Property Tax in Franklin County, Missouri

What the Franklin County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $1,774 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Franklin County, and $214,900 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 Franklin County is 0.83% (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 Franklin County

For context, the Missouri medians are $1,887 of tax on $215,600 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Franklin County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Missouri: #12 of 115 counties
• Median home value rank in Missouri: #16 of 115
• Population rank in Missouri: #12 of 115 (105,316 residents)
• Population density rank: #17 of 115 (114 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Missouri: #4 of 115 (922 sq mi, 1.3% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $148; per $1,000 of home value: $0.83

How Franklin County compares

The median tax bill in Franklin County is about 6% lower than the state median ($1,887 for Missouri) and about 40% lower than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #12 out of 115 Missouri counties with published Census data — 11 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. Franklin County's derived rate of 0.83% sits below the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Franklin County: the median bill works out to about $148 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $826 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 105,316 people — the #12 most populous county in Missouri, spread over 922 square miles, a density of about 114 people per square mile. Its median home value, $214,900, ranks #16 among the state's 115 counties with data.

Nationally, Franklin County's median bill of $1,774 ranks #1307 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 42% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 1.7% of Missouri'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 8.26% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Franklin County to the most expensive county, Platte County ($3,365), is $1,591 a year.

Counties nearest Franklin County in the Missouri ranking

Franklin County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Franklin County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Franklin County ($1,774) ranks #6 of 9 by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Walworth County, Wisconsin (105,447 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $3,964 on a median home value of $275,900 — $2,190 less than Franklin County pays.

Inside Missouri itself, the counties closest to Franklin County in population are Cass County (109,393 residents, median tax $2,364 on a median value of $269,000); Platte County (108,751 residents, median tax $3,365 on a median value of $317,600); Christian County (91,229 residents, median tax $1,878 on a median value of $249,700); Buchanan County (83,855 residents, median tax $1,253 on a median value of $156,600). 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

As an illustration of the arithmetic: at Franklin County's derived rate of 0.83%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $3,304 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 Franklin County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.83% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Franklin County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.88% 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 Franklin County

Believe your assessment is too high? The practical order of attack is: obtain your record card and audit it line by line; collect comparable recent sales in Franklin County; ask the assessor's office to correct anything plainly wrong; and, if the value still seems off, lodge a formal appeal ahead of the deadline printed on your assessment notice. Windows are short — often 30 to 90 days — and late appeals are usually rejected outright, however strong the case.

More Missouri counties

• Platte County, MO — $3,365
• Cass County, MO — $2,364
• Christian County, MO — $1,878
• Jasper County, MO — $1,171
• Buchanan County, MO — $1,253
• Cape Girardeau County, MO — $1,404

Frequently asked questions