Property Tax 101

The median property tax (also known as real estate tax) in Polk County is $1,274.00 per year, based on a median home value of $141,900.00 and a median effective property tax rate of 0.90% of property value.

Polk County collects relatively high property taxes, and is ranked in the top half of all counties in the United States by property tax collections. Of the sixty-seven counties in Florida, Polk County is ranked 34th by median property taxes, and 19th by median tax as percentage of home value.

While Polk County collects a median of 0.90% of a property's each year as property tax, the actual amount of property tax collected is lower compared to the rest of Florida. This is partially because the median property value in Polk County is $40,500.00 lower than the Florida median property value of $182,400.00.

• County Tax Comparison
• National Tax Comparison
• Other Florida Counties
• Property Lookup

34th out of 67 By median yearly property tax

19th out of 67 By percentage of median home value

29th out of 67 By percentage of median income

You can see how Polk County (highlighted in green) compares to the sixty-seven other counties in Florida with the bar chart above, sorted by median property tax in dollars. For a visual map of county property tax rates in Florida, see our Florida county property tax map.

Remember: Real estate prices also play a large part in which Florida counties have the highest and lowest median property taxes. Higher-valued properties will generally have higher taxes, even if the median percentage of home value levied as property tax is different. For comparisons, you can also use Percentage Of Home Value.

Property tax assessments in Polk County are the responsibility of the Polk County Tax Assessor, whose office is located in Bartow, Florida.

If you need to pay your property tax bill, ask about a property tax assessment, look up the Polk County property tax due date, or find property tax records, visit the Polk County Tax Assessor's page. Applications for the Polk County homestead exemption, any property tax appeals, and applications for a current use tax reduction must also be submitted to the Polk County Assessor's Office.

For some properties, you can easily find the most recent tax assessment by looking up the property address with our property records search. You can also use our Polk County Property Tax Calculator to estimate your property tax based on median tax values (results open in new page).