Travis Bunn

Founder, AppealDesk · Published March 1, 2026

How Much Can Property Taxes Increase in Delaware? 2026 Complete Guide

Updated July 2026

Does Delaware Have Property Tax?

Yes. Delaware has no state-level property tax, but every property owner pays local property taxes levied by their county, their school district, and in some cases their town or city. The school district portion is typically the largest piece of the bill, which matters because school taxes are the part of the bill that carries the strongest structural limits in Delaware law.

Each of the three counties, New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, sets assessed values for every parcel within it, and each taxing body applies its own rate to that assessed value. Your bill is the assessed value times the combined rates, minus any credits you qualify for, such as the Senior School Property Tax Credit. That single sentence explains why two levers matter: the rates, which are politically constrained, and the assessed value, which is not capped at all.

What Limits Property Tax Increases in Delaware?

Unlike California or Florida, Delaware sets no percentage cap on how much your assessed value can rise, and no statewide cap on how much a county can raise its levy. But calling Delaware simply "uncapped" misses how the system actually restrains bills. The restraints here are procedural rather than percentage-based, and in practice they bite.

First, school districts cannot just raise their operating tax rates. They have to put the increase to voters in a referendum and win it. A district that loses a referendum does not get the money, and districts do lose them. This is the single biggest brake on the largest line of most Delaware tax bills.

Second, reassessment is not allowed to be a windfall. Under 14 Del. C. § 1916, after a general reassessment a school district must calculate a new tax rate that realizes no more than a 10 percent increase in actual revenue over the prior fiscal year. When values are updated, rates are supposed to come down so that total collections stay roughly level, with at most that 10 percent gain for schools. Counties likewise reset rates on a roughly revenue-neutral basis after a revaluation.

Here is the part that surprises homeowners: revenue neutrality applies to the taxing district as a whole, not to your house. If your home was under-assessed relative to your neighbors under the old base-year values, your share of the total went up even while the overall pot stayed close to flat. A district can collect almost exactly what it collected last year while one owner's bill falls 20 percent and another's doubles. That is exactly what happened to many Delaware owners in 2024 and 2025.

How Much Did Delaware Property Taxes Increase After the 2024-2025 Reassessment?

For decades, Delaware taxed property using values frozen in the distant past: Sussex County last reassessed in 1974, New Castle in 1983, and Kent in 1987. That ended because of a lawsuit. Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and the NAACP of Delaware sued over school funding, and in May 2020 the Court of Chancery ruled that the outdated assessments violated the law. The counties settled in 2021 and contracted Tyler Technologies to revalue every parcel in the state. Tentative value notices for New Castle and Sussex went out in November 2024.

The new values took effect on the following schedule.

Because rates were reset to be roughly revenue-neutral at the same time, the reassessment did not raise total collections much. What it did was redistribute who pays what. Homes whose market values had grown faster than average since the old base year saw real increases, sometimes large ones, while other owners saw their bills fall. There is no single "average increase" that describes that experience honestly, which is why any page quoting one uniform percentage for Delaware should be treated with suspicion.

The bill shock in New Castle County was severe enough that the General Assembly held a special session in August 2025 and passed a package of relief bills, and in November 2025 lawmakers voted to extend New Castle County's property tax payment deadline to December 31, 2025.

What Is the Average Property Tax Rate in Delaware for 2026?

There is no single statewide rate, and no honest single average. Your effective rate is the sum of your county rate, your school district rate, and any municipal rate, all applied to your new post-reassessment assessed value. Because every rate in the state was recalculated to fit the new values, older published average-rate figures for New Castle, Kent, and Sussex are obsolete, and repeating them here would mislead you. The current rate for your parcel is printed on your most recent tax bill, and each county publishes its own rate tables through its finance or assessment office.

The arithmetic, at least, is simple once you have your numbers. If your county lists your home at $300,000 in full market value and your combined county, school, and municipal rate works out to 0.60 percent, your annual bill is $1,800. Cut the assessment by 10 percent through an appeal and, at the same rate, the bill falls to $1,620. That $180 repeats every year the lower value stands, which is why appeals compound in a way one-time relief measures do not.

One structural change is new: under HB 242, passed in the August 2025 special session, school districts located entirely within New Castle County may split their tax rate between residential and non-residential property. The non-residential rate must be at least equal to the residential rate and no more than 1.85 times it, and the district's total projected revenue cannot exceed its original tax warrant. Practically, that lets those districts shift some burden from homeowners toward commercial property without collecting more overall.

Are Property Taxes High in Delaware?

By national standards, no. Delaware has long been known for comparatively low property tax bills, helped by the absence of a state property tax and by school funding structures that lean on other sources. The 2024-2025 reassessment was designed to redistribute the existing burden more accurately, not to grow it, and the revenue-neutrality rules were written to keep it that way.

That is cold comfort if your individual assessment came out too high. A statewide reputation for low taxes does not refund a single dollar to an owner whose parcel was valued above what it would actually sell for. The state-level answer and the your-house answer are different questions, and only the second one is worth your time.

Do Property Taxes Go Up Every Year in Delaware?

Not automatically. In most years your assessed value does not change at all, because Delaware counties do not revalue annually the way some states do. Your bill moves when a taxing body changes its rate, and the largest rate line, school operating taxes, requires a successful voter referendum to rise. Counties can adjust their rates through the normal budget process, and school districts do win referenda, so bills drift upward over time. But there is no built-in annual escalator writing a bigger number onto your bill each year.

The flip side is that when change does come, it arrives all at once. The recent reassessment compressed roughly forty to fifty years of market movement into a single revaluation, which is why the increases landed so hard for some owners. Whether Delaware moves to a regular reassessment cycle going forward is still a live policy question; what is certain is that the era of base years from the 1970s and 1980s is over, and future value updates will start from current market figures rather than ancient ones.

Why Did My Delaware Property Taxes Go Up?

If your bill rose in 2024 or 2025, the overwhelmingly likely cause is the reassessment: your home's new full market value replaced a decades-old base-year figure, and your share of the local tax burden shifted with it. Outside a reassessment year, the usual causes are a school referendum passing in your district, a county or municipal rate change, or a change to the property itself, such as new construction or an addition that raised your assessment.

Here is the part worth acting on. A mass appraisal values thousands of properties with a model. Models miss things: a house recorded with the wrong square footage or bedroom count, a condition problem no drive-by can see, comparable sales pulled from a neighborhood that does not really match your street. If the number on your notice does not line up with what your home would genuinely sell for today, you have a specific, well-defined remedy, and it is time-limited.

New Protections From the 2025 Special Session

The August 2025 special session, prompted directly by reassessment bill shock, produced three laws every Delaware homeowner should know, all signed by Gov. Matt Meyer.

• HB 240: counties must refund property tax overpayments of $50 or more that result from a successful assessment appeal. Winning an appeal now comes with a mandatory refund, not just a lower bill going forward.
• HB 241: if the school tax bill on your primary residence rises $300 or more over the prior year, the county must offer you a payment plan of at least three equal installments.
• HB 242: school districts entirely within New Castle County may set separate residential and non-residential rates, within the 1.0x to 1.85x band described above, without exceeding their original tax warrant.

Note what these three have in common. They soften the landing, spread the payments, and return money after you win. Not one of them checks whether your assessment is correct in the first place. That job still belongs to you, through the appeal process.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can my Delaware property taxes increase this year?

There is no percentage cap, so no law fixes a maximum. In practice, outside a reassessment year your assessed value stays put, and rate increases require either a county budget action or, for school operating taxes, a successful voter referendum. If your school tax bill on your primary residence rises $300 or more year over year, HB 241 entitles you to a payment plan of at least three installments.

How often is my property reassessed in Delaware?

Historically, almost never: the prior base years were 1974 in Sussex, 1983 in New Castle, and 1987 in Kent. That changed with the court-ordered general reassessment, effective for tax year 2024 in Kent and tax year 2025 in New Castle and Sussex. Every parcel in the state now carries a current market-based value. Future reassessment frequency is still being worked out, so check with your county assessor for the schedule that will apply going forward.

Are property taxes high in Delaware?

By national standards Delaware's property tax bills are comparatively low, and the reassessment reset rates on a roughly revenue-neutral basis rather than raising total collections. Individual results varied widely, though, which is why checking your own assessment matters far more than the statewide picture.

Why did my property taxes go up so much after the reassessment?

Revenue neutrality applies district-wide, not house by house. If your home's market value grew faster than average since the old base year, your share of the burden rose even though the total pot stayed close to level, with school districts limited to a 10 percent revenue gain under 14 Del. C. § 1916. If the new value itself looks wrong, the fix is an appeal filed before March 15.

What relief exists for older homeowners?

The Senior School Property Tax Credit pays 50 percent of the school property taxes on a primary residence, up to $400 per year. Applications go through your county tax office and are due April 30. The credit reduces what you owe; it does not correct an assessment that is too high, so the two remedies are worth pursuing together.

Related Resources

If your new assessment looks off, start with our step-by-step guide to how to appeal property taxes in Delaware. Not sure the effort is worth it? See Is It Worth Appealing Property Taxes? for how to size your potential savings, and What Evidence Do I Need for an Appeal? for what actually persuades a Board of Assessment Review.

This article provides general information about Delaware property tax laws as of July 2026. Tax laws change frequently, and local rules vary. Consult your county assessor or a tax professional for advice specific to your situation.