Property Tax in Story County, Iowa

What the Story County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $3,586 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Story County, and $243,600 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 Story County is 1.47% (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.

Story County by the numbers

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

Story County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Iowa: #6 of 99 counties
• Median home value rank in Iowa: #6 of 99
• Population rank in Iowa: #9 of 99 (98,592 residents)
• Population density rank: #7 of 99 (172 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Iowa: #42 of 99 (572 sq mi, 1.0% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $299; per $1,000 of home value: $1.47

How Story County compares

The median tax bill in Story County is about 28% higher than the state median ($2,795 for Iowa) and about 21% higher than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #6 out of 99 Iowa counties with published Census data — 5 counties in the state have a higher median bill.

Comparisons cut both ways: a county can have a modest rate but high bills because homes are expensive, or a high rate but modest bills because homes are cheaper. Story County's derived rate of 1.47% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Story County: the median bill works out to about $299 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,472 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 98,592 people — the #9 most populous county in Iowa, spread over 572 square miles, a density of about 172 people per square mile. Its median home value, $243,600, ranks #6 among the state's 99 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 293 record a higher median tax bill than Story County — it sits in the top 9% nationally. The county holds roughly 3.1% of Iowa's people. Its homes are worth more than the state norm (median $243,600 versus $195,900), and a decade at the derived rate of 1.47% adds up to about 14.72% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Pocahontas County, medians $1,066 — $2,520 less than Story County per year.

Counties nearest Story County in the Iowa ranking

Story County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Story County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 98,592 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Story County's median bill of $3,586 is #2 of 9.

The closest population match is Roanoke city, Virginia (98,677 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,828 on a median home value of $180,500 — $1,758 more than Story County pays.

Staying within Iowa, the counties nearest Story County by population are Dallas County (104,136 residents, median tax $4,849 on a median value of $333,400); Dubuque County (98,948 residents, median tax $2,848 on a median value of $226,100); Pottawattamie County (93,407 residents, median tax $2,961 on a median value of $183,600); Warren County (53,484 residents, median tax $3,797 on a median value of $252,800). 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 Story County's derived rate of 1.47%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $5,888 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 Story County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.47% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Story 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 Story 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 Story 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

• Dubuque County, IA — $2,848
• Pottawattamie County, IA — $2,961
• Dallas County, IA — $4,849
• Woodbury County, IA — $2,542
• Black Hawk County, IA — $2,790
• Warren County, IA — $3,797

Frequently asked questions