just found out there are literally places in the us where people pay under $300 a year in property taxes. like, under $300. meanwhile some folks are dropping over 10k annually. the difference is wild

turns out it's mostly about finding counties with lower home values combined with low local tax rates. the tax foundation did a report showing that back in 2022, the national average was around $1,815 per year, but certain counties—especially in alaska, louisiana, alabama, north dakota and west virginia—are basically outliers

funny thing is some alaska counties have the lowest property taxes in the us even though the state itself has pretty high tax rates overall. like how does that even work? apparently it's about that specific county combination of low rates and lower property values

most of these places are rural areas with lower median household incomes, which makes sense. the list includes places like kusilvak census area in alaska, avoyelles parish in louisiana, and various counties in alabama. all under $300 median tax bills

the trade-off though is real—lower taxes usually means less funding for schools and services. so while nobody's complaining about paying less, you gotta think about what you're actually getting. some people don't mind it, others would rather pay more for better funded schools and infrastructure

if you're actually considering moving somewhere with the lowest property taxes in the us, probably worth looking at what that means for the area beyond just the tax number