Property Tax in Portage County, Wisconsin

What the Portage County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $3,396 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Portage County, and $230,400 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 Portage County is 1.47% (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 Portage County

For context, the Wisconsin medians are $3,746 of tax on $247,400 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Portage County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Wisconsin: #24 of 72 counties
• Median home value rank in Wisconsin: #24 of 72
• Population rank in Wisconsin: #23 of 72 (70,375 residents)
• Population density rank: #24 of 72 (88 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Wisconsin: #29 of 72 (800 sq mi, 1.5% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $283; per $1,000 of home value: $1.47

How Portage County compares

Of the 72 Wisconsin counties with published data, 23 have a higher median property tax bill than Portage County's $3,396, putting the county at #24 in the state. Its bill is about 9% lower than the state median of $3,746 and about 14% higher 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 1.47%, versus 0.98% derived nationally, and the median home value ranks #24 within Wisconsin.

Some extra context for Portage County: the median bill works out to about $283 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,474 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 70,375 people — the #23 most populous county in Wisconsin, spread over 800 square miles, a density of about 88 people per square mile. Its median home value, $230,400, ranks #24 among the state's 72 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 335 record a higher median tax bill than Portage County — it sits in the top 11% nationally. The county holds roughly 1.2% of Wisconsin's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $230,400 versus $247,400), and a decade at the derived rate of 1.47% adds up to about 14.74% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Iron County, medians $1,777 — $1,619 less than Portage County per year.

Counties nearest Portage County in the Wisconsin ranking

Portage County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Portage County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Portage County ($3,396) ranks #2 of 9 by median tax paid.

The closest population match is York County, Virginia (70,590 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $2,676 on a median home value of $411,200 — $720 more than Portage County pays.

Staying within Wisconsin, the counties nearest Portage County by population are Manitowoc County (81,314 residents, median tax $2,660 on a median value of $172,900); Wood County (74,039 residents, median tax $2,629 on a median value of $168,100); Chippewa County (66,558 residents, median tax $2,754 on a median value of $237,700); Sauk County (65,759 residents, median tax $3,646 on a median value of $242,400). 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. Portage County's medians imply a derived rate of 1.47%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $5,896 a year, or around $491 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Portage County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.47% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Portage County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 1.51% 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 Portage 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 Portage 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 Wisconsin counties

• Wood County, WI — $2,629
• Chippewa County, WI — $2,754
• Sauk County, WI — $3,646
• Manitowoc County, WI — $2,660
• Columbia County, WI — $3,826
• Jefferson County, WI — $3,988

Frequently asked questions