Property Tax in Somerset County, Pennsylvania

What the Somerset County numbers mean

A median is the middle household: half of owner-occupied households in Somerset County pay more than $1,449, 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 1.11% for Somerset 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.

Somerset County by the numbers

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

Somerset County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Pennsylvania: #64 of 67 counties
• Median home value rank in Pennsylvania: #57 of 67
• Population rank in Pennsylvania: #37 of 67 (73,255 residents)
• Population density rank: #48 of 67 (68 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Pennsylvania: #7 of 67 (1,075 sq mi, 2.4% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $121; per $1,000 of home value: $1.11

How Somerset County compares

The median tax bill in Somerset County is about 55% lower than the state median ($3,241 for Pennsylvania) and about 51% lower than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #64 out of 67 Pennsylvania counties with published Census data — 63 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. Somerset County's derived rate of 1.11% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Somerset County: the median bill works out to about $121 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,109 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 73,255 people — the #37 most populous county in Pennsylvania, spread over 1,075 square miles, a density of about 68 people per square mile. Its median home value, $130,600, ranks #57 among the state's 67 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 1707 record a higher median tax bill than Somerset County — it sits in the top 55% nationally. The county holds roughly 0.6% of Pennsylvania's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $130,600 versus $240,500), and a decade at the derived rate of 1.11% adds up to about 11.09% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Forest County, medians $1,162 — $287 less than Somerset County per year.

Counties nearest Somerset County in the Pennsylvania ranking

Somerset County and its population peers

Population is a useful lens on these figures, so the table below sets Somerset 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, Somerset County's $1,449 bill is #5 of 9.

The closest population match is Vermilion County, Illinois (73,179 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,666 on a median home value of $92,900 — $217 less than Somerset County pays.

Somerset County's nearest population neighbours within Pennsylvania are Crawford County (83,189 residents, median tax $2,099 on a median value of $143,400); Clearfield County (78,902 residents, median tax $1,488 on a median value of $125,000); Carbon County (65,191 residents, median tax $2,914 on a median value of $193,700); Armstrong County (65,069 residents, median tax $2,175 on a median value of $146,300). 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 1.11%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $1,109 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $4,436. 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 Somerset County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.11% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Somerset 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 Somerset 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 Somerset 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 Pennsylvania counties

• Clearfield County, PA — $1,488
• Carbon County, PA — $2,914
• Armstrong County, PA — $2,175
• Columbia County, PA — $2,266
• Crawford County, PA — $2,099
• Indiana County, PA — $2,271

Frequently asked questions