Property Tax in Klamath County, Oregon

What the Klamath County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $1,734 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Klamath County, and $255,700 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 Klamath County is 0.68% (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 Klamath 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.

Klamath County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Oregon: #32 of 36 counties
• Median home value rank in Oregon: #28 of 36
• Population rank in Oregon: #15 of 36 (69,812 residents)
• Population density rank: #24 of 36 (12 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Oregon: #4 of 36 (5,949 sq mi, 6.2% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $144; per $1,000 of home value: $0.68

How Klamath County compares

The median tax bill in Klamath County is about 54% lower than the state median ($3,767 for Oregon) and about 42% lower than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #32 out of 36 Oregon counties with published Census data — 31 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. Klamath County's derived rate of 0.68% sits below the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Klamath County: the median bill works out to about $144 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $678 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 69,812 people — the #15 most populous county in Oregon, spread over 5,949 square miles, a density of about 12 people per square mile. Its median home value, $255,700, ranks #28 among the state's 36 counties with data.

Nationally, Klamath County's median bill of $1,734 ranks #1350 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 43% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 1.6% of Oregon's population, its median home value is about 44% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 6.78% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Klamath County to the most expensive county, Multnomah County ($5,061), is $3,327 a year.

Counties nearest Klamath County in the Oregon ranking

Klamath County and its population peers

Population is a useful lens on these figures, so the table below sets Klamath 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, Klamath County's $1,734 bill is #7 of 9.

The closest population match is Troup County, Georgia (69,821 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,826 on a median home value of $187,800 — $92 less than Klamath County pays.

Klamath County's nearest population neighbours within Oregon are Josephine County (88,069 residents, median tax $2,023 on a median value of $383,100); Umatilla County (80,087 residents, median tax $2,534 on a median value of $256,100); Coos County (64,832 residents, median tax $2,243 on a median value of $302,800); Columbia County (53,178 residents, median tax $2,948 on a median value of $390,600). 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

As an illustration of the arithmetic: at Klamath County's derived rate of 0.68%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $2,712 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 Klamath County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.68% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Klamath 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 Klamath 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 Klamath 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 Oregon counties

• Coos County, OR — $2,243
• Umatilla County, OR — $2,534
• Columbia County, OR — $2,948
• Josephine County, OR — $2,023
• Polk County, OR — $3,534
• Lincoln County, OR — $3,241

Frequently asked questions