The Miami-Dade property tax rate depends on where in the county your property sits, and for 2025 the combined millage runs from roughly 16.93 mills in unincorporated areas to about 20.02 mills inside the City of Miami, where one mill equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value.1Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. 2025 Proposed Millage Rates What you actually pay also depends on your property’s taxable value, which can be well below market price once homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes cap are applied.
How the Rate Is Built
Every parcel in Miami-Dade carries several layers of millage stacked on top of each other. The countywide layer applies no matter which city you live in:1Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. 2025 Proposed Millage Rates
- County general operating: 4.5740 mills
- County debt service: 0.4171 mills
- County fire and rescue: 2.3965 mills, applied in most municipalities (cities that run their own fire departments, such as Miami and Coral Gables, pay a reduced rate or none)
- Library: 0.2812 mills
- Children’s Trust: 0.4638 mills
The single largest piece is the Miami-Dade School Board levy, which totals about 6.63 mills once you combine its operating millage (5.4990), voter-approved operating millage (1.0000), and debt service (0.1340).1Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. 2025 Proposed Millage Rates Regional agencies add smaller amounts: the South Florida Water Management District (0.0948), the Okeechobee Basin levy (0.1026), the Everglades Project (0.0327), and the Florida Inland Navigation District (0.0288).2Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. Taxing Authorities
The last layer is local. If you live in an incorporated city, that city’s own operating and debt service millage is added on top. For 2025, the City of Miami levies about 7.39 mills, while South Miami levies 3.95 and Bal Harbour just 2.14.1Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. 2025 Proposed Millage Rates If you live in unincorporated Miami-Dade, there’s no city millage, but you do pay the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area (UMSA) levy of 1.9090 mills, which funds the zoning, code enforcement, and parks services that cities handle for their own residents.3Miami-Dade County. FY 2025-26 Adopted Budget – Our Financial Structure
Combined Rates by Location
Stacking all the layers together produces these 2025 totals:
- Unincorporated Miami-Dade: approximately 16.93 mills
- Coral Gables: approximately 18.19 mills
- Hialeah: approximately 18.65 mills
- Miami Beach: approximately 18.78 mills
- City of Miami: approximately 20.02 mills
Each taxing authority sets its rate fresh every year through public budget hearings, so the numbers shift slightly from one tax year to the next. Under Florida law, every authority must propose a millage, hold hearings, and adopt the rate by resolution before any levy takes effect.4The Florida Senate. Florida Code 200.065 – Method of Fixing Millage
Turning the Rate Into a Tax Bill
The millage rate only becomes a dollar figure once it’s multiplied by your taxable value. The Miami-Dade Property Appraiser establishes two numbers for every parcel as of January 1 each year: the just value, which is roughly what the property would sell for, and the assessed value, which is the number actually used for tax calculations.5Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Property Tax Calendar For most properties without exemptions or caps, the two match. Where they diverge, you save money.
You can look up both figures, along with any applied exemptions and the taxing jurisdictions involved, through the Property Appraiser’s property search tool.6Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. Property Search Check your property record card each year. Errors in square footage, bedroom count, or lot size can inflate the assessment, and the Property Appraiser won’t catch them for you.
Homestead Exemption
If you own a home in Miami-Dade and make it your permanent residence, you can apply for the homestead exemption, which lowers your taxable value directly. The exemption has two parts:7Florida Legislature. Florida Code 196.031 – Exemption of Homesteads
- The first $25,000 reduces assessed value for all taxes, including the school district levy.
- An additional $25,000 applies only to the portion of assessed value between $50,000 and $75,000, and only to non-school levies. The statute adjusts this second piece annually for inflation.
The gap between $25,000 and $50,000 of assessed value gets no exemption, so the maximum benefit is $50,000 for non-school taxes and $25,000 for school taxes. On a home assessed at $300,000, the exemption saves roughly $2,000 to $3,000 a year depending on the combined millage where you live.
Applications are due to the Property Appraiser by March 1 of the tax year.8Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. Homestead Exemption Late filings are accepted between March 2 and roughly September 20 (the deadline printed on the TRIM notice), though a late application may require a $15 petition to the Value Adjustment Board. You’ll need to provide your Social Security number, a Florida driver’s license or ID card number, and proof that you’ve given up any prior-state residency.9Florida Department of Revenue. Homestead Property Tax Exemption
Save Our Homes Cap
Once homestead is in place, the Save Our Homes provision in the Florida Constitution caps annual increases in your assessed value at the lower of 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index.10Florida Senate. The Florida Constitution Over time, the cap builds a widening gap between assessed value and market value. Long-term owners in neighborhoods with rapid appreciation often carry assessed values 30% to 50% below what the property could sell for, which translates into thousands of dollars of annual savings.
The benefit stays with the homestead, not with you. When a homesteaded property is sold, the new owner’s assessed value resets to the current just value on the next January 1. That reset can produce a dramatic jump in the tax bill for the buyer even when none of the millage rates have changed.
Non-Ad Valorem Charges on the Same Bill
Your annual bill will also carry line items that don’t come from any millage rate. Non-ad valorem assessments are flat charges for services that benefit your property, such as trash collection, stormwater drainage, street lighting, and security through a community development district.11Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. Non-Ad Valorem Assessments Because they’re based on the service rather than on property value, a $200,000 home and a $2 million home in the same district pay the same dollar amount. These charges show up on both the TRIM notice and the final bill, but they’re set by the districts themselves, not by the county commission or school board.
Early Payment Discounts
Tax bills are mailed on or before November 1 each year, and Florida rewards early payment on a sliding scale:12Miami-Dade County. Save on Property Taxes – Early Payment Discounts Await
- November: 4% discount
- December: 3% discount
- January: 2% discount
- February: 1% discount
- March: no discount; full amount due
On a $6,000 bill, paying in November saves $240 against paying in March.13Florida Legislature. Florida Code 197.162 – Tax Discount Payment Periods You can pay online through the Miami-Dade Tax Collector, by mail, or in person. If your home has a mortgage, your lender probably collects taxes through an escrow account; verify that the servicer is paying early enough to capture the November discount, because not all of them prioritize that timing.
What Happens If You Pay Late
Taxes still unpaid on April 1 become delinquent. At that point, a minimum mandatory charge of 3% is added, and interest begins accruing at 18% per year.14Florida Legislature. Florida Code 197.172 – Interest Rate, Calculation and Minimum If the bill still isn’t paid by June 1, the Tax Collector holds a tax certificate sale, letting investors pay your delinquent taxes in exchange for a lien on the property, with the certificate going to the bidder willing to accept the lowest interest rate up to 18%.15Florida Senate. Florida Code 197.432 – Sale of Tax Certificates A certificate left unredeemed for two years can be converted by the holder into a tax deed, which puts the property up for public auction.16Florida Department of Revenue. Property Tax Calendar That is how people genuinely lose homes to unpaid taxes in Florida.
The TRIM Notice and How to Challenge It
Every August, the Property Appraiser mails each owner a Truth in Millage, or TRIM, notice. It isn’t a bill. It shows your proposed assessed value, your exemptions, and the estimated taxes under each authority’s proposed millage, along with the dates of the public hearings where those rates get voted on.17Florida Department of Revenue. Truth in Millage (TRIM) Once the hearings end and the rolls are certified, the final rates lock in and the actual bills follow in November.
If you think the Property Appraiser overvalued your home or wrongly denied an exemption, you can file a petition with Miami-Dade’s Value Adjustment Board within 25 days of the TRIM notice mailing, with a $15 fee per parcel. Filing doesn’t let you skip paying. For valuation challenges, you must pay all non-ad valorem assessments and at least 75% of the ad valorem taxes before they go delinquent on April 1. For exemption or classification disputes, you pay whatever amount you acknowledge in good faith.18Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts. Value Adjustment Board
At least 15 days before the hearing, you and the Property Appraiser exchange evidence. Bring comparable sales, a recent appraisal if you have one, photos of any condition problems, and anything else that supports a lower value. A special magistrate hears the case and makes a recommendation to the board; if the board rules for you, your assessed value is adjusted and any overpayment is refunded.