placestats

Median property tax bill and Mean income of arriving households

Across 3,070 counties, Median property tax bill and Mean income of arriving households have a link of +0.56, on a scale from −1 (opposite) to +1 (in step). But compare places with the same population density, income and education, and what is left could easily be chance. Most of the first figure came from both measures following how urban, rich and educated a place is, not from a link with each other.

Mostly gone 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 property tax bill

The yearly property tax bill, in dollars, of the middle home-owning household that pays one. Households with no bill are left out, so this is what payers pay, not the average across all owners.

Census ACS 5-year · ACS table B25103_001

Mean income of arriving households

The average income on the tax returns of people who moved in.

IRS county migration flows · IRS SOI migration, county aggregates

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 property tax bill

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Highest — 16 are at $10,000 or more; five shown.
Bergen County, NJ$10,000 or more$115,310
Essex County, NJ$10,000 or more$96,557
Hunterdon County, NJ$10,000 or more$109,350
Monmouth County, NJ$10,000 or more$132,510
Morris County, NJ$10,000 or more$134,690
Lowest — 7 are at $200 or less; five shown.
Northwest Arctic Borough, AK$200 or less$59,667
Kusilvak Census Area, AK$200 or less$34,104
Copper River Census Area, AK$200 or less$60,680
Choctaw County, AL$200 or less$44,437
Oglala Lakota County, SD$200 or less$40,496

By mean income of arriving households

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Highest
Collier County, FL3,219$283,470
Summit County, UT3,469$267,830
Marin County, CA$10,000 or more$234,840
Greene County, GA2,343$215,010
Wasatch County, UT3,230$188,850
Lowest
Taliaferro County, GA917$25,212
Madison Parish, LA208$26,014
Sharkey County, MS1,008$26,580
Quitman County, MS792$27,679
Tunica County, MS679$27,813
States

By median property tax bill

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Highest
New Jersey9,541$102,350
Connecticut6,575$110,950
New Hampshire6,505$108,990
New York6,450$94,532
Massachusetts5,813$90,442
Lowest
Alabama738$66,670
West Virginia835$58,478
Arkansas1,003$62,968
Louisiana1,146$58,224
Mississippi1,189$56,877

By mean income of arriving households

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Highest
Florida2,555$121,230
Connecticut6,575$110,950
New Hampshire6,505$108,990
New Jersey9,541$102,350
California4,926$95,714
Lowest
North Dakota2,392$54,547
Mississippi1,189$56,877
Louisiana1,146$58,224
West Virginia835$58,478
Oklahoma1,520$58,984
Metro areas — Median property tax bill is not published for metro areas

By mean income of arriving households

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Highest
Naples-Marco Island, FL—$283,470
Heber, UT—$246,880
Key West-Key Largo, FL—$170,380
Jackson, WY-ID—$169,430
Vineyard Haven, MA—$167,880
Lowest
Greenville, MS—$31,187
Deming, NM—$33,527
Forrest City, AR—$33,747
Kennett, MO—$34,168
Greenwood, MS—$34,844
Cities and towns — Mean income of arriving households is not published for cities and towns

By median property tax bill

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Highest — 491 are at $10,000 or more; five shown.
Key Biscayne village, FL$10,000 or more—
Palm Beach town, FL$10,000 or more—
Parkland city, FL$10,000 or more—
Pinecrest village, FL$10,000 or more—
Barrington village, IL$10,000 or more—
Lowest — 11 are at $200 or less; five shown.
Vega Alta zona urbana, PR$200 or less—
Las Piedras zona urbana, PR$200 or less—
Juncos zona urbana, PR$200 or less—
Ville Platte city, LA$200 or less—
Tallulah city, LA$200 or less—
ZIP codes — Mean income of arriving households is not published for ZIP codes

By median property tax bill

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Highest — 712 are at $10,000 or more; five shown.
ZIP 10003 (New York city, NY)$10,000 or more—
ZIP 10005 (New York city, NY)$10,000 or more—
ZIP 10007 (New York city, NY)$10,000 or more—
ZIP 10010 (New York city, NY)$10,000 or more—
ZIP 10011 (New York city, NY)$10,000 or more—
Lowest — 28 are at $200 or less; five shown.
ZIP 00783 (Corozal Municipio, PR)$200 or less—
ZIP 00782 (Comerío Municipio, PR)$200 or less—
ZIP 00777 (Juncos Municipio, PR)$200 or less—
ZIP 00765 (Vieques Municipio, PR)$200 or less—
ZIP 00723 (Patillas Municipio, PR)$200 or less—

Counties furthest from the pattern

Compared with the straight line that best fits all 3,080 counties: the five with far more mean income of arriving households than their median property tax bill would suggest, and the five with far less.

Median property tax billMean income of arriving households
Above the line
Collier County, FL3,219$283,470
Summit County, UT3,469$267,830
Greene County, GA2,343$215,010
Walton County, FL1,709$178,390
Wasatch County, UT3,230$188,850
Below the line
Passaic County, NJ$10,000 or more$69,274
Bronx County, NY5,310$43,399
Orange County, NY8,463$73,111
Gloucester County, NJ7,964$69,453
Salem County, NJ6,757$60,953

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+0.5623,070 counties reporting both
After adjusting for density, income and education+0.085the part of the link that is not just how urban, rich and educated a place is
Also adjusting for population size+0.074size taken out as well as density
Also comparing only within each state+0.110each county is compared only with others in its own state, so this is no longer a comparison between states
Giving bigger counties more weight+0.199the adjusted link for the average resident rather than the average county. With this weighting, the data counts for about 287 equally weighted counties
Middle value inside single states+0.591the link worked out inside each of 40 states with at least 20 counties reporting
Using ranks, after adjusting+0.066uses 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 = 2.2e-6. But counties in the same state tend to resemble each other, so the better figure allows for that: p = 0.077. 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 4.1e-6.

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 +0.29 (p = 0.001). That unexplained part still clusters on the map. So some regional factor shared by both measures is not accounted for.

Did they change together?

The figures above compare counties at one moment. This asks a different question: where median property tax bill rose most, did mean income of arriving householdsmove too? Each county’s change is compared with the average change in its own state. That takes out ups and downs that hit a whole region at once. Each change is the gap between two estimates that both contain some error. That error pulls these links towards zero, so a weak one is weak partly for that reason. The q column shows whether a link could be a fluke, allowing for the many pairs tested: 0.05 or less means it is unlikely to be chance.

PeriodCountiesChange togetherWithin statesq
2014–2019 the main test: each Census survey figure averages five years, and these two do not overlap; before the pandemic————
2019–2023 a repeat check: its two five-year survey figures both include 2019, and it covers the COVID years3,047-0.05-0.030.273

Not measurable over the main period, so only the second period is shown. How change is measured.

Related pairs

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 property tax bill and Mean income of arriving households