Are Property Taxes High in Oregon? Rates, Caps, and Exemptions

Property taxes in Oregon are not high by national standards. The state’s effective property tax rate runs about 0.78% of a home’s value, which ranks 24th out of 50 and sits below the national average of roughly 0.87%.¹ What makes the bill feel heavier than that number suggests is that Oregon has no general sales tax, so property taxes carry a bigger share of what you pay to live here.² Two constitutional amendments cap how fast your bill can grow, but voter-approved levies and bonds can push the total well above the statewide average in some neighborhoods.

Where Oregon Sits Compared to Other States

At 0.78% of home value, Oregon lands squarely in the middle tier of state property tax burdens. New Jersey tops the list at over 2.2%, with Illinois and Connecticut close behind. Hawaii and Alabama sit near the bottom.¹

Context from the West Coast helps. Washington’s effective rate is similar to Oregon’s, but Washington also collects a sales tax that Oregon doesn’t have. California’s Proposition 13 system often produces lower rates for people who have owned their home for decades, while newer buyers pay more. So Oregon’s rate alone does not mark the state as expensive for property owners. What you actually feel depends on the full tax picture.

Why the Bill Can Still Feel High

Oregon is one of only a handful of states without a general sales tax. Local governments make up the difference through property taxes and income taxes, which fund schools, roads, and public safety. You never pay a few extra cents at the register, so the full weight of local funding arrives in one annual property tax bill. On top of that, Oregon’s top individual income tax rate reaches 9.9%, and some local jurisdictions layer on their own income taxes.

Homeowners who itemize can deduct property taxes along with state income taxes on their federal return through the State and Local Tax deduction. For 2026, the SALT cap is $40,400 for most filers and $20,200 for married filing separately, with a phase-out starting at $500,000 of modified adjusted gross income. The cap is scheduled to drop back to $10,000 after 2029.

The Two Caps That Limit What You Pay

Two constitutional amendments shape every Oregon property tax bill. They work together, and together they keep most homeowners from being hit with the kind of large year-over-year jumps that happen in some other states.

Measure 5: Rate Limits

Voters passed Measure 5 in 1990. It caps the tax rates that can be applied to a property’s real market value: $5 per $1,000 for education and $10 per $1,000 for general government.³ When the combined levies in your tax code area push past those ceilings, bills get reduced through compression. Local option levies lose funding first; if that isn’t enough, remaining permanent rates in that category are cut proportionally.⁴ Compression is more common in urban areas where many overlapping taxing districts stack onto the same properties.

Measure 50: The 3% Growth Cap

Measure 50 passed in 1997 and changed how property is valued for tax purposes. Rather than taxing you on what your home could sell for today, the system uses a separate figure called Maximum Assessed Value. Starting from a 1997 baseline (the 1995 real market value reduced by 10%), your Maximum Assessed Value cannot rise by more than 3% per year.⁵ That cap holds even if your home’s market value jumps 15% in a single year. New construction and other qualifying changes can cause larger increases, but for an existing home with no major changes, 3% is the ceiling.⁶

In fast-appreciating markets, this creates a growing gap between what your home is worth and the value your taxes are based on. The longer you own, the bigger the discount tends to get.

How Your Actual Bill Gets Calculated

Three values drive your bill, and the county assessor sets all three each year:

Real Market Value (RMV): what your property would sell for in an open-market sale as of January 1.⁶
Maximum Assessed Value (MAV): the Measure 50 ceiling that rises no more than 3% a year, unless qualifying changes like new construction occur. New construction adds to MAV only if it increases RMV by more than $18,200 in a single year or $45,000 within any five consecutive years.⁶
Assessed Value (AV): the lower of RMV or MAV. This is the number your tax rate is applied to.⁶

In most Oregon markets, prices have risen far faster than 3% per year over time, so Maximum Assessed Value usually sits well below Real Market Value. If the market drops and your home’s RMV falls under the MAV, your taxes adjust down to the lower figure.

Why Your Neighbor’s Bill May Differ From Yours

The statewide 0.78% average hides significant local variation. Your actual rate is a consolidated figure built from every taxing district that overlaps your property: city, county, school district, fire district, and so on, each expressed per $1,000 of assessed value.⁷

Urban areas, especially the Portland metro, tend to carry higher consolidated rates because voters there approve more levies and bonds for transit, parks, affordable housing, and schools. Rural counties in eastern and southern Oregon generally have lower rates with fewer overlapping districts. Two identical homes with the same assessed value in different parts of the state can have bills that differ by thousands of dollars.

Local option levies fund operating expenses and are subject to Measure 5 compression. A general operating levy can last no more than five years before voters must renew it; capital-project levies can run up to ten years, capped at the useful life of what’s being built. General obligation bonds work differently: voters approve borrowing for major projects like school buildings, and the resulting debt-service taxes sit outside the Measure 5 rate limits entirely. Bond levies appear as separate line items and can add meaningfully to your total.

New construction brings its own twist through the Changed Property Ratio. When a home is built or substantially improved, the county does not simply add the full market value to the tax roll. It applies a ratio calculated each year by dividing the average Maximum Assessed Value of unchanged properties by their average Real Market Value, broken out by property type.⁸ A newly built home valued at $500,000 might end up with a taxable assessed value of only $210,000 to $300,000, depending on the county. In some counties, the residential ratio has dipped below 50%.

Payment Schedule and Early-Payment Discounts

Property taxes in Oregon are due in three installments: the first third by November 15, the second third by February 15, and the final third by May 15.⁹ You can pay in installments at no extra cost as long as each one arrives on time. Paying early gets you a discount:

3% off if you pay the full year’s taxes by November 15.
2% off if you pay two-thirds of the year’s taxes by November 15.⁹

On a $5,000 bill, paying in full by mid-November saves $150. Miss a deadline and the rules get tight: interest accrues at 1.333% per month (or any fraction of a month) on any late installment, starting immediately.⁹ That works out to roughly 16% annualized. Counties have no authority to waive the interest, so there’s no point calling to negotiate.

Ways to Lower What You Owe

Several programs can reduce or postpone your bill if you qualify. None of them are automatic; you have to apply.

Senior and Disabled Citizens Deferral

If you’re 62 or older, or you receive (or qualify for) federal Social Security disability benefits, you can defer your property taxes entirely. The state pays them and places a lien on your home that gets repaid when you sell or transfer the property. For the 2026 program year, your 2025 household income must be under $70,000, your net worth (excluding the home) must be below $500,000, and your home’s real market value must fall under the county limit or the minimum cap of $301,000, whichever is greater.¹⁰ The deferred amount accrues interest, so the program works best for owners who plan to stay long-term and need cash-flow relief now.

Disabled Veteran Exemption

Disabled veterans, or the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner of a veteran, can exempt either $27,092 or $32,512 of their homestead’s assessed value. Those amounts grow by 3% each year.¹¹ The higher amount applies to veterans with more severe service-connected disabilities.

Appealing Your Assessment

If you believe your Real Market Value is too high or the assessor made an error, you can appeal. File a petition with your county’s Board of Property Tax Appeals through the county clerk after tax statements are mailed in October and no later than December 31 of that tax year.¹² Miss December 31 and you lose your right to appeal for that year. If the board’s decision doesn’t satisfy you, or you’d rather skip it, you can file with the Oregon Tax Court’s Magistrate Division for a $50 fee.¹³

Successful appeals almost always rest on evidence: recent comparable sales, errors in the property description (wrong square footage, lot size, or condition rating), or documented damage that affects value. Assessors work from mass-appraisal models that sometimes miss property-specific details. Show them what they missed and you have a reasonable chance at a reduction.

1
Tax Foundation. Property Taxes by State and County, 2025
2
Oregon Department of Revenue. Sales Tax in Oregon
3
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute ORS 310.150 – Segregation Into Categories
4
Oregon Department of Revenue. Property Assessment and Taxation
5
Oregon Constitution. Oregon Constitution Art XI Section 11
6
Oregon Department of Revenue. Real Property Assessment and Taxation, 150-303-670
7
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute ORS 310.090 – Computation of Rate for Each Item of Tax
8
Official Website for Hood River County, OR. What Is the Changed Property Ratio and How Does It Affect Property Taxes?
9
OregonLaws. ORS 311.505 – Due Dates; Interest on Late Payments
10
Oregon Department of Revenue. Publication OR-PTD, Oregon Property Tax Deferral for Disabled and Senior Citizens
11
Oregon.gov. Disabled Veteran or Surviving Spouse Property Tax Exemption
12
OregonLaws. ORS 309.100 – Petitions for Reduction of Property Value; Filing
13
Oregon Tax Court. Oregon Tax Court Fee Schedule