Property Tax 101

The median property tax (also known as real estate tax) in Howard County is $1,161.00 per year, based on a median home value of $90,300.00 and a median effective property tax rate of 1.29% of property value.

Howard 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 ninety-nine counties in Iowa, Howard County is ranked 54th by median property taxes, and 38th by median tax as percentage of home value.

While Howard County collects a median of 1.29% of a property's each year as property tax, the actual amount of property tax collected is lower compared to the rest of Iowa. This is partially because the median property value in Howard County is $31,700.00 lower than the Iowa median property value of $122,000.00.

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

54th out of 99 By median yearly property tax

38th out of 99 By percentage of median home value

46th out of 99 By percentage of median income

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

Remember: Real estate prices also play a large part in which Iowa 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 Howard County are the responsibility of the Howard County Tax Assessor, whose office is located in Cresco, Iowa.

If you need to pay your property tax bill, ask about a property tax assessment, look up the Howard County property tax due date, or find property tax records, visit the Howard County Tax Assessor's page. Applications for the Howard County homestead exemption, any property tax appeals, and applications for a current use tax reduction must also be submitted to the Howard 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 Howard County Property Tax Calculator to estimate your property tax based on median tax values (results open in new page).