How much are your property taxes compared to your household income/FIRE budget?

[panacea]

WI property taxes amount to about 2% of the home value... yippee.

2.9% of current income
7.5% of estimated retirement pre-tax budget (not retired)
Will be downsizing, so will likely be around 3.8% of retirement budget

 

[eridanus]

14.1% of my annual spending (~$40k) in TX. That's for only 1000 square feet, too.

I'm not RE yet (I'm bouncing on the FI line) so it's of course less than my annual income.

 

[W2R]

My property tax is 1.3% of what FIRECalc says I can spend.

 

[james7]

Hi:

I live in New Jersey, a state with high property taxes.

Based on my current income (I am not yet FIRE) my property tax is 5.9 percent of my annual pre-tax income.

Based on my predicted FIRE annual budget, my property tax will be approximately 15.3 percent of the FIRE annual budget. My FIRE annual budget is less than my current annual income. This percent seems very high and I question whether I can FIRE for the long term in New Jersey based in part on the high property taxes.

There are a number of reasons why I would like to stay here. My friends and family are here. I like being close to NYC. I like the Jersey Shore. I like having four seasons, etc. My professional license is in this state.

That leads me to some questions. First, I would like to know what percent of your annual income/FIRE annual budget is comprised of property tax.

Aside from relocating, can you think of ways that I could reduce the percent of my FIRE budget that property taxes will represent. I live in a fairly modest home and the property tax is on the lower side of average for New Jersey.

I appealed my property tax assessment and negotiated a settlement with county. But the new assessed value does not reduce the property tax amount significantly.

If I rented, I would not be directly responsible for property taxes, but the cost would be built into the rent payment. And since I got a mortgage at a very low rate of interest, my mortgage payment and property tax payment for the house is about the same amount as monthly rent on a much smaller apartment.

I appreciate your insight.

I feel your pain. I'm in Philadelphia and properties are being reassessed. We don't know what the new figures will be yet, but real estate taxes could be as much as 35% of a retirement budget. We won't be staying in this house, but we also don't want to leave the area as we can be in Midtown Manhattan or the Jersey Shore in under ninety minutes. The PA suburbs have high taxes, and the NJ suburbs taxes are the highest in the nation.

Have you or any senior citizens groups in your area spoken with your elected representatives about this problem?

 

[fh2000]

In LA, CA.

1.5% of current income.
4.5% of planned retirement budget.

 

[Corporateburnout]

South of Boston

3% of current income
6.75% of retirement budget

 

[Willers]

Living in tax-loving Wisconsin - 11.8% of RE expense. Looking at other states in RE...

 

[JoeWras]

Retired.
IL: 13% of budget
NV: 4% of budget
I don't know why it is higher than most posters.

Because they are not in IL.

My Dad was paying 10% of his income in RE taxes. He only owned a condo, and he has a decent pension on top of SS. This is northern suburbs of Chicago.

We finally sold the place and he is recovering a lot of expenses to pay for his independent living apartment.

For the record, here in NC I expect to pay about 2% of my expected income in retirement.

 

[Fermion]

No way would I stay in IL. You will be bailing out everyone else and every other program with your property taxes for years.

We pay about 2% of our income as RE tax in WA and will pay 0% real estate tax in retirement when staying on BLM land in our RV.

 

[BTravlin]

Our condo is valued at $332k and property taxes are $250/yr or .45% of our annual budget.

 

[brewer12345]

Have you or any senior citizens groups in your area spoken with your elected representatives about this problem?

Haaaahahahahahaha!!!

Who do you think is living it up with your RE tax money?

 

[NanoSour]

Currently 4.08% of ER spending budget. State of WA. Curious to see if that number changes over time.

 

[MichaelB]

We have two places, total about 7.5% of our yearly budget. We used to have one home, in NY, where we lived before retiring. Similar property value to what we have now, but the '11 property tax was / is 16% of our budget.

 

[nico08]

No way would I stay in IL. You will be bailing out everyone else and every other program with your property taxes for years.

We pay about 2% of our income as RE tax in WA and will pay 0% real estate tax in retirement when staying on BLM land in our RV.

What is BLM land?

 

[nico08]

Our condo is valued at $332k and property taxes are $250/yr or .45% of our annual budget.

Where do you live?

 

[Corporateburnout]

Our condo is valued at $332k and property taxes are $250/yr or .45% of our annual budget.

Where do you live?

 

[nico08]

I feel your pain. I'm in Philadelphia and properties are being reassessed. We don't know what the new figures will be yet, but real estate taxes could be as much as 35% of a retirement budget. We won't be staying in this house, but we also don't want to leave the area as we can be in Midtown Manhattan or the Jersey Shore in under ninety minutes. The PA suburbs have high taxes, and the NJ suburbs taxes are the highest in the nation.

Have you or any senior citizens groups in your area spoken with your elected representatives about this problem?

I am not a senior, but I have not addressed this with any legislator because I feel it would be futile.

 

[SumDay]

2% on w*rking income, pretty good sized house and lot.

 

[brewer12345]

What is BLM land?

Bureau of Land Management. It holds gazillions of acres of feddle gubmint owned land, much of it in the western US and just about all of it in the middle of nowhere. It is generally open to the public for camping, hunting, hiking, etc.

 

[Fermion]

What is BLM land?

Bureau of Land Management

264 million acres with free camping (can stay up to 14 days before you need to move a few miles).

 

[nico08]

nico..I too live in NJ and pay ridiculous amount in property taxes. It's about 7% of my current salary. It'll be close to 11-12% of my FIRE withdrawal rate.

Do you think you will stay in NJ when you FIRE? If not, where will you go? I have thought about Delaware or parts of Pennsylvania perhaps.

 

[martyp]

I am ER'd and DW is still working but our property taxes in CA are 2% of our income. We bought our house 30 yrs ago and Prop 13 has kept the taxes low.

 

[SJ1_]

6.5% of our retirement budget (both retired)
1.7% of pre retirement salary (same budget just made a lot more)

Properties here in Atl. in town are up about 20% so next yr....

At 65 we get a large tax break on property taxes. At 61 and 56 we have not looked into the details yet.

 

[nico08]

I am ER'd and DW is still working but our property taxes in CA are 2% of our income. We bought our house 30 yrs ago and Prop 13 has kept the taxes low.

Yes, I think NJ has some kind of property tax freeze for seniors as an incentive to keep them in the state after they retire. At some point, based on age and income level, their property taxes no longer increase. I am many years away from being eligible for anything like that.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Florida:

Current taxes are about $2300/year. It's hard to put a number on the taxable value that anyone out there would understand. We get a $50K homestead exemption off the assessed value which has nothing to do with the value of the property. That exemption saves us about $450/year. House value is probably $275K. In Florida, your property taxes cannot go up more than 3% per year. We don't operate on a budget so I can't tie those taxes to a percentage of a budget. Our budget works as follows:
1. Receive bills.
2. Pay bills.
____________________
= Hope there is something left over.