Property Tax in Delaware County, Ohio

What the Delaware County numbers mean

A median is the middle household: half of owner-occupied households in Delaware County pay more than $6,896, and half pay less. Your own bill is set by your home's assessed value, the exemptions you qualify for, and the local taxing districts your property sits in — so individual bills vary widely around the median.

Dividing the median tax by the median home value gives a derived effective rate of 1.64% for Delaware County. It is an estimate built from two survey medians, not the county's official rate, but it is a fair way to compare the local tax burden with other counties where home values are very different.

The key figures for Delaware County

For context, the Ohio medians are $2,712 of tax on $199,200 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Delaware County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Ohio: #1 of 88 counties
• Median home value rank in Ohio: #1 of 88
• Population rank in Ohio: #13 of 88 (221,160 residents)
• Population density rank: #13 of 88 (499 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Ohio: #43 of 88 (443 sq mi, 1.1% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $575; per $1,000 of home value: $1.64

How Delaware County compares

The median tax bill in Delaware County is about 154% higher than the state median ($2,712 for Ohio) and about 132% higher than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #1 out of 88 Ohio counties with published Census data — 0 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. Delaware County's derived rate of 1.64% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Delaware County: the median bill works out to about $575 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,644 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 221,160 people — the #13 most populous county in Ohio, spread over 443 square miles, a density of about 499 people per square mile. Its median home value, $419,500, ranks #1 among the state's 88 counties with data.

Nationally, Delaware County's median bill of $6,896 ranks #50 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 2% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 1.9% of Ohio's population, its median home value is about 111% above the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 16.44% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Delaware County to the most expensive county, Delaware County ($6,896), is $0 a year.

Counties nearest Delaware County in the Ohio ranking

Delaware County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Delaware County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Delaware County ($6,896) ranks the highest by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Doña Ana County, New Mexico (221,665 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,404 on a median home value of $205,400 — $5,492 more than Delaware County pays.

Delaware County's nearest population neighbours within Ohio are Lake County (232,101 residents, median tax $3,405 on a median value of $199,900); Mahoning County (227,063 residents, median tax $1,975 on a median value of $141,100); Clermont County (209,862 residents, median tax $3,141 on a median value of $245,600); Trumbull County (201,367 residents, median tax $1,806 on a median value of $128,100). 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

The bill is built in stages. First the assessor puts a market value on the property. Exemptions — a homestead exemption above all — then reduce the taxable amount. Finally the combined local rate is applied. To see the scale: at the county's derived rate of 1.64%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $1,644 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $6,576. Real bills use the official assessment and district rates, not this derived figure, so treat the example as a sense of scale only.

Illustrative bills in Delaware County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.64% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Delaware County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.36% 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 Delaware 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 Delaware 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 Ohio counties

• Mahoning County, OH — $1,975
• Lake County, OH — $3,405
• Clermont County, OH — $3,141
• Trumbull County, OH — $1,806
• Warren County, OH — $4,076
• Medina County, OH — $3,448

Frequently asked questions