Property Tax in Washington County, Wisconsin

What the Washington County numbers mean

The median is the midpoint of the county's actual bills: half of Washington County homeowners pay more than $3,795 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 $316,200, the median bill works out to a derived effective rate of 1.20%. 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 Washington 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.

Washington County at a glance

• Median tax rank in Wisconsin: #16 of 72 counties
• Median home value rank in Wisconsin: #5 of 72
• Population rank in Wisconsin: #11 of 72 (137,320 residents)
• Population density rank: #9 of 72 (319 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in Wisconsin: #63 of 72 (430 sq mi, 0.8% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $316; per $1,000 of home value: $1.20

How Washington County compares

Set against its state, Washington County's median bill of $3,795 is about the same as the Wisconsin median ($3,746). Against the country as a whole it is about 28% higher than the US median ($2,969). That places the county #16 of 72 Wisconsin counties ranked by median taxes paid.

Remember what drives the ranking: bills follow home values as much as rates. Washington County's median home, at $316,200, ranks #5 by value in Wisconsin, while its derived rate of 1.20% compares with a derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Washington County: the median bill works out to about $316 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $1,200 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 137,320 people — the #11 most populous county in Wisconsin, spread over 430 square miles, a density of about 319 people per square mile. Its median home value, $316,200, ranks #5 among the state's 72 counties with data.

Nationally, Washington County's median bill of $3,795 ranks #259 of 3133 counties with published data — inside the top 8% of counties by tax paid. The county accounts for about 2.3% of Wisconsin's population, its median home value is about 28% above the state median, and at the derived rate the median home would hand over roughly 12.00% of its value in tax across a decade. Within the state, the distance from Washington County to the most expensive county, Dane County ($6,276), is $2,481 a year.

Counties nearest Washington County in the Wisconsin ranking

Washington County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Washington County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 137,320 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Washington County's median bill of $3,795 is #2 of 9.

The closest population match is Hampton city, Virginia (137,334 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $2,259 on a median home value of $234,100 — $1,536 more than Washington County pays.

Washington County's nearest population neighbours within Wisconsin are Rock County (163,944 residents, median tax $3,652 on a median value of $215,900); Marathon County (138,067 residents, median tax $3,108 on a median value of $205,500); La Crosse County (120,262 residents, median tax $3,963 on a median value of $243,200); Sheboygan County (117,783 residents, median tax $3,234 on a median value of $218,400). Comparing them is a reminder that even inside one state's rules, the bill follows local home values and local district rates more than anything decided at the state level.

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. Washington County's medians imply a derived rate of 1.20%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $4,800 a year, or around $400 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Washington County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 1.20% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Washington 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 Washington County

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

• Marathon County, WI — $3,108
• La Crosse County, WI — $3,963
• Sheboygan County, WI — $3,234
• Rock County, WI — $3,652
• Eau Claire County, WI — $3,461
• Kenosha County, WI — $4,180

Frequently asked questions