Property Tax in Portsmouth city, Virginia

What the Portsmouth city numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $2,452 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Portsmouth city, and $229,400 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 Portsmouth city is 1.07% (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.

The key figures for Portsmouth city

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.

Portsmouth city at a glance

• Median tax rank in Virginia: #30 of 133 counties
• Median home value rank in Virginia: #75 of 133
• Population rank in Virginia: #20 of 133 (97,299 residents)
• Population density rank: #14 of 133 (2,922 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Virginia: #105 of 133 (33 sq mi, 0.1% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $204; per $1,000 of home value: $1.07

How Portsmouth city compares

The median tax bill in Portsmouth city is about 9% lower than the state median ($2,686 for Virginia) and about 17% lower than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #30 out of 133 Virginia counties with published Census data — 29 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. Portsmouth city's derived rate of 1.07% sits above the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Portsmouth city: the median bill works out to about $204 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,069 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 97,299 people — the #20 most populous county in Virginia, spread over 33 square miles, a density of about 2,922 people per square mile. Its median home value, $229,400, ranks #75 among the state's 133 counties with data.

Nationally, Portsmouth city's median bill of $2,452 ranks #719 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 23% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 1.1% of Virginia's population, its median home value is about 36% below the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 10.69% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Portsmouth city to the most expensive county, Falls Church city ($10,001), is $7,549 a year.

Counties nearest Portsmouth city in the Virginia ranking

Portsmouth city and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Portsmouth city with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 97,299 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Portsmouth city's median bill of $2,452 is #4 of 9.

The closest population match is Ashtabula County, Ohio (97,343 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,890 on a median home value of $149,600 — $562 more than Portsmouth city pays.

Staying within Virginia, the counties nearest Portsmouth city by population are Montgomery County (99,159 residents, median tax $2,174 on a median value of $283,600); Roanoke city (98,677 residents, median tax $1,828 on a median value of $180,500); Roanoke County (96,793 residents, median tax $2,340 on a median value of $267,300); Suffolk city (96,638 residents, median tax $3,073 on a median value of $329,600). 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

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 1.07%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $1,069 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $4,276. 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 Portsmouth city at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.07% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Portsmouth city — 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 Portsmouth city

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 Portsmouth city; 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 Virginia counties

• Roanoke County, VA — $2,340
• Suffolk city, VA — $3,073
• Roanoke city, VA — $1,828
• Montgomery County, VA — $2,174
• Frederick County, VA — $1,807
• Rockingham County, VA — $1,532

Frequently asked questions