Property Tax in Deschutes County, Oregon

What the Deschutes County numbers mean

A median is the middle household: half of owner-occupied households in Deschutes County pay more than $3,670, 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 0.62% for Deschutes 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 Deschutes County

For context, the Oregon medians are $3,767 of tax on $454,200 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Deschutes County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Oregon: #5 of 36 counties
• Median home value rank in Oregon: #1 of 36
• Population rank in Oregon: #7 of 36 (203,026 residents)
• Population density rank: #11 of 36 (67 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Oregon: #11 of 36 (3,017 sq mi, 3.1% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $306; per $1,000 of home value: $0.62

How Deschutes County compares

Set against its state, Deschutes County's median bill of $3,670 is about the same as the Oregon median ($3,767). Against the country as a whole it is about 24% higher than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #5 of 36 Oregon counties ranked by median taxes paid.

Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. Deschutes County's median home, at $596,000, ranks #1 by value in Oregon, while its derived rate of 0.62% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Deschutes County: the median bill works out to about $306 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $616 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 203,026 people — the #7 most populous county in Oregon, spread over 3,017 square miles, a density of about 67 people per square mile. Its median home value, $596,000, ranks #1 among the state's 36 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 275 record a higher median tax bill than Deschutes County — it sits in the top 9% nationally. The county holds roughly 4.8% of Oregon's people. Its homes are worth more than the state norm (median $596,000 versus $454,200), and a decade at the derived rate of 0.62% adds up to about 6.16% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Lake County, medians $1,407 — $2,263 less than Deschutes County per year.

Counties nearest Deschutes County in the Oregon ranking

Deschutes County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Deschutes County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Deschutes County ($3,670) ranks #2 of 9 by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Hawaii County, Hawaii (203,684 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,392 on a median home value of $486,400 — $2,278 more than Deschutes County pays.

Inside Oregon itself, the counties closest to Deschutes County in population are Marion County (346,532 residents, median tax $3,382 on a median value of $383,300); Jackson County (222,563 residents, median tax $3,032 on a median value of $400,200); Linn County (129,794 residents, median tax $3,130 on a median value of $344,600); Douglas County (111,807 residents, median tax $1,869 on a median value of $283,200). 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. Deschutes County's medians imply a derived rate of 0.62%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $2,464 a year, or around $205 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Deschutes County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.62% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Deschutes County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.83% 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 Deschutes 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 Deschutes 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 Oregon counties

• Jackson County, OR — $3,032
• Linn County, OR — $3,130
• Douglas County, OR — $1,869
• Yamhill County, OR — $3,318
• Benton County, OR — $4,713
• Polk County, OR — $3,534

Frequently asked questions