County Real Property Tax
What does this measure?
The primary source of information for the data included in the County Table is the Tax Data Verification Form filed by counties with the New York State Comptroller. The county full value tax rate that is presented in the table has been adjusted to reflect the various payments and credits made between counties and their component local governments. It reflects the most accurate depiction of the overall property tax burden at the county level and is comparable from one county to the next.
Countywide Levy – The county general tax levy net sales tax credits* and payments to reduce taxes. Figures do not include levies for special districts of the county or levies for part-county purposes.
County District Levies – This column includes ad valorem taxes and assessments for part-county purposes as well as taxes for special districts governed by the county that are dependent for tax-cap purposes. These taxes include:
• Part-county sewer taxes and assessments.
• Part-county water taxes and assessments.
• Part-county police taxes.
• Other part-county taxes and assessments.
• District superintendent of schools.
• Levies for other types of county districts
Adjustments to County Levy – This column represents the net result of all additions and subtractions to the total levy. Adjustments that either increase or decrease the county levy are described below.
Adjustments that Add to the County Levy – In general, these adjustments reflect taxes being levied by the county but may be included on another municipality’s tax roll. For example, a county provides a county service within a town, and rather than billing the town for the service, the county “charges back” the cost of that service to the town’s tax levy (chargeback). Typical items that are added to the county levy include:
• Amounts levied for a county self-insurance plan.
• Chargebacks for erroneous assessments.
• Chargebacks for assessment roll printing.
• Chargebacks for election expenses.
• Chargebacks for community college.
• Chargebacks for social services.
• Other, including omitted taxes.
Adjustments that Subtract from the County Levy – These include any payments that were made to reduce the county taxes or other adjustments that reduced the county tax levy. These items will be subtracted from the total county tax levies.
Total County Tax Levy – The Total County Levy is the levy figure from which the county full value tax rate is calculated. It is the total of countywide and county district levies plus adjustments that add and subtract from the levy, as described above.
County Taxable Full Value – A measure of property value and the base upon which county taxes are levied. Specifically, the full valuation of the taxable real property on each of the assessment rolls is computed by dividing the total taxable assessed value (for county purposes) of the real property on the roll by the final State equalization rate established for that assessment roll.
Full Value Tax Rate – The total county tax levy per $1,000 taxable full valuation. This measure shows the overall property tax burden at the county level. Because it is based on full valuation, the measure is generally comparable across counties.
*Sales Tax Credit – Counties collect sales tax and may share the sales tax revenues with towns, based on a sharing arrangement. In many instances, rather than receiving the sales tax revenue from the county, a town may elect to have the county apply the town’s share of the sales tax to reduce the county tax levy burden on town residents. Therefore, the impact of the sales tax credit is reflected in the total county tax levies column.
Summary Statement:
In 2025, Westchester County has the highest Total County Levy at $755,571,000, while Putnam County had the lowest at $46,212,300. In terms of tax burden, Sullivan County had the highest Full Value Tax Rate at $4.93 per $1,000 Full Value, whereas Orange County had the lowest at $2.17. The change between 2015 and 2023 varies considerably, with Sullivan County experiencing the highest change at 2.96 and Putnam County the lowest at 0.78.
Source
Office of NYS Comptroller: https://www.osc.ny.gov/local-government/data/real-property-tax-levies-taxable-full-value-and-full-value-tax-rates