Property Tax in Cabell County, West Virginia

What the Cabell County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Cabell County homeowners pay more than $989 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 $156,100, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 0.63%. 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 Cabell County

For context, the West Virginia medians are $835 of tax on $155,600 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Cabell County at a glance

• Median tax rank in West Virginia: #6 of 55 counties
• Median home value rank in West Virginia: #17 of 55
• Population rank in West Virginia: #4 of 55 (93,300 residents)
• Population density rank: #4 of 55 (332 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in West Virginia: #45 of 55 (281 sq mi, 1.2% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $82; per $1,000 of home value: $0.63

How Cabell County compares

Of the 55 West Virginia counties with published data, 5 have a higher median property tax bill than Cabell County's $989, putting the county at #6 in the state. Its bill is about 18% higher than the state median of $835 and about 67% lower than the national median of $2,969.

Rates and values pull in opposite directions: an expensive housing market can produce big bills at ordinary rates. Here the derived rate is 0.63%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #17 within West Virginia.

Some extra context for Cabell County: the median bill works out to about $82 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $634 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 93,300 people — the #4 most populous county in West Virginia, spread over 281 square miles, a density of about 332 people per square mile. Its median home value, $156,100, ranks #17 among the state's 55 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 2379 record a higher median tax bill than Cabell County — it sits in the top 76% nationally. The county holds roughly 5.2% of West Virginia's people. Its homes are worth more than the state norm (median $156,100 versus $155,600), and a decade at the derived rate of 0.63% adds up to about 6.34% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, McDowell County, medians $278 — $711 less than Cabell County per year.

Counties nearest Cabell County in the West Virginia ranking

Cabell County and its population peers

Population is a useful lens on these figures, so the table below sets Cabell 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, Cabell County's $989 bill is #8 of 9.

The closest population match is Frederick County, Virginia (93,355 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,807 on a median home value of $355,000 — $818 less than Cabell County pays.

Inside West Virginia itself, the counties closest to Cabell County in population are Berkeley County (126,165 residents, median tax $1,353 on a median value of $248,000); Monongalia County (106,520 residents, median tax $1,232 on a median value of $254,200); Wood County (83,829 residents, median tax $943 on a median value of $153,700); Raleigh County (73,666 residents, median tax $733 on a median value of $142,600). 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

As an illustration of the arithmetic: at Cabell County's derived rate of 0.63%, a home valued at $400,000 would carry a tax bill of roughly $2,536 a year. That is only an illustration using the derived rate — a real bill is computed from the property's assessed value, its exemptions, and the combined rates of its specific taxing districts, so it can be higher or lower.

The usual sequence is: the local assessor values the property; exemptions are applied; the taxable value is multiplied by the combined local rates; and the county bills and collects the tax, distributing it to the schools, municipalities and districts that levied it.

Illustrative bills in Cabell County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.63% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Cabell County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.54% 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 Cabell County

Most successful appeals are won on facts, not arguments. Start with the property record card held by the Cabell 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.

More West Virginia counties

• Wood County, WV — $943
• Monongalia County, WV — $1,232
• Raleigh County, WV — $733
• Harrison County, WV — $872
• Berkeley County, WV — $1,353
• Mercer County, WV — $589

Frequently asked questions