Property Tax in Walton County, Florida

What the Walton County numbers mean

A median is the middle household: half of owner-occupied households in Walton County pay more than $1,709, and half pay less. Your own bill is set by your home's assessed value, the exemptions you qualify for, and the local taxing districts your property sits in — so individual bills vary widely around the median.

Dividing the median tax by the median home value gives a derived effective rate of 0.45% for Walton County. It is an estimate built from two survey medians, not the county's official rate, but it is a fair way to compare the local tax burden with other counties where home values are very different.

Walton County by the numbers

*Estimate derived from Census medians (tax ÷ value), not an official rate.

Walton County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Florida: #34 of 67 counties
• Median home value rank in Florida: #8 of 67
• Population rank in Florida: #39 of 67 (79,846 residents)
• Population density rank: #43 of 67 (77 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Florida: #12 of 67 (1,038 sq mi, 1.9% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $142; per $1,000 of home value: $0.45

How Walton County compares

Of the 67 Florida counties with published data, 33 have a higher median property tax bill than Walton County's $1,709, putting the county at #34 in the state. Its bill is about 33% lower than the state median of $2,555 and about 42% lower than the national median of $2,969.

Rates and values pull in opposite directions: an expensive housing market can produce big bills at ordinary rates. Here the derived rate is 0.45%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #8 within Florida.

Some extra context for Walton County: the median bill works out to about $142 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $454 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 79,846 people — the #39 most populous county in Florida, spread over 1,038 square miles, a density of about 77 people per square mile. Its median home value, $376,400, ranks #8 among the state's 67 counties with data.

Nationally, Walton County's median bill of $1,709 ranks #1377 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 44% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 0.4% of Florida's population, its median home value is about 16% above the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 4.54% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Walton County to the most expensive county, Monroe County ($3,943), is $2,234 a year.

Counties nearest Walton County in the Florida ranking

Walton County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Walton County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Walton County ($1,709) ranks #5 of 9 by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Natrona County, Wyoming (79,735 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,608 on a median home value of $260,400 — $101 more than Walton County pays.

Staying within Florida, the counties nearest Walton County by population are Nassau County (94,653 residents, median tax $2,558 on a median value of $351,100); Monroe County (81,840 residents, median tax $3,943 on a median value of $723,800); Putnam County (74,235 residents, median tax $1,196 on a median value of $147,300); Columbia County (70,755 residents, median tax $1,385 on a median value of $186,400). The spread in their median bills — all under the same state framework — shows how much of the property tax burden is decided county by county and district by district.

How the tax is worked out

As an illustration of the arithmetic: at Walton County's derived rate of 0.45%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $1,816 a year. That is only an illustration using the derived rate — a real bill is computed from the property's assessed value, its exemptions, and the combined rates of its specific taxing districts, so it can be higher or lower.

The usual sequence is: the local assessor values the property; exemptions are applied; the taxable value is multiplied by the combined local rates; and the county bills and collects the tax, distributing it to the schools, municipalities and districts that levied it.

Illustrative bills in Walton County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.45% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Walton County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.79% and the US figure of 0.98%:

Illustration only: real bills are computed from the assessed value, exemptions, and the combined rates of the property's actual taxing districts.

Checking your assessment in Walton County

If your bill looks wrong, work through these steps:

1. Get your property record card from the assessor and check the basics — living area, lot size, bedrooms, condition, and any exemptions you should have.
2. Compare your assessed value with recent sale prices of similar homes in Walton County.
3. Talk to the assessor's office informally first; clear errors are often fixed without a hearing.
4. If needed, file a formal appeal with the local review board before the deadline on your assessment notice, with your evidence attached.
5. Keep paying the bill as issued while the appeal runs, unless your notice says otherwise — unpaid taxes accrue penalties regardless of an appeal.

More Florida counties

• Monroe County, FL — $3,943
• Putnam County, FL — $1,196
• Columbia County, FL — $1,385
• Nassau County, FL — $2,558
• Highlands County, FL — $1,295
• Jackson County, FL — $625

Frequently asked questions