia, has property tax on real estate. A list of states without property tax does not exist, even though thousands of people search for one every month.

The confusion comes from two real things. First, in many states the state government itself levies no property tax and leaves it entirely to local governments. Texas is the clearest example: the Texas Comptroller describes the state as having no state property tax, yet Texas homeowners pay one of the higher effective rates in the country because counties, cities, school districts and special districts all levy their own. Second, a few states have rates so low that the bill feels close to zero next to states like New Jersey.

So the useful question is which states have the lowest property tax, and what you give up to live or invest there. The rest of this page answers that with the Tax Foundation’s 2026 figures.

What “no property tax” usually means

When someone says a state has no property tax, they almost always mean one of three things, and only the first is literally true.

• No state-level levy. The state collects no property tax itself; local governments still do. Texas works this way. Other states, such as Washington, do have a state levy. Washington’s state school levy raised about $4.79 billion of the $18.45 billion in property taxes due in 2025, roughly a quarter of the total.
• A very low effective rate. Hawaii’s effective rate of 0.29% means a typical owner pays well under a third of 1% of home value a year.
• An exemption for a particular owner or property, such as a homestead exemption, a senior or veteran program, or an exemption for nonprofit or affordable housing. These cut or remove the bill for some owners, but the tax still exists.

How the effective property tax rate is measured

The effective rate is the property tax paid as a share of the home’s value. The Tax Foundation’s 2026 figures divide median property taxes paid by median value for owner-occupied housing, using the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. That makes states with very different systems comparable on one scale.

It has limits. It reflects owner-occupied homes, so it already includes homestead exemptions and assessment caps that rental and commercial buildings often don’t get. It is a statewide figure, and county rates can be several times higher or lower. And it says nothing about what a property bought today will pay, which in states with assessment caps can be far more than a neighbor who has owned for decades.

States with the lowest property tax in 2026

Hawaii has the lowest effective property tax rate in the U.S. at 0.29%, followed by Alabama at 0.37% and Arizona and Utah at 0.48% each, according to the Tax Foundation’s 2026 figures. South Carolina (0.49%) and Colorado, Idaho and Nevada (0.50% each) round out the bottom of the table.

Low rates come from different sources. Hawaii pairs high home values with low rates, so the bill is modest relative to value even when the dollar amount is not small. Utah taxes primary residences, including long-term rental units, on 55% of market value. Arizona assesses both owner-occupied homes and rental apartments at 10% of value in 2026, then applies its levy rates to that smaller figure. Each low-rate state gets there its own way, so read the state’s rules before assuming a low rate carries over to your property type.

States with the highest property tax

New Jersey and Illinois have the highest effective property tax rates, both 1.88% when rounded, with the Tax Foundation listing New Jersey first and Connecticut (1.54%) third. Vermont (1.51%), New Hampshire (1.50%), Nebraska (1.44%) and Texas (1.40%) follow.

Several of the high-rate states lean on property tax because they collect little from other taxes. New Hampshire and Texas both have no individual income tax, so local schools and governments in both rely heavily on property. The rate is the price of what the state does not tax.

Property tax by state: all 50 states and DC ranked

The table ranks every state and the District of Columbia from the lowest to the highest effective property tax rate. Rates for 47 states come from the Tax Foundation’s 2026 table, which our state guides also use. Alaska, Hawaii and Rhode Island come from the Tax Foundation’s 2026 state pages, and the District of Columbia from the county table in its 2026 property tax report, since DC is a single county. Ties share a rank. The income tax column shows whether the state taxes individual income in 2026.

States with no income tax and their property taxes

Eight states have no individual income tax in 2026: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming, according to the Tax Foundation. New Hampshire joined the list fully when it repealed its interest and dividends tax as of 2025. Washington taxes only capital gains, at 7% and 9% on high earners’ gains, and no wages.

Their property taxes vary widely. Nevada (0.50%), Tennessee (0.52%) and Wyoming (0.53%) combine no income tax with low property tax. Florida sits near the middle at 0.78%. Alaska (0.94%) and South Dakota (1.00%) are above the national middle, and Texas (1.40%) and New Hampshire (1.50%) are among the highest in the country.

The trade-offs: income tax, property tax and everything else

A state that skips one tax usually makes it up with another. Texas and New Hampshire are the clearest cases of no income tax paired with high property tax. Hawaii is the reverse: the lowest property tax rate in the country, but an individual income tax. Nevada and Tennessee have neither an income tax nor a high property tax, so check what other taxes and fees make up the difference before you assume the total is low.

Which mix costs you less depends on what you own and what you earn. A retiree with a paid-off house and modest income can pay more in Texas than in a state with an income tax. A high earner who rents may come out far ahead in Texas. A real estate investor with large capital gains cares a great deal about income tax on the sale, and about property tax every year in between.

Worked example: a $400,000 home in seven states

These figures apply each state’s effective rate to one home value. They show scale, not an actual bill, which depends on the county, the assessment and any exemptions.

On a $400,000 home, the Tax Foundation rates imply a yearly property tax of about $1,160 in Hawaii, $1,920 in Utah, $2,000 in Nevada, $3,120 in Florida, $5,600 in Texas, $6,000 in New Hampshire and $7,520 in New Jersey.

Now add income tax for a married couple earning $150,000. In Texas, Florida, Nevada and New Hampshire they owe no state income tax, so the totals stay at $5,600, $3,120, $2,000 and $6,000. In Utah, 4.45% of $150,000 is $6,675 before the state’s taxpayer tax credit, so the Utah total is about $8,595 before that credit. Under these assumptions, Nevada’s total is the lowest of the five states in the table and Utah’s the highest, even though Utah’s property tax is the lowest of the five.

Why apartment owners often pay more than the effective rate

An apartment building rarely gets the effective rate in the table, because that rate is measured on owner-occupied homes. Homestead exemptions, such as the Texas school homestead exemption, apply only to an owner’s primary residence, so a rental building pays on its full value. Florida’s Save Our Homes cap is for homesteads, while non-homestead property, apartments included, has a separate 10% cap that excludes school levies and resets after a sale.

A few states go the other way. Utah treats long-term rental units as primary residences, so an apartment building full of full-time tenants is taxed on 55% of value, the same as a house. Before you compare states for an investment, look at how each one assesses rental property, whether a sale resets the value and what the county rate is. Our state guides, such as property tax rate in Texas, property tax rate in Florida and property tax rate in Utah, cover those rules state by state, and the property tax calculator estimates a bill from a value and a rate.

How property tax affects what a building sells for

Property tax comes straight off net operating income, so a buyer values every dollar of tax at the market cap rate. At a 6% cap rate, $10,000 a year of property tax takes about $166,667 off value. That is why the same rent roll is worth more in a low-tax county than in a high-tax one, and why a buyer will study your tax bills and any reassessment that a sale triggers.

Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units across the country, in low-tax and high-tax states alike. We buy directly, close on your timeline, and can work inside 1031 deadlines. If you plan to exchange from a high-tax state into a lower-tax one, we can set a closing date that leaves time to line up the replacement.