Property Tax in Madison County, New York

What the Madison County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Madison County homeowners pay more than $4,058 a year and half pay less. The exact bill for any one home depends on its assessed value, exemptions, and which school, municipal and special districts cover it.

Set against the median home value of $176,800, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 2.29%. That rate is an estimate computed from the two medians — no county publishes a rate calculated this way — but it adjusts for home prices, which makes comparisons between counties more meaningful.

Madison County by the numbers

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

Madison County at a glance

• Median tax rank in New York: #29 of 62 counties
• Median home value rank in New York: #34 of 62
• Population rank in New York: #37 of 62 (67,572 residents)
• Population density rank: #34 of 62 (103 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in New York: #31 of 62 (654 sq mi, 1.4% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $338; per $1,000 of home value: $2.29

How Madison County compares

Of the 62 New York counties with published data, 28 have a higher median property tax bill than Madison County's $4,058, putting the county at #29 in the state. Its bill is about 37% lower than the state median of $6,450 and about 37% higher 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 2.29%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #34 within New York.

Some extra context for Madison County: the median bill works out to about $338 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $2,295 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 67,572 people — the #37 most populous county in New York, spread over 654 square miles, a density of about 103 people per square mile. Its median home value, $176,800, ranks #34 among the state's 62 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 217 record a higher median tax bill than Madison County — it sits in the top 7% nationally. The county holds roughly 0.3% of New York's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $176,800 versus $403,000), and a decade at the derived rate of 2.29% adds up to about 22.95% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Hamilton County, medians $2,369 — $1,689 less than Madison County per year.

Counties nearest Madison County in the New York ranking

Madison County and its population peers

Population is a useful lens on these figures, so the table below sets Madison County beside the counties closest to it in population anywhere in the country — communities of a similar scale operating under different state and local tax systems. Ranked by median tax paid within this peer group of 9, Madison County's $4,058 bill is the highest.

The closest population match is McCracken County, Kentucky (67,584 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,342 on a median home value of $182,900 — $2,716 more than Madison County pays.

Inside New York itself, the counties closest to Madison County in population are Cattaraugus County (76,479 residents, median tax $2,946 on a median value of $109,400); Cayuga County (75,464 residents, median tax $3,747 on a median value of $164,200); Warren County (65,560 residents, median tax $3,789 on a median value of $247,600); Livingston County (61,588 residents, median tax $4,182 on a median value of $169,600). 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 Madison County's derived rate of 2.29%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $9,180 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 Madison County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 2.29% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Madison County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.60% 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 Madison County

Most successful appeals are won on facts, not arguments. Start with the property record card held by the Madison County assessor: wrong square footage, an extra room, or a missing homestead exemption are common and fixable. Next, line your assessed value up against recent sales of genuinely similar homes nearby. Many disputes end at an informal conversation with the assessor's office; if yours does not, file the formal appeal with the review board named on your notice before its deadline, evidence attached, and keep paying the bill in the meantime so penalties do not build up.

More New York counties

• Warren County, NY — $3,789
• Livingston County, NY — $4,182
• Columbia County, NY — $4,795
• Washington County, NY — $3,852
• Herkimer County, NY — $3,067
• Otsego County, NY — $2,911

Frequently asked questions