Property Tax 101

The median property tax (also known as real estate tax) in Howard County is $4,261.00 per year, based on a median home value of $456,200.00 and a median effective property tax rate of 0.93% of property value.

Howard County collects very high property taxes, and is among the top 25% of counties in the United States ranked by property tax collections. Of the twenty-four counties in Maryland, Howard County is ranked 1st by median property taxes, and 4th by median tax as percentage of home value.

Howard County's higher property taxes are partially due to property values, as the median home value in Howard County is $456,200.00. For comparison, the state-wide median property value is $318,600.00

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

1st out of 24 By median yearly property tax

4th out of 24 By percentage of median home value

2nd out of 24 By percentage of median income

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

Remember: Real estate prices also play a large part in which Maryland 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 Ellicott City, Maryland.

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).