What actually sets Massachusetts apart
Proposition 2½ makes Massachusetts unusually predictable year to year: absent an override vote, the total levy cannot jump. The flip side is that overrides and debt exclusions for new schools are common and permanent-feeling, and they are decided at town meeting rather than by the assessor.
Property taxes in Massachusetts at a glance
- Average effective tax rate: 1.11% of home value per year
- Median home value: $525,800
- Estimated tax on a median-value home: $5,813 per year (about $484 per month)
- Rank by tax rate: 17th of 50, highest first
- Rank by amount actually paid: 5th of 50, highest first
- Where these figures come from: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, for the Massachusetts statewide averages shown above — ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates, last reviewed September 2026.
Why the Massachusetts rate understates the bill
Ranked by rate, Massachusetts is 17th of the fifty. Ranked by what an owner actually pays, it is 5th — 12 places higher. The rate is not doing that work; the $525,800 median home value is. A modest percentage of an expensive house is still an expensive bill.
Illinois makes the point. It charges 2.07%, roughly 1.9 times the Massachusetts rate, and its median owner still pays about $5,189 a year — some $624 less than a Massachusetts owner on a median-value home.
How Massachusetts works out what you owe
Cities and towns assess at full and fair cash value every year and certify values with the state every five years. Many communities set separate residential and commercial rates.
Proposition 2½ limits the total levy to 2.5% of a community's full assessed value and limits annual levy growth to 2.5% plus new growth, unless voters pass an override or a debt exclusion.
Exemptions Massachusetts homeowners should claim
Each of these reduces a Massachusetts bill every year you hold the property, and almost none are granted without a claim:
- Residential exemption: Boston and a number of other cities shift part of the burden onto non-owner-occupied property by exempting a share of average residential value for owner-occupiers. It is one of the most valuable exemptions in the country where it applies.
- Senior, veteran and blind exemptions: Statutory exemptions for owners aged 65 or older within asset and income limits, for qualifying veterans and for legally blind owners.
Where you buy inside Massachusetts changes the bill
A statewide average hides its extremes. Where they show up in Massachusetts:
- Middlesex County: counties have almost no role in Massachusetts taxation; the town sets everything, and rates across Middlesex towns vary widely
- Suffolk County: Boston, where the residential exemption makes the effective owner-occupier rate substantially lower than the published rate
- Worcester County: central Massachusetts, where lower values are paired with higher rates than the Boston suburbs
Massachusetts and its neighbours
The same $525,800 — the Massachusetts median — taxed at each neighbouring state's average rate:
- New Hampshire at 1.77%: about $9,307 a year, roughly $3,494 more than the $5,813 a Massachusetts owner would pay on the same value.
- Vermont at 1.71%: about $8,991 a year, roughly $3,178 more than the $5,813 a Massachusetts owner would pay on the same value.
- New York at 1.6%: about $8,413 a year, roughly $2,600 more than the $5,813 a Massachusetts owner would pay on the same value.
- Connecticut at 1.92%: about $10,095 a year, roughly $4,282 more than the $5,813 a Massachusetts owner would pay on the same value.
- Rhode Island at 1.32%: about $6,941 a year, roughly $1,128 more than the $5,813 a Massachusetts owner would pay on the same value.
Appealing a Massachusetts assessment
If the assessed value on your Massachusetts home overstates what it is worth, the route is an appeal to the local board of assessors for abatement, then the Appellate Tax Board. The window is abatement applications are due by the due date of the third-quarter bill, commonly 1 February, and it is strict — missing it means waiting a full cycle.
Frequently asked questions
When are Massachusetts property taxes due, and when must exemption claims be filed?
The fiscal year starts 1 July and bills are usually quarterly, due in August, November, February and May. Applications go to the local assessor, generally by 1 April, and most exemptions must be refiled every year.
Does this calculator use my exact Massachusetts county tax rate?
No — it applies the Massachusetts statewide average of 1.11%. Rates are set locally, and the spread inside Massachusetts is wide enough to matter: on a $525,800 home, $654 a year separates Massachusetts from an averagely taxed state before any county variation is counted. Check the parcel's own rate with its Massachusetts county before relying on this figure.
Reference sources
Related calculators
How this estimate is built
Principal and interest come from the standard amortization formula, worked through in full on the formula reference page. Property tax, insurance, PMI and loan-program figures layer on top from published assumptions — each one sourced, dated and listed on the methodology page. Every result here is an estimate built from public data, not a quote: confirm the specifics with a lender before relying on it.
For developers
This calculation is also available as a REST API and through an MCP server, both running the same engine as this page — so the figures match by construction rather than by convention. No key required.