All 159 Georgia counties ranked by effective tax rate, tax bill, home value, and appeal savings. Rates range from 0.41% to 1.85% with $18.3B collected statewide.
# Georgia Property Tax Rates by County: All 159 Counties Ranked (2026)
Last Updated: March 2026
Georgia homeowners don't pay one property tax rate. They pay 159 different ones. And the gap between the cheapest and most expensive county is wider than most people realize.
Dougherty County's effective tax rate of 1.85% is 4.5 times higher than Fannin County's 0.41%. A homeowner with a $300,000 house would pay $5,550 a year in Dougherty County and just $1,230 in Fannin County, a difference of $4,320 on the exact same home value.
Across all 159 counties, Georgia collected roughly $18.3 billion in property tax revenue in 2024, funding schools, fire departments, and county services. Statewide, assessed home values have doubled since 2013, and property tax collections grew 41% between 2018 and 2022 alone. Georgia led the nation with a 15.6% increase in median property tax burden in 2024, the steepest year-over-year jump of any state.
This guide ranks every Georgia county by effective tax rate, median tax bill, home value, and appeal savings potential, all from 2024 American Community Survey and county tax digest data reported to the Georgia Department of Revenue.
Every Georgia property tax bill follows the same formula, regardless of county:
Fair Market Value x 40% = Assessed Value Assessed Value x (Millage Rate / 1000) = Annual Tax Bill
Georgia law (O.C.G.A. 48-5-7) requires all property to be assessed at 40% of fair market value (FMV). The county assessor determines the FMV, then the 40% ratio produces the assessed value, and local millage rates are applied to that.
The same $350,000 home in Fannin County (10.20 mills) would owe just $1,428, a difference of $3,546 per year.
"Effective tax rate" is a simpler way to compare: it equals the median tax bill divided by the median home value. This single number captures the assessment ratio, all millage rates, and the effect of exemptions in aggregate.
Effective tax rate measures what homeowners actually pay as a percentage of their home's market value. It accounts for Georgia's 40% assessment ratio plus all applicable millage rates.
Two patterns stand out. Rural South Georgia counties (Dougherty, Randolph, Calhoun, Clay) rank near the top despite low home values because their millage rates are high relative to property values. Metro Atlanta's largest counties (DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett) appear because rapidly rising assessments push effective rates higher even as values climb.
Dougherty County's 1.85% effective rate is the highest in Georgia. A homeowner there pays $1,781 a year on a $134,400 home, nearly double the state median tax bill of $1,439.
The tax bill ranking reshuffles dramatically compared to effective rate. Wealthy suburban counties dominate because high home values multiply even moderate rates into large dollar amounts.
Forsyth County is the clearest example of how the bill ranking differs from the rate ranking. Its 0.98% effective rate doesn't crack the top 50, but its $550,400 median home value pushes the median bill to $4,020, second highest in the state.
Fulton County homeowners pay a median of $4,033 per year in property taxes. That's 2.8 times the statewide median of $1,439 and nearly $1,000 more than the typical U.S. homeowner pays.
Home values drive tax bills more than any other single factor. The counties with the highest median values are overwhelmingly in metro Atlanta's northern and eastern suburbs.
Greene County stands out for having the eighth highest median home value ($394,800) paired with the fourth lowest effective rate (0.62%). That combination results in a median tax bill of just $2,425, while a comparable home in DeKalb County ($357,800) generates a $3,310 bill.
Appeal savings estimates reflect the annual tax reduction a homeowner could achieve through a successful appeal. These combine each county's FMV reduction percentage with its millage rate, applied to the median home value.
Every county in this top 10 is either in metro Atlanta or the Savannah metro area, and all carry FMV reduction percentages of 10% or higher. Forsyth and Fulton counties stand apart with 12% reduction rates. Under Georgia's 299(c) freeze provision, a successful appeal locks in the reduced value for two additional years, turning Forsyth County's $743 annual savings into $2,229 over three years.
In Forsyth County, a successful property tax appeal saves the typical homeowner an estimated $743 per year, or $2,229 over three years under Georgia's assessment freeze.
Note that FMV reduction percentages are higher in counties with greater appeal volume and more comparable sales data. Rural counties with 5% reduction rates tend to have fewer recent sales, which limits the evidence available to support larger reductions.
Metro Atlanta's eight core counties hold roughly 40% of Georgia's population. Their tax profiles vary significantly.
DeKalb County's 4.379 millage rate is the highest of any metro county. Its combined rate has remained unchanged since 2015, but rising assessments have pushed bills higher every year. In 2025, DeKalb billed $1.8 billion in total property taxes, up from $1.6 billion in 2023, a 12.5% increase in two years.
Forsyth County is the inverse: lowest rate (0.98%) and lowest millage (2.461) of the eight, but its $550,400 median home value produces the second highest bill ($4,020).
The revenue these counties generate is substantial. Gwinnett County collected over $2 billion in total property tax levies in 2024. Cobb County billed $1.34 billion across 271,400 real and personal property bills. Fulton County's county-only revenue is approximately $879 million, though total levy including schools and cities exceeds $2 billion.
Metro Atlanta homeowners pay an average property tax bill of $2,706, nearly double the statewide median of $1,439.
Rising assessments, not rising millage rates, drive higher bills. Fulton County's residential market value hit $141.66 billion in 2025, up 5.9% year-over-year. Gwinnett's residential taxable value grew 7.9%, with apartment assessments surging 30.6%. Cobb County's digest grew 8.52% in 2024 before cooling to a projected 3% in 2025.
Analysis comparing assessor values to MLS sales data shows 49% of Gwinnett homes and 41% of Fulton homes are overvalued, both well above the 40.5% national average identified by Realtor.com's 2025 Property Tax Report.
Georgia assessors rely on sales data that's one to two years old. When prices cool (Cherokee down 8.0%, Clayton down 7.2% year-over-year), assessments don't adjust immediately. That lag is the primary driver of overassessment, and it creates the strongest appeal opportunities.
The counties with the lowest effective rates are concentrated in the North Georgia mountains and a handful of rural Central Georgia areas.
Fannin County's 0.41% effective rate means a homeowner with a $300,000 property pays about $1,230 a year. The same home in Dougherty County would cost $5,550.
Several mountain counties combine low rates with high home values: Fannin ($306,600 median), Towns ($316,100), and Dawson ($406,700). These areas attract retirees and vacation-home buyers, pushing up values without the high millage rates common in urban school districts.
Fannin County's 0.41% effective rate is the lowest in Georgia, 4.5 times lower than Dougherty County's 1.85%.
The tables above highlight the top and bottom 20. Here is the full dataset for all 159 Georgia counties, ranked by effective tax rate from highest to lowest. Counties with published guides are linked for detailed local analysis.
The median county falls at rank 80 with an effective rate near 1.08%, right at the statewide median. Counties ranked 21-60 are predominantly mid-size cities and suburban areas, while ranks 100-140 are smaller rural counties with moderate rates and lower home values.
Georgia's 159 counties divide into five broad regions with distinct tax profiles. Metro Atlanta's 19-county core generates the highest bills. North Georgia's mountain counties cluster at the bottom of the rate scale. And South Georgia, despite having the cheapest homes, carries the highest average effective rates.
South Georgia has the highest average effective rate (1.20%) despite the lowest average home values ($123,787). High millage rates in Dougherty (4.623 mills), Randolph (3.767 mills), and Calhoun (3.423 mills) offset lower property values. Property taxes consume a larger share of housing costs there than in wealthier areas.
North Georgia's 0.84% average effective rate is 30% below the state average, led by Fannin (1.020 mills), Towns (1.074 mills), and Union (1.181 mills). These counties also have the lowest average millage rate (2.089) of any region.
Metro Atlanta generates the highest average bills ($2,706), holding 55% of Georgia's 10.9 million residents across just 12% of the state's counties.
Effective tax rates aren't evenly distributed across home values. Counties where homes are cheapest actually carry higher average rates, a pattern that matches national research on property tax regressivity by the University of Chicago's Christopher Berry.
Counties with under-$100,000 median home values carry an average effective rate of 1.21%, sixteen percent higher than counties in the $300,000-$400,000 bracket. The cheapest counties pay more, proportionally.
The 21 counties in the bottom bracket include Dougherty (1.85%), Taliaferro (1.54%), and Randolph (1.51%), three of the five highest-rate counties statewide. The $300K-$400K bracket, dominated by growing suburban communities, averages just 0.97%.
This pattern has a concrete explanation in Georgia. Lower-value counties rely more heavily on property taxes as a revenue share because they have smaller commercial tax bases. Their school districts and county governments set higher millage rates to fund basic services, and the lower home values don't generate enough revenue per parcel at lower rates.
Berry's research found that nationally, homes in the cheapest decile are assessed at roughly twice the rate of homes in the top decile. Georgia's county-level data shows a similar, if less extreme, version of this pattern.
Georgia's statewide effective rate sits below the national average, but it varies widely by county, and some Georgia counties have rates that rival the most expensive states in the country.
Georgia's 0.83% effective rate is lower than the national average (1.02%) and significantly lower than Texas (1.60%), but higher than Alabama (0.37%), South Carolina (0.53%), and Tennessee (0.56%). Among its five direct neighbors, only North Carolina at 0.73% and Florida at 0.80% come close.
Georgia ranks 26th nationally for effective property tax rate. Its $18.3 billion in annual collections represents about 2.3% of the $797 billion collected nationwide.
A Georgia-specific advantage: your assessment can't go up during an appeal. Texas offers the same protection. But in North Carolina and New Jersey, the reviewing body can independently raise your value. That makes Georgia one of the safer states to file an appeal.
Georgia's 40% assessment ratio (O.C.G.A. 48-5-7) also complicates cross-state comparisons. A 30-mill rate on 40% of a $400,000 home produces the same $4,800 bill as a 12-mill rate on 100% of that value. The effective rate is the only apples-to-apples metric.
Nationally, state and local governments collected $797 billion in property taxes in 2024, up 8.2% over the prior year. Georgia's $18.3 billion represents about 2.3% of that total, roughly proportional to the state's 3.3% share of the U.S. population.
The effective rates in this article are aggregate medians. Individual homeowners often pay less after claiming exemptions. Georgia offers several that directly reduce your assessed value.
Standard Homestead Exemption: Reduces your assessed value by $2,000 for county and school taxes. You must own and occupy the home as your primary residence as of January 1. Apply by April 1 at your county tax assessor's office. Nearly every Georgia homeowner qualifies but many never apply.
Senior Homestead Exemptions: Homeowners age 62 or 65+ qualify for additional exemptions that vary dramatically by county. Cobb County exempts all homeowners 62+ from 100% of school taxes with no income limit. Gwinnett's L5A exemption eliminates all school taxes for homeowners 65+ earning under $124,648. In counties where school taxes represent 50-60% of the total bill, these exemptions can cut property taxes in half.
Disabled Veteran Exemption: Veterans with a service-connected disability rating from the VA can exempt up to $109,986 from their assessed value. Veterans rated at 100% disabled may qualify for a full exemption from all property taxes.
Floating Homestead (HB 581): In counties that opted in, annual assessment increases are capped at the CPI inflation rate (2.7% for 2026). This doesn't reduce your current bill but prevents future spikes.
Exemptions stack. A 65-year-old veteran in a county that opted into HB 581 could have a substantially lower effective rate than the county median shown in the tables above.
For detailed eligibility and application steps, see our guides on Georgia homestead exemptions, senior exemptions, veteran exemptions, and disability exemptions.
If the tables above show your county has high effective rates or strong appeal savings potential, you may be paying more than you should. Georgia law gives every homeowner the right to appeal their property's assessed value.
County assessors mail assessment notices between March and May (the exact date varies by county). You have 45 days from the date on the notice to file an appeal. This deadline is strictly enforced.
File Form PT-311A with your county Board of Tax Assessors. You can submit it in person, by mail, or online (where your county allows it). The form is one page and asks for your property address, parcel ID, and the value you believe is correct.
The strongest appeals use comparable sales data: recent sales of similar homes in your area that sold for less than what the assessor says your home is worth. Key factors include square footage, lot size, year built, condition, and proximity. Three to five strong comparables typically make the case.
Most homeowners go through the Board of Equalization (BOE), a three-member panel of local property owners. You present your evidence at an informal hearing, and the board decides. If you disagree with the BOE's decision, you can escalate to a Hearing Officer or pursue nonbinding arbitration for properties under $750,000 in value. For high-value properties or complex disputes, superior court appeal is an option.
A successful appeal doesn't just save you money in the current year. Under Georgia's 299(c) provision, the reduced value is frozen for two additional tax years (three years total including the appeal year). In Forsyth County, the top savings county in our ranking, that turns a $743 annual savings into $2,229 over three years.
No. Georgia law prohibits the Board of Equalization from raising your assessment above the original value during an appeal. The worst outcome is that your value stays the same. Learn more in our guide on whether appealing can raise your taxes.
This table summarizes the distribution across all 159 Georgia counties.
The gap between the median ($1,439) and mean ($1,610) tax bill reflects the upward pull of high-value metro counties. The same pattern appears in home values, where the $197,933 average is 16% higher than the $170,200 median.
Wheeler County ($554 median tax bill, $88,200 median home value) and Fulton County ($4,033 median bill, $458,800 median home value) represent the absolute extremes in dollar terms, with a 7.3x difference in annual property tax costs.
Two legislative developments are reshaping Georgia property taxes in 2026.
The Homeowner Tax Relief Grant (HTRG), funded at $850 million in the amended FY 2026 budget, will provide a one-time assessed value reduction for homesteads, estimated at roughly $500 per home.
The HB 581 floating homestead exemption, which voters approved in November 2024, caps annual assessment increases at the CPI inflation rate (2.7% for 2026) for counties that opted in. But 68% of school districts and 30% of counties opted out, and most of the largest jurisdictions are in that group.
SB 382, currently moving through the General Assembly, would eliminate the local opt-out and make the CPI cap mandatory statewide. For the full opt-out scorecard and pending legislation, see HB 581 and Georgia Property Tax Appeals. The official opt-out list is maintained by the Georgia Secretary of State.
This compilation draws from multiple government data sources:
Georgia assesses all property at 40% of fair market value. The effective tax rate equals median annual tax bill divided by median home value, capturing assessment ratio, all millage rates, and exemptions. Savings estimates assume a successful appeal at the FMV reduction percentage for each county, applied to median home value and multiplied by total millage rate. Regional classifications are based on the Georgia Department of Community Affairs regional commission boundaries, with Metro Atlanta defined as the 19-county Atlanta Regional Commission planning area.
Home value quartile data is derived from Census Bureau ACS 2024 estimates (B25077 median values and B25075 value distributions). The regressivity analysis compares county-level averages, not individual property-level assessment ratios.
The complete 159-county ranking table above covers all counties from the 2024 tax digest.