What actually sets Oregon apart
Oregon is the rare state where buying does not reset your assessment. Maximum assessed value carries on growing at 3% a year regardless of what you paid, which means a long-held home can be taxed on a fraction of its market value and the new owner inherits that advantage. It also means the assessment on the listing is genuinely predictive here, unlike in California, Florida or Michigan.
Property taxes in Oregon at a glance
- Average effective tax rate: 0.83% of home value per year
- Median home value: $454,200
- Estimated tax on a median-value home: $3,767 per year (about $314 per month)
- Rank by tax rate: 25th of 50, highest first
- Rank by amount actually paid: 14th of 50, highest first
- Where these figures come from: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, for the Oregon statewide averages shown above — ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates, last reviewed September 2026.
Why the Oregon rate understates the bill
Ranked by rate, Oregon is 25th of the fifty. Ranked by what an owner actually pays, it is 14th — 11 places higher. The rate is not doing that work; the $454,200 median home value is. A modest percentage of an expensive house is still an expensive bill.
Wisconsin makes the point. It charges 1.51%, roughly 1.8 times the Oregon rate, and its median owner still pays about $3,746 a year — some $21 less than an Oregon owner on a median-value home.
How Oregon works out what you owe
Oregon taxes a maximum assessed value that has almost nothing to do with the current market. Measure 50 set the base in 1997 and lets it grow 3% a year, and the tax is levied on the lower of that figure and real market value.
Growth in maximum assessed value is limited to 3% a year, and Measure 5 caps the total rate at $10 per $1,000 of real market value for general government and $5 for schools, excluding voter-approved bonds.
Exemptions Oregon homeowners should claim
Each of these reduces an Oregon bill every year you hold the property, and almost none are granted without a claim:
- Disabled veteran or surviving spouse exemption: Exempts a set amount of assessed value on the primary residence of a qualifying disabled veteran or their surviving spouse, adjusted annually.
- Senior and disabled property tax deferral: The state pays the bill for qualifying owners and places a lien recovered when the property is sold, rather than reducing the tax outright.
Where you buy inside Oregon changes the bill
A statewide average hides its extremes. Where they show up in Oregon:
- Multnomah County: Portland, where voter-approved bonds and local option levies sit outside the Measure 5 caps and have pushed effective rates up
- Washington County: the western suburbs, with a similar mix of bonds on a newer and more uniformly assessed housing stock
- Lane County: Eugene, where the gap between maximum assessed value and market value is unusually wide on older homes
Oregon and its neighbours
The same $454,200 — the Oregon median — taxed at each neighbouring state's average rate:
- Washington at 0.84%: about $3,815 a year, roughly $48 more than the $3,767 an Oregon owner would pay on the same value.
- Idaho at 0.53%: about $2,407 a year, roughly $1,360 less than the $3,767 an Oregon owner would pay on the same value.
- Nevada at 0.49%: about $2,226 a year, roughly $1,541 less than the $3,767 an Oregon owner would pay on the same value.
- California at 0.71%: about $3,225 a year, roughly $542 less than the $3,767 an Oregon owner would pay on the same value.
Appealing an Oregon assessment
If the assessed value on your Oregon home overstates what it is worth, the route is an appeal to the county Board of Property Tax Appeals, then the Magistrate Division of the Tax Court. The window is petitions are due by 31 December after the October bill, and it is strict — missing it means waiting a full cycle.
Frequently asked questions
When are Oregon property taxes due, and when must exemption claims be filed?
Bills are mailed in October and due 15 November, with a discount for paying the full year at once. Applications are filed with the county assessor, generally between January and mid-April.
Does this calculator use my exact Oregon county tax rate?
No — it applies the Oregon statewide average of 0.83%. Rates are set locally, and the spread inside Oregon is wide enough to matter: on a $454,200 home, $707 a year separates Oregon from an averagely taxed state before any county variation is counted. Check the parcel's own rate with its Oregon 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.