Property Tax in Ellis County, Texas
Homeowners in Ellis County, Texas pay a median of $4,472 a year in real estate taxes, on a median home value of $306,400. Those are the Census Bureau's published medians for the county (US Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, 2023) — the typical bill and the typical home value for owner-occupied households.
What the Ellis County numbers mean
Read the two medians together: $4,472 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Ellis County, and $306,400 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 Ellis County is 1.46% (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.
Ellis County by the numbers
| Measure | Ellis County | Texas | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median real estate taxes paid | $4,472 | $4,111 | $2,969 |
| Median home value | $306,400 | $260,400 | $303,400 |
| Derived effective rate* | 1.46% | 1.58% | 0.98% |
| Median tax per month | $373 | $343 | $247 |
*Estimate derived from Census medians (tax ÷ value), not an official rate.
Ellis County at a glance
- Median tax rank in Texas: #17 of 250 counties
- Median home value rank in Texas: #16 of 250
- Population rank in Texas: #25 of 250 (203,927 residents)
- Population density rank: #30 of 250 (218 people per square mile)
- Land area rank in Texas: #91 of 250 (935 sq mi, 0.4% of the combined county land area)
- Median tax as a monthly figure: $373; per $1,000 of home value: $1.46
How Ellis County compares
Set against its state, Ellis County's median bill of $4,472 is about 9% higher than the Texas median ($4,111). Against the country as a whole it is about 51% higher than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #17 of 250 Texas counties ranked by median taxes paid.
Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. Ellis County's median home, at $306,400, ranks #16 by value in Texas, while its derived rate of 1.46% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.
Some extra context for Ellis County: the median bill works out to about $373 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,460 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 203,927 people — the #25 most populous county in Texas, spread over 935 square miles, a density of about 218 people per square mile. Its median home value, $306,400, ranks #16 among the state's 250 counties with data.
Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 167 record a higher median tax bill than Ellis County — it sits in the top 5% nationally. The county holds roughly 0.7% of Texas's people. Its homes are worth more than the state norm (median $306,400 versus $260,400), and a decade at the derived rate of 1.46% adds up to about 14.60% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Crockett County, medians $466 — $4,006 less than Ellis County per year.
Counties nearest Ellis County in the Texas ranking
| County | Median tax paid | Median home value | Derived rate* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas County, TX | $4,668 | $277,900 | 1.68% |
| Brazos County, TX | $4,580 | $279,700 | 1.64% |
| Bexar County, TX | $4,429 | $244,100 | 1.81% |
| Gillespie County, TX | $4,404 | $432,300 | 1.02% |
Ellis County and its population peers
For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Ellis County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 203,927 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Ellis County's median bill of $4,472 is the highest.
| County | Population | Median tax paid | Median home value | Derived rate* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elkhart County, IN | 206,868 | $1,592 | $194,400 | 0.82% |
| Champaign County, IL | 206,098 | $4,245 | $205,100 | 2.07% |
| Richmond County, GA | 206,040 | $1,440 | $163,300 | 0.88% |
| Muscogee County, GA | 204,383 | $1,526 | $182,300 | 0.84% |
| Hawaii County, HI | 203,684 | $1,392 | $486,400 | 0.29% |
| Deschutes County, OR | 203,026 | $3,670 | $596,000 | 0.62% |
| Hernando County, FL | 201,512 | $1,732 | $240,700 | 0.72% |
| Trumbull County, OH | 201,367 | $1,806 | $128,100 | 1.41% |
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 — $3,080 more than Ellis County pays.
Staying within Texas, the counties nearest Ellis County by population are Smith County (238,014 residents, median tax $2,749 on a median value of $220,800); Brazos County (237,980 residents, median tax $4,580 on a median value of $279,700); Johnson County (188,820 residents, median tax $3,259 on a median value of $254,600); Guadalupe County (178,368 residents, median tax $4,270 on a median value of $285,900). 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
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. Ellis County's medians imply a derived rate of 1.46%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $5,840 a year, or around $487 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.
Illustrative bills in Ellis County at the derived rate
The derived rate of 1.46% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Ellis County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.58% and the US figure of 0.98%:
| Home value | Illustrative tax / year | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| $150,000 | $2,190 | $182 |
| $250,000 | $3,650 | $304 |
| $350,000 | $5,110 | $426 |
| $500,000 | $7,300 | $608 |
| $750,000 | $10,950 | $912 |
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 Ellis County
Most successful appeals are won on facts, not arguments. Start with the property record card held by the Ellis 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the median property tax in Ellis County, Texas?
The median real estate tax paid in Ellis County, Texas is $4,472 per year, on a median home value of $306,400 (US Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, 2023).
What is the effective property tax rate in Ellis County, Texas?
The derived effective rate is 1.46% — the median bill ($4,472) expressed as a share of the median home value ($306,400). No authority sets a rate this way; it exists to make counties with different home prices comparable.
How does Ellis County compare with the rest of Texas?
By median taxes paid, Ellis County stands at #17 among the 250 Texas counties the Census publishes figures for. Its $4,472 median bill is about 9% higher than the state median ($4,111), and 16 counties in the state record a higher median.
How are property taxes calculated in Ellis County, Texas?
The assessor estimates your property's market value; exemptions (such as a homestead exemption) reduce the taxable amount; and the result is multiplied by the combined rates of the local taxing districts — county, municipality, school district and any special districts. In Ellis County, the median outcome of that process is a bill of $4,472 on a median home value of $306,400.
Can I appeal my property tax assessment in Ellis County, Texas?
Yes. Request your property record card from the Ellis County assessor's office and check it for errors, then compare your assessed value with recent sales of similar homes. If it still looks too high, file a formal appeal with the local review board named on your assessment notice before the deadline printed on the notice — windows are short, often 30 to 90 days.