Property Tax in York County, Virginia

What the York County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of York County homeowners pay more than $2,676 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 $411,200, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 0.65%. 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 York 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.

York County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Virginia: #24 of 133 counties
• Median home value rank in Virginia: #18 of 133
• Population rank in Virginia: #30 of 133 (70,590 residents)
• Population density rank: #43 of 133 (674 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Virginia: #96 of 133 (104 sq mi, 0.3% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $223; per $1,000 of home value: $0.65

How York County compares

Set against its state, York County's median bill of $2,676 is about the same as the Virginia median ($2,686). Against the country as a whole it is about 10% lower than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #24 of 133 Virginia counties ranked by median taxes paid.

Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. York County's median home, at $411,200, ranks #18 by value in Virginia, while its derived rate of 0.65% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for York County: the median bill works out to about $223 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $651 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 70,590 people — the #30 most populous county in Virginia, spread over 104 square miles, a density of about 674 people per square mile. Its median home value, $411,200, ranks #18 among the state's 133 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 587 record a higher median tax bill than York County — it sits in the top 19% nationally. The county holds roughly 0.8% of Virginia's people. Its homes are worth more than the state norm (median $411,200 versus $360,700), and a decade at the derived rate of 0.65% adds up to about 6.51% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Buchanan County, medians $404 — $2,272 less than York County per year.

Counties nearest York County in the Virginia ranking

York County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare York County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 70,590 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, York County's median bill of $2,676 is #3 of 9.

The closest population match is Columbia County, Florida (70,755 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,385 on a median home value of $186,400 — $1,291 more than York County pays.

Inside Virginia itself, the counties closest to York County in population are Augusta County (77,713 residents, median tax $1,379 on a median value of $281,400); Fauquier County (73,935 residents, median tax $4,185 on a median value of $543,700); Pittsylvania County (60,148 residents, median tax $907 on a median value of $153,000); Campbell County (55,398 residents, median tax $913 on a median value of $199,200). 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 0.65%, each $100,000 of value corresponds to about $651 of tax a year, and a $400,000 home to roughly $2,604. 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 York County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.65% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for York 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 York 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 York 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 Virginia counties

• Fauquier County, VA — $4,185
• Augusta County, VA — $1,379
• Lynchburg city, VA — $1,778
• James City County, VA — $2,786
• Bedford County, VA — $1,265
• Pittsylvania County, VA — $907

Frequently asked questions