Think You Are Paying a Lot for Property Taxes in Texas?

Every time we turn around things are costing Texans a lot more. We know that Texans are paying a lot for insurance. We have car insurance that keeps going up. We have home insurance too.

We dread seeing our new bill. How much is it going up? Of course, we know that it just continues to rise. Insurance is not the only way they get us in Texas. They get us with taxes too.

It's no surprise that the only things we can guarantee in life is death and taxes. There is a reason that is so true. Especially in Texas. Yes, we are lucky in the fact that we do not have a state income tax. That makes things easier at tax time.

That does not mean that we get off scot-free. No, Texas finds a way to get us anyway. How do they do that? Oh, by our property taxes. Our lovely property taxes. Texas pays a good amount. We are not paying the most.

That great honor goes to New Jersey, which according to WalletHub they have the worst property tax rate in the nation for the second year in a row. New Jersey homeowners are paying over $9,300 annually for their homes, That is based on the median home value of $401,400 and an effective tax rate of 2.33 percent. Ouch.

We don't get to brag that we live in Hawaii though. I mean just the fact of living in Hawaii would be enough. No, they also pay the least in property taxes. Hawaii homeowners have an effective tax rate of 0.27 percent, which on a high median home value of $764,800, amounts to only $2,054 in property taxes. That seems pretty nice.

Oh, but Texas we still pay a pretty penny when it comes to property taxes. Do you cringe when you see that tax bill come in? Or when that money comes out every month for escrow? You are not alone.

We pay a good chunk. Based on an average home value of $238,000. We then can factor in  Texas' effective real estate tax rate of 1.63 percent which then means the average Texan is paying $3,872 in property taxes. Another ouch for those of us paying a hefty tax bill.

We are seventh when it comes to paying the highest property taxes. So just be thankful that we don't pay state income tax. We also need to be thankful that we don't live in those other six states that pay more in property tax. Let's be happy where we are.