Property Tax in Burke County, North Carolina

What the Burke County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $1,191 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Burke County, and $170,500 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 Burke County is 0.70% (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 Burke County

For context, the North Carolina medians are $1,815 of tax on $259,400 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Burke County at a glance

• Median tax rank in North Carolina: #64 of 100 counties
• Median home value rank in North Carolina: #69 of 100
• Population rank in North Carolina: #33 of 100 (87,863 residents)
• Population density rank: #32 of 100 (174 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in North Carolina: #42 of 100 (506 sq mi, 1.0% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $99; per $1,000 of home value: $0.70

How Burke County compares

Of the 100 North Carolina counties with published data, 63 have a higher median property tax bill than Burke County's $1,191, putting the county at #64 in the state. Its bill is about 34% lower than the state median of $1,815 and about 60% lower 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 0.70%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #69 within North Carolina.

Some extra context for Burke County: the median bill works out to about $99 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $699 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 87,863 people — the #33 most populous county in North Carolina, spread over 506 square miles, a density of about 174 people per square mile. Its median home value, $170,500, ranks #69 among the state's 100 counties with data.

Nationally, Burke County's median bill of $1,191 ranks #2119 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 68% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 0.8% of North Carolina's population, its median home value is about 34% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 6.99% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Burke County to the most expensive county, Orange County ($4,105), is $2,914 a year.

Counties nearest Burke County in the North Carolina ranking

Burke County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Burke County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 87,863 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Burke County's median bill of $1,191 is #8 of 9.

The closest population match is Josephine County, Oregon (88,069 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $2,023 on a median home value of $383,100 — $832 less than Burke County pays.

Burke County's nearest population neighbours within North Carolina are Rockingham County (91,585 residents, median tax $1,230 on a median value of $156,000); Lincoln County (90,359 residents, median tax $1,660 on a median value of $279,500); Caldwell County (80,618 residents, median tax $1,112 on a median value of $174,000); Wilson County (78,648 residents, median tax $1,428 on a median value of $171,800). 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. Burke County's medians imply a derived rate of 0.70%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $2,796 a year, or around $233 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Burke County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.70% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Burke County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.70% 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 Burke 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 Burke 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 North Carolina counties

• Lincoln County, NC — $1,660
• Rockingham County, NC — $1,230
• Caldwell County, NC — $1,112
• Nash County, NC — $1,320
• Wilson County, NC — $1,428
• Chatham County, NC — $2,671

Frequently asked questions