Property Tax in Dubuque County, Iowa

What the Dubuque County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $2,848 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Dubuque County, and $226,100 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 Dubuque County is 1.26% (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.

Dubuque County by the numbers

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

Dubuque County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Iowa: #11 of 99 counties
• Median home value rank in Iowa: #11 of 99
• Population rank in Iowa: #8 of 99 (98,948 residents)
• Population density rank: #8 of 99 (163 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Iowa: #21 of 99 (608 sq mi, 1.1% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $237; per $1,000 of home value: $1.26

How Dubuque County compares

Of the 99 Iowa counties with published data, 10 have a higher median property tax bill than Dubuque County's $2,848, putting the county at #11 in the state. Its bill is about the same as the state median of $2,795 and about 4% 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 1.26%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #11 within Iowa.

Some extra context for Dubuque County: the median bill works out to about $237 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,260 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 98,948 people — the #8 most populous county in Iowa, spread over 608 square miles, a density of about 163 people per square mile. Its median home value, $226,100, ranks #11 among the state's 99 counties with data.

Nationally, Dubuque County's median bill of $2,848 ranks #505 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 16% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 3.1% of Iowa's population, its median home value is about 15% above the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 12.60% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Dubuque County to the most expensive county, Dallas County ($4,849), is $2,001 a year.

Counties nearest Dubuque County in the Iowa ranking

Dubuque County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Dubuque County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 98,948 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Dubuque County's median bill of $2,848 is #2 of 9.

The closest population match is Sutter County, California (98,971 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $3,111 on a median home value of $399,400 — $263 less than Dubuque County pays.

Staying within Iowa, the counties nearest Dubuque County by population are Woodbury County (105,760 residents, median tax $2,542 on a median value of $172,000); Dallas County (104,136 residents, median tax $4,849 on a median value of $333,400); Story County (98,592 residents, median tax $3,586 on a median value of $243,600); Pottawattamie County (93,407 residents, median tax $2,961 on a median value of $183,600). 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 Dubuque County's derived rate of 1.26%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $5,040 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 Dubuque County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.26% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Dubuque County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.43% 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 Dubuque 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 Dubuque 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 Iowa counties

• Story County, IA — $3,586
• Dallas County, IA — $4,849
• Pottawattamie County, IA — $2,961
• Woodbury County, IA — $2,542
• Black Hawk County, IA — $2,790
• Warren County, IA — $3,797

Frequently asked questions