Property Tax in Olmsted County, Minnesota

What the Olmsted County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $3,314 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Olmsted County, and $304,500 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 Olmsted County is 1.09% (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 Olmsted County

For context, the Minnesota medians are $3,184 of tax on $305,500 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Olmsted County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Minnesota: #9 of 87 counties
• Median home value rank in Minnesota: #11 of 87
• Population rank in Minnesota: #7 of 87 (163,425 residents)
• Population density rank: #8 of 87 (250 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Minnesota: #46 of 87 (653 sq mi, 0.8% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $276; per $1,000 of home value: $1.09

How Olmsted County compares

The median tax bill in Olmsted County is about 4% higher than the state median ($3,184 for Minnesota) and about 12% higher than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #9 out of 87 Minnesota counties with published Census data — 8 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. Olmsted County's derived rate of 1.09% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Olmsted County: the median bill works out to about $276 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,088 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 163,425 people — the #7 most populous county in Minnesota, spread over 653 square miles, a density of about 250 people per square mile. Its median home value, $304,500, ranks #11 among the state's 87 counties with data.

Nationally, Olmsted County's median bill of $3,314 ranks #366 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 12% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 2.9% of Minnesota's population, its median home value is about 0% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 10.88% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Olmsted County to the most expensive county, Carver County ($4,380), is $1,066 a year.

Counties nearest Olmsted County in the Minnesota ranking

Olmsted County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Olmsted County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 163,425 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Olmsted County's median bill of $3,314 is #2 of 9.

The closest population match is Ector County, Texas (163,206 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $2,438 on a median home value of $190,500 — $876 more than Olmsted County pays.

Inside Minnesota itself, the counties closest to Olmsted County in population are Washington County (272,298 residents, median tax $4,012 on a median value of $400,900); St. Louis County (200,056 residents, median tax $2,142 on a median value of $208,500); Stearns County (159,358 residents, median tax $2,617 on a median value of $256,500); Scott County (152,957 residents, median tax $4,195 on a median value of $393,500). 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

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. Olmsted County's medians imply a derived rate of 1.09%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $4,352 a year, or around $363 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Olmsted County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.09% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Olmsted County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.04% 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 Olmsted 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 Olmsted 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 Minnesota counties

• Stearns County, MN — $2,617
• Scott County, MN — $4,195
• Wright County, MN — $3,319
• St. Louis County, MN — $2,142
• Carver County, MN — $4,380
• Sherburne County, MN — $3,311

Frequently asked questions