Property Tax in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania

What the Clearfield County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $1,488 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Clearfield County, and $125,000 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 Clearfield County is 1.19% (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.

Clearfield County by the numbers

*Estimate derived from Census medians (tax ÷ value), not an official rate.

Clearfield County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Pennsylvania: #60 of 67 counties
• Median home value rank in Pennsylvania: #61 of 67
• Population rank in Pennsylvania: #36 of 67 (78,902 residents)
• Population density rank: #47 of 67 (69 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Pennsylvania: #3 of 67 (1,145 sq mi, 2.6% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $124; per $1,000 of home value: $1.19

How Clearfield County compares

The median tax bill in Clearfield County is about 54% lower than the state median ($3,241 for Pennsylvania) and about 50% lower than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #60 out of 67 Pennsylvania counties with published Census data — 59 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. Clearfield County's derived rate of 1.19% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Clearfield County: the median bill works out to about $124 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,190 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 78,902 people — the #36 most populous county in Pennsylvania, spread over 1,145 square miles, a density of about 69 people per square mile. Its median home value, $125,000, ranks #61 among the state's 67 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 1637 record a higher median tax bill than Clearfield County — it sits in the top 52% nationally. The county holds roughly 0.6% of Pennsylvania's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $125,000 versus $240,500), and a decade at the derived rate of 1.19% adds up to about 11.90% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Forest County, medians $1,162 — $326 less than Clearfield County per year.

Counties nearest Clearfield County in the Pennsylvania ranking

Clearfield County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Clearfield County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 78,902 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Clearfield County's median bill of $1,488 is #7 of 9.

The closest population match is Clinton County, New York (78,961 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $3,461 on a median home value of $175,100 — $1,973 less than Clearfield County pays.

Staying within Pennsylvania, the counties nearest Clearfield County by population are Indiana County (83,213 residents, median tax $2,271 on a median value of $145,400); Crawford County (83,189 residents, median tax $2,099 on a median value of $143,400); Somerset County (73,255 residents, median tax $1,449 on a median value of $130,600); Carbon County (65,191 residents, median tax $2,914 on a median value of $193,700). The spread in their median bills — all under the same state framework — shows how much of the property tax burden is decided county by county and district by district.

How the tax is worked out

As an illustration of the arithmetic: at Clearfield County's derived rate of 1.19%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $4,760 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 Clearfield County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.19% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Clearfield 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 Clearfield County

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

• Crawford County, PA — $2,099
• Indiana County, PA — $2,271
• Somerset County, PA — $1,449
• Lawrence County, PA — $1,983
• Northumberland County, PA — $1,778
• Carbon County, PA — $2,914

Frequently asked questions