Travis Bunn
Founder, AppealDesk · Published August 18, 2026
How Much Can Property Taxes Go Up in a Year? 50-State Comparison
Updated August 2026 · 12 min read
There is no single national limit on property tax increases. Only 15 states cap how fast an individual property’s assessed value can grow, with limits ranging from 2% (California) to 15% per five-year cycle (South Carolina). Several more states cap only the total revenue a town or county can collect, not your specific assessment, which means your own bill can still jump sharply even in a “capped” state. And 26 states cap neither your assessment nor the local levy at all. Find your state in the table below to see which category you fall into.
“Cap” Means Four Different Things
The word “cap” gets used loosely, and that looseness is where confusion starts. A limit that protects your specific assessment is a completely different thing from a limit that only restrains a town’s total tax collection. Comparing them as if they were the same number is how homeowners end up thinking they are protected when they are not.
- Assessment cap: limits how fast your specific property’s taxable value can grow year over year. California’s 2% and Texas’s 10% homestead cap are this kind. This is the only cap that directly protects an individual homeowner from a runaway valuation.
- Levy cap: limits the total revenue a taxing body can collect, not any single property’s value. Massachusetts’s 2.5% and New York’s 2% are levy caps. Your own assessment, and therefore your own bill, can still rise far more than the levy limit if your property is reassessed upward relative to your neighbors.
- Rate cap: a ceiling on the tax rate (millage) itself, like West Virginia’s constitutional $1.00 per $100 of assessed value on owner-occupied homes. Your assessment can still rise without limit; only the rate applied to it is capped.
- Bill cap: limits the dollar amount owed, regardless of what the assessment or rate would otherwise produce. Indiana’s circuit breaker caps a homestead bill at 1% of gross assessed value. The assessment itself is not capped, only what you ultimately pay.
Only the first kind, an assessment cap, tells you anything about whether your specific valuation is protected. The rest can all be marketed as “property tax caps” while leaving your individual bill fully exposed to a bad reassessment.
Check whether your assessment is too high
A cap only limits how fast a bad number grows. It never checks whether the number was right to begin with.
Property Tax Increase Limits by State
Every figure below is sourced from that state’s own detailed guide, with the governing statute or ballot measure cited on the full page. Click through to any state for the complete breakdown, worked examples, and what to do if your assessment jumped more than the cap allows.
| State | Cap type | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Assessment cap | 7% a year (Class II/III) |
| Alaska | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Arizona | Assessment cap | 5% a year |
| Arkansas | Assessment cap | 5% homestead / 10% other |
| California | Assessment cap | 2% a year (Prop 13) |
| Colorado | No cap | No assessment cap (revenue cap instead) |
| Connecticut | No cap | No cap at all |
| Delaware | No cap | No cap at all |
| Florida | Assessment cap | 3% homestead / 10% other |
| Georgia | Assessment cap | Inflation cap (HB 581) where adopted since 2025; statewide from 2027 |
| Hawaii | Assessment cap | 3% (Big Island & Kauai only) |
| Idaho | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Illinois | No cap | No assessment cap (PTELL is a levy cap) |
| Indiana | Bill cap | Bill capped at 1% of value (homestead) |
| Iowa | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Kansas | No cap | No cap at all |
| Kentucky | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Louisiana | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Maine | No cap | No cap at all |
| Maryland | Assessment cap | 10% state cap, lower locally |
| Massachusetts | Levy cap only | Levy capped 2.5%, assessment uncapped |
| Michigan | Assessment cap | 5% a year, resets on sale |
| Minnesota | No cap | No cap at all |
| Mississippi | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Missouri | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Montana | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Nebraska | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Nevada | Bill cap | Bill capped 3% owner-occ / 8% other |
| New Hampshire | No cap | No cap at all |
| New Jersey | No cap | No assessment cap (levy capped 2%) |
| New Mexico | Assessment cap | 3% a year |
| New York | Levy cap only | Levy capped 2% outside NYC; NYC Class 1 assessments capped 6%/yr, 20%/5 yrs |
| North Carolina | No cap | No cap at all |
| North Dakota | Levy cap only | Levy capped 3%, assessment uncapped |
| Ohio | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Oklahoma | Assessment cap | 3% homestead / 5% other |
| Oregon | Assessment cap | 3% a year (Measure 50) |
| Pennsylvania | No cap | No cap at all |
| Rhode Island | Levy cap only | Levy capped 4%, assessment uncapped |
| South Carolina | Assessment cap | 15% per 5-year cycle |
| South Dakota | Levy cap only | Revenue growth capped, assessment side too |
| Tennessee | No cap | No cap at all |
| Texas | Assessment cap | 10% homestead / 20% other (through 2026) |
| Utah | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Vermont | No cap | No cap at all |
| Virginia | No cap | No assessment cap |
| Washington | Levy cap only | Levy capped 1%, assessment uncapped |
| West Virginia | Rate cap | Rate capped ~0.6% of value |
| Wisconsin | No cap | No cap at all |
| Wyoming | Assessment cap | 4% a year |
Table reflects each state’s primary statewide rule as of August 2026. Many states layer county or municipal variations, exemption-specific rates, or partial/local adoption on top of the statewide figure, covered in full on each state’s own page.
If Your State Has No Cap, Your Only Real Protection Is Appealing
26 of the 50 states place no legal limit on how much an individual assessment can rise in a single year. In those states, the county assessor can move your valuation to whatever they believe reflects current market value, and it takes effect immediately with no phase-in and no ceiling. A hot local market, a data error on your property record, or an assessor using the wrong comparable sales can all produce a legitimate-looking bill that is still wrong.
A cap, where one exists, only slows down how fast a bad number is allowed to compound. It does not check whether the underlying valuation was accurate the year it was set. An appeal is the only mechanism that challenges the number itself, in every one of the 50 states, whether or not a cap applies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a national limit on how much property taxes can increase?
What is the difference between an assessment cap and a levy cap?
Which states have no property tax increase cap at all?
Does a property tax cap mean I don’t need to check my assessment?
For the full picture in your state, including worked examples and what triggers a reassessment, see the state guides linked in the table above, or check your county’s appeal page for local deadlines and evidence requirements.
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