Property Tax in Augusta County, Virginia

What the Augusta County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Augusta County homeowners pay more than $1,379 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 $281,400, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 0.49%. 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 Augusta County

For context, the Virginia medians are $2,686 of tax on $360,700 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Augusta County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Virginia: #82 of 133 counties
• Median home value rank in Virginia: #51 of 133
• Population rank in Virginia: #28 of 133 (77,713 residents)
• Population density rank: #80 of 133 (80 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Virginia: #2 of 133 (967 sq mi, 2.4% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $115; per $1,000 of home value: $0.49

How Augusta County compares

Set against its state, Augusta County's median bill of $1,379 is about 49% lower than the Virginia median ($2,686). Against the country as a whole it is about 54% lower than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #82 of 133 Virginia counties ranked by median taxes paid.

Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. Augusta County's median home, at $281,400, ranks #51 by value in Virginia, while its derived rate of 0.49% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Augusta County: the median bill works out to about $115 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $490 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 77,713 people — the #28 most populous county in Virginia, spread over 967 square miles, a density of about 80 people per square mile. Its median home value, $281,400, ranks #51 among the state's 133 counties with data.

Nationally, Augusta County's median bill of $1,379 ranks #1821 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 58% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 0.9% of Virginia's population, its median home value is about 22% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 4.90% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Augusta County to the most expensive county, Falls Church city ($10,001), is $8,622 a year.

Counties nearest Augusta County in the Virginia ranking

Augusta County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Augusta County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 77,713 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Augusta County's median bill of $1,379 is #5 of 9.

The closest population match is Clallam County, Washington (77,593 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $2,860 on a median home value of $385,600 — $1,481 less than Augusta County pays.

Inside Virginia itself, the counties closest to Augusta County in population are James City County (80,046 residents, median tax $2,786 on a median value of $419,200); Lynchburg city (79,255 residents, median tax $1,778 on a median value of $211,800); Fauquier County (73,935 residents, median tax $4,185 on a median value of $543,700); York County (70,590 residents, median tax $2,676 on a median value of $411,200). 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

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 0.49%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $490 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $1,960. 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 Augusta County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.49% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Augusta County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.74% 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 Augusta County

If your bill looks wrong, work through these steps:

1. Get your property record card from the assessor and check the basics — living area, lot size, bedrooms, condition, and any exemptions you should have.
2. Compare your assessed value with recent sale prices of similar homes in Augusta County.
3. Talk to the assessor's office informally first; clear errors are often fixed without a hearing.
4. If needed, file a formal appeal with the local review board before the deadline on your assessment notice, with your evidence attached.
5. Keep paying the bill as issued while the appeal runs, unless your notice says otherwise — unpaid taxes accrue penalties regardless of an appeal.

More Virginia counties

• Lynchburg city, VA — $1,778
• James City County, VA — $2,786
• Bedford County, VA — $1,265
• Fauquier County, VA — $4,185
• Rockingham County, VA — $1,532
• York County, VA — $2,676

Frequently asked questions