Property Tax in Vanderburgh County, Indiana

What the Vanderburgh County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $1,420 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Vanderburgh County, and $172,300 is the middle home value. Neither figure describes a specific property — together they describe the typical homeowner's situation in the county.

The derived effective rate for Vanderburgh County is 0.82% (median tax ÷ median value). Treat it as an estimate for comparison only: it comes from survey medians of different households, not from the county's rate schedule.

The key figures for Vanderburgh County

For context, the Indiana medians are $1,496 of tax on $201,600 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Vanderburgh County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Indiana: #21 of 92 counties
• Median home value rank in Indiana: #46 of 92
• Population rank in Indiana: #8 of 92 (179,908 residents)
• Population density rank: #4 of 92 (771 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Indiana: #85 of 92 (233 sq mi, 0.7% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $118; per $1,000 of home value: $0.82

How Vanderburgh County compares

Of the 92 Indiana counties with published data, 20 have a higher median property tax bill than Vanderburgh County's $1,420, putting the county at #21 in the state. Its bill is about 5% lower than the state median of $1,496 and about 52% 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 0.82%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #46 within Indiana.

Some extra context for Vanderburgh County: the median bill works out to about $118 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $824 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 179,908 people — the #8 most populous county in Indiana, spread over 233 square miles, a density of about 771 people per square mile. Its median home value, $172,300, ranks #46 among the state's 92 counties with data.

Nationally, Vanderburgh County's median bill of $1,420 ranks #1761 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 56% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 2.6% of Indiana's population, its median home value is about 15% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 8.24% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Vanderburgh County to the most expensive county, Hamilton County ($3,340), is $1,920 a year.

Counties nearest Vanderburgh County in the Indiana ranking

Vanderburgh County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Vanderburgh County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 179,908 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Vanderburgh County's median bill of $1,420 is the lowest.

The closest population match is Peoria County, Illinois (179,831 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $3,416 on a median home value of $152,600 — $1,996 less than Vanderburgh County pays.

Inside Indiana itself, the counties closest to Vanderburgh County in population are Elkhart County (206,868 residents, median tax $1,592 on a median value of $194,400); Tippecanoe County (187,399 residents, median tax $1,355 on a median value of $217,600); Hendricks County (179,379 residents, median tax $2,344 on a median value of $281,500); Porter County (174,150 residents, median tax $2,172 on a median value of $261,900). Same state, same broad tax framework — yet the median bills still differ, because assessed values and the mix of county, municipal and school-district rates are set locally.

How the tax is worked out

The bill is built in stages. First the assessor puts a market value on the property. Exemptions — a homestead exemption above all — then reduce the taxable amount. Finally the combined local rate is applied. To see the scale: at the county's derived rate of 0.82%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $824 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $3,296. Real bills use the official assessment and district rates, not this derived figure, so treat the example as a sense of scale only.

Illustrative bills in Vanderburgh County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.82% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Vanderburgh County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.74% 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 Vanderburgh 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 Vanderburgh 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 Indiana counties

• Hendricks County, IN — $2,344
• Porter County, IN — $2,172
• Tippecanoe County, IN — $1,355
• Johnson County, IN — $1,875
• Elkhart County, IN — $1,592
• Monroe County, IN — $1,837

Frequently asked questions