Property Tax in Clinton County, Michigan

What the Clinton County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $3,048 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Clinton County, and $243,700 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 Clinton County is 1.25% (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.

Clinton County by the numbers

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

Clinton County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Michigan: #8 of 83 counties
• Median home value rank in Michigan: #11 of 83
• Population rank in Michigan: #25 of 83 (79,419 residents)
• Population density rank: #23 of 83 (140 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Michigan: #44 of 83 (567 sq mi, 1.0% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $254; per $1,000 of home value: $1.25

How Clinton County compares

Of the 83 Michigan counties with published data, 7 have a higher median property tax bill than Clinton County's $3,048, putting the county at #8 in the state. Its bill is about 9% higher than the state median of $2,795 and about the same as 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 1.25%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #11 within Michigan.

Some extra context for Clinton County: the median bill works out to about $254 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,251 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 79,419 people — the #25 most populous county in Michigan, spread over 567 square miles, a density of about 140 people per square mile. Its median home value, $243,700, ranks #11 among the state's 83 counties with data.

Nationally, Clinton County's median bill of $3,048 ranks #430 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 14% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 0.8% of Michigan's population, its median home value is about 12% above the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 12.51% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Clinton County to the most expensive county, Washtenaw County ($5,505), is $2,457 a year.

Counties nearest Clinton County in the Michigan ranking

Clinton County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Clinton County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 79,419 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Clinton County's median bill of $3,048 is #4 of 9.

The closest population match is Chelan County, Washington (79,518 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $3,235 on a median home value of $454,900 — $187 less than Clinton County pays.

Clinton County's nearest population neighbours within Michigan are Lapeer County (88,703 residents, median tax $2,185 on a median value of $229,100); Midland County (83,641 residents, median tax $2,771 on a median value of $184,300); Van Buren County (75,681 residents, median tax $2,444 on a median value of $189,900); Shiawassee County (68,061 residents, median tax $2,214 on a median value of $164,600). Comparing them is a reminder that even inside one state's rules, the bill follows local home values and local district rates more than anything decided at the state level.

How the tax is worked out

Think of the final bill as three ingredients: the assessed value of the property, the exemptions subtracted from it, and the combined rate of every district the property sits in. Clinton County's medians imply a derived rate of 1.25%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $5,004 a year, or around $417 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Clinton County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.25% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Clinton County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.28% 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 Clinton 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 Clinton 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 Michigan counties

• Van Buren County, MI — $2,444
• Midland County, MI — $2,771
• Lapeer County, MI — $2,185
• Shiawassee County, MI — $2,214
• Montcalm County, MI — $1,851
• Ionia County, MI — $2,211

Frequently asked questions