Property Tax in Adams County, Pennsylvania

What the Adams County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Adams County homeowners pay more than $3,569 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 $256,100, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 1.39%. 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.

The key figures for Adams County

For context, the Pennsylvania medians are $3,241 of tax on $240,500 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Adams County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Pennsylvania: #11 of 67 counties
• Median home value rank in Pennsylvania: #11 of 67
• Population rank in Pennsylvania: #31 of 67 (105,183 residents)
• Population density rank: #25 of 67 (203 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Pennsylvania: #45 of 67 (518 sq mi, 1.2% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $297; per $1,000 of home value: $1.39

How Adams County compares

Set against its state, Adams County's median bill of $3,569 is about 10% higher than the Pennsylvania median ($3,241). Against the country as a whole it is about 20% higher than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #11 of 67 Pennsylvania counties ranked by median taxes paid.

Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. Adams County's median home, at $256,100, ranks #11 by value in Pennsylvania, while its derived rate of 1.39% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Adams County: the median bill works out to about $297 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,394 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 105,183 people — the #31 most populous county in Pennsylvania, spread over 518 square miles, a density of about 203 people per square mile. Its median home value, $256,100, ranks #11 among the state's 67 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 298 record a higher median tax bill than Adams County — it sits in the top 10% nationally. The county holds roughly 0.8% of Pennsylvania's people. Its homes are worth more than the state norm (median $256,100 versus $240,500), and a decade at the derived rate of 1.39% adds up to about 13.94% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Forest County, medians $1,162 — $2,407 less than Adams County per year.

Counties nearest Adams County in the Pennsylvania ranking

Adams County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Adams County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Adams County ($3,569) ranks #2 of 9 by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Franklin County, Missouri (105,316 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,774 on a median home value of $214,900 — $1,795 more than Adams County pays.

Inside Pennsylvania itself, the counties closest to Adams County in population are Lycoming County (113,570 residents, median tax $2,647 on a median value of $195,600); Mercer County (109,852 residents, median tax $1,943 on a median value of $153,600); Northumberland County (90,925 residents, median tax $1,778 on a median value of $151,600); Lawrence County (85,423 residents, median tax $1,983 on a median value of $136,700). 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 Adams County's derived rate of 1.39%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $5,576 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 Adams County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.39% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Adams County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.35% 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 Adams County

Most successful appeals are won on facts, not arguments. Start with the property record card held by the Adams 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 Pennsylvania counties

• Mercer County, PA — $1,943
• Lycoming County, PA — $2,647
• Northumberland County, PA — $1,778
• Blair County, PA — $1,711
• Lawrence County, PA — $1,983
• Fayette County, PA — $1,516

Frequently asked questions