How we research our guides

Property tax exemptions are set by state constitutions and statutes, and the amounts, income limits and deadlines change often: several states changed theirs in 2025 and 2026. This page explains where our information comes from.

Sources

Each state page is built from official sources: the state revenue or taxation department, the state comptroller, the assessor of the largest county or city, the official forms, and the statutes on the legislature's website. We don't use law-firm, real-estate or blog sites as sources. Each page lists its sources and the month they were checked.

How we check

  • Every state page is researched and then checked by a second reviewer against the official sources.
  • Amounts are for tax year 2026 where the state has published them.
  • Where amounts are set by counties, cities or towns, we say so and give the rule or an example from the largest county or city.
  • Where we could not confirm something, we leave it out or say so on the page instead of guessing.

The tools

The eligibility finder compares your answers with each exemption's rule. It reads an age, a VA rating or an income limit only where the official rule states it plainly as a single number; otherwise it shows the exemption as “may qualify: check the rule” with the rule's own words. It never decides for you: only the local office can.

The savings estimate multiplies the value an exemption takes off by a tax rate. The starting rate is the state's median effective rate: the median property tax paid by owner-occupied homes divided by their median value, from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates (tables B25103 and B25077), the same figures Tax Appeal Map uses. Local rates differ a lot, so you can type your own. Where an exemption applies only to some taxes, or to assessed value, the estimate says so.

The document checklist turns each exemption's official application steps, form and deadline into a list. It collects no personal details and is made on your device.

Report an error

Email us at [email protected] with a link to the official source and we'll check it.