Median home value and Local income tax collected
Where Median home value is higher, Local income tax collected tends to be higher. The link is strong: +0.70 across 554 counties, on a scale from −1 (opposite) to +1 (in step). That figure compares places with the same population density, income and education, so those differences can't explain it.
Holds after adjusting
Every place, plotted
One dot for each place reporting both measures. Hover over or tap a dot to see its name and values. The thin line is the straight line that best fits the dots. The bold line, shown for counties, is the link after adjusting for density, income and education. A dot far from the lines is a place that does not follow the pattern.
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What each measure is
Median home value
What the owner of the middle owner-lived-in home says it would sell for. It is the owner's own guess, not an actual sale price.
Census ACS 5-year · ACS table B25077_001
Local income tax collected
Income tax collected from people by every local government in the place (county, cities, townships, school districts), in thousands of dollars. For counties, it covers census years only (1967, 1972 ... 2022), when every government is counted.
Census local government finances · Census local government finances, item T40, every local government
Highest and lowest
Where each measure is highest and lowest among the places reporting both (2023), with the other measure beside it. This is shown for every size of place where both are published. Metro-area values are added up from their counties. A measure that cannot be added up across counties, such as a middle value (median), has no metro figure. Counts are shown per 1,000 residents, since raw totals would only list the largest places. Cities and towns and ZIP codes are shown where the Census survey or the CDC publishes them; most other sources stop at the county. They are shown for places of 5,000 residents or more, and only where the survey’s margin of error is small enough for the figure to be usable. The CDC publishes its health estimates for cities in a version adjusted for age, so places with older or younger people can be compared fairly, but not for ZIP codes.
Counties
By median home value
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| New York County, NY | $1,108,900 | 4776.17 |
| Kings County, NY | $889,700 | 1509.57 |
| District of Columbia, DC | $724,600 | 4637.85 |
| Queens County, NY | $699,200 | 1354.27 |
| Richmond County, NY | $658,500 | 1451.86 |
| Lowest | ||
| Breathitt County, KY | $61,800 | 187.16 |
| Jewell County, KS | $62,100 | 7.91 |
| Wolfe County, KY | $66,400 | 95.31 |
| Letcher County, KY | $70,500 | 7.05 |
| Leslie County, KY | $74,100 | 55.94 |
By local income tax collected
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| New York County, NY | $1,108,900 | 4776.17 |
| District of Columbia, DC | $724,600 | 4637.85 |
| Montgomery County, MD | $615,200 | 1844.67 |
| Howard County, MD | $576,700 | 1808.51 |
| Kings County, NY | $889,700 | 1509.57 |
| Lowest | ||
| Sedgwick County, KS | $190,700 | 0.01 |
| Jasper County, MO | $158,500 | 0.01 |
| Franklin County, MO | $214,900 | 0.01 |
| Cole County, MO | $214,400 | 0.03 |
| Dickinson County, KS | $148,500 | 0.05 |
States
By median home value
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| District of Columbia | $724,600 | 4535.48 |
| Oregon | $454,200 | 92.03 |
| New York | $403,000 | 825.62 |
| Maryland | $397,700 | 1283.83 |
| Pennsylvania | $240,500 | 501.20 |
| Lowest | ||
| Kentucky | $192,300 | 430.37 |
| Alabama | $195,100 | 29.94 |
| Iowa | $195,900 | 38.00 |
| Ohio | $199,200 | 614.69 |
| Indiana | $201,600 | 175.27 |
By local income tax collected
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| District of Columbia | $724,600 | 4535.48 |
| Maryland | $397,700 | 1283.83 |
| New York | $403,000 | 825.62 |
| Ohio | $199,200 | 614.69 |
| Pennsylvania | $240,500 | 501.20 |
| Lowest | ||
| Kansas | $203,400 | 0.34 |
| Alabama | $195,100 | 29.94 |
| Iowa | $195,900 | 38.00 |
| Michigan | $217,600 | 82.98 |
| Missouri | $215,600 | 87.94 |
Metro areas — Median home value is not published for metro areas
By local income tax collected
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | — | 1209.50 |
| Lexington Park, MD | — | 1137.95 |
| Easton, MD | — | 1071.60 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | — | 1013.61 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | — | 879.93 |
| Lowest | ||
| Joplin, MO-KS | — | 0.00 |
| Sikeston, MO | — | 0.04 |
| Wichita, KS | — | 0.06 |
| Ottawa, KS | — | 0.08 |
| McPherson, KS | — | 0.10 |
Cities and towns — Local income tax collected is not published for cities and towns
By median home value
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Paradise Valley town, AZ | $2,000,001 | — |
| Alamo CDP, CA | $2,000,001 | — |
| Atherton town, CA | $2,000,001 | — |
| Belmont city, CA | $2,000,001 | — |
| Beverly Hills city, CA | $2,000,001 | — |
| Lowest | ||
| Kayenta CDP, AZ | $37,900 | — |
| Zephyrhills South CDP, FL | $41,900 | — |
| Johnstown city, PA | $42,100 | — |
| Flint city, MI | $47,600 | — |
| Raymondville city, TX | $48,200 | — |
ZIP codes — Local income tax collected is not published for ZIP codes
By median home value
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| ZIP 10007 (New York city, NY) | $2,000,001 | — |
| ZIP 10013 (New York city, NY) | $2,000,001 | — |
| ZIP 10069 (New York city, NY) | $2,000,001 | — |
| ZIP 10282 (New York city, NY) | $2,000,001 | — |
| ZIP 85253 (Paradise Valley town, AZ) | $2,000,001 | — |
| Lowest | ||
| ZIP 48505 (Flint city, MI) | $28,300 | — |
| ZIP 10475 (New York city, NY) | $31,900 | — |
| ZIP 86505 (Apache County, AZ) | $35,700 | — |
| ZIP 44502 (Youngstown city, OH) | $37,500 | — |
| ZIP 86033 (Navajo County, AZ) | $38,300 | — |
Counties furthest from the pattern
Compared with the straight line that best fits all 554 counties: the five with far more local income tax collected than their median home value would suggest, and the five with far less.
| Median home value | Local income tax collected, per 1,000 residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Above the line | ||
| District of Columbia, DC | $724,600 | 4637.85 |
| New York County, NY | $1,108,900 | 4776.17 |
| Philadelphia County, PA | $232,400 | 1252.12 |
| Cuyahoga County, OH | $183,200 | 987.10 |
| Van Wert County, OH | $137,300 | 749.31 |
| Below the line | ||
| Westchester County, NY | $638,400 | 73.36 |
| Multnomah County, OR | $528,000 | 416.79 |
| Kings County, NY | $889,700 | 1509.57 |
| Dallas County, IA | $333,400 | 7.52 |
| Oakland County, MI | $320,400 | 12.44 |
Two series, one county
Both measures over time for a county you pick. The two charts are stacked, so they share only the years along the bottom. You can pick from the thirty largest counties reporting both. This panel covers 2010–2024, and a measure published only once shows as a single dot.
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Every version of the link
Each row measures the same link, from −1 to +1, in a different way. If the rows mostly agree, the link does not depend on one choice of method.
| Before adjusting for anything | +0.691 | 554 counties reporting both |
| After adjusting for density, income and education | +0.703 | the part of the link that is not just how urban, rich and educated a place is |
| Also adjusting for population size | +0.669 | size taken out as well as density |
| Also comparing only within each state | +0.514 | each county is compared only with others in its own state, so this is no longer a comparison between states |
| Giving bigger counties more weight | +0.767 | the adjusted link for the average resident rather than the average county. With this weighting, the data counts for about 93 equally weighted counties |
| Middle value inside single states | +0.246 | the link worked out inside each of 8 states with at least 20 counties reporting |
| Using ranks, after adjusting | +0.051 | uses each county’s rank, not its value, so a few extreme counties cannot create the link |
How much to believe it
Could it be chance?
The p-value is the chance of seeing a link this strong if there were really none. A value of 0.05 or less means the link is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 3.1e-16 means 0.00000000000000031, and the bigger the number after “e-”, the smaller the value. Treating every county as a separate case gives p = 2.5e-83. But counties in the same state tend to resemble each other, so the better figure allows for that: p = 0.003. The site tested 20,910 pairs, and testing so many turns up some flukes. The q-value allows for that too. For this pair it is 1.8e-82.
Do nearby places look alike?
Moran’s I measures how much nearby places look alike: 0 means no map pattern, and higher means neighbours are more similar. For the part of each county that the adjustment leaves unexplained, it is +0.06 (p = 0.007). Once the adjustment is made, little map pattern is left.
Did they change together?
Not measurable: at least one of these is published for too few of the years a change needs (2014–2019 or 2019–2023), or for too few counties in both.
Related pairs
- Median gross rent and Median home value — +0.59
- Median household income and Median home value — +0.50
- Local income tax collected and Other religion adherents — +0.48
- Share foreign-born and Local income tax collected — +0.46
- Median home value and Mean income of arriving households — +0.46
- Local income tax collected and Mean income of departing households — +0.44
- Mean adjusted gross income per return and Local income tax collected — +0.44
- Median home value and Returns claiming charitable contributions — +0.42
Association only. Nothing here shows that either measure changes the other. This describes counties, not the people in them. Two measures going together across places does not mean the same people have both. How the US county data works · Explore Median home value and Local income tax collected