Travis Bunn
Founder, AppealDesk · Published March 1, 2026
How Much Can Property Taxes Increase in Hawaii? 2026 Complete Guide
Updated July 2026
Quick Answer
There is no single Hawaii answer, because Hawaii runs property tax entirely through its counties. Two of the four cap how fast an owner-occupant's taxable value can grow: Hawaii County (the Big Island) and Kauai County each limit annual increases to 3% for homes in their homeowner class. Honolulu and Maui have no assessment cap at all, so an owner-occupied home on Oahu or Maui can be revalued upward by any amount in a single year. No county has a formula limit on total tax revenue either: each county council simply adopts new rates every budget year. What protects you on Oahu and Maui is the home exemption, the annual appeal window, and the accuracy of the assessed value itself.
Most homeowners never challenge their assessment, usually because nobody tells them they can or shows them how. That gap is the whole reason AppealDesk exists: see what your county has your home on record at, free, and if the number looks wrong we build the case for $49.
Hawaii Property Tax Is Run Entirely by the Counties
Hawaii has no statewide property tax and no statewide cap on assessments or levies. Real property tax is administered from start to finish by the four counties: Honolulu (all of Oahu), Maui, Hawaii County, and Kauai. Each county sets its own property classes, its own tax rates, its own exemptions, and its own caps, and each county council revisits those rates annually through its budget process. That makes Hawaii unusual. In most states a homeowner can point to a constitutional or statutory limit that applies everywhere. In Hawaii, the rules that matter to you depend on which island your deed is recorded on.
This is why any statewide claim that Hawaii "caps assessment increases at 3%" is wrong. The 3% figure is real, but it belongs to two specific counties and one specific property class, as covered below. If you own on Oahu or Maui, no such cap applies to you.
Which Hawaii Counties Cap Assessment Increases? (Hawaii County and Kauai 3% Caps)
Hawaii County limits annual increases in taxable value to 3% for properties that hold the Homeowners Exemption, meaning owner-occupants in the homeowner class. Kauai County has a similar 3% assessment cap for its owner-occupied, homestead-class properties. In both counties the cap is tied to the exemption: you must actually claim and hold homeowner status for the cap to apply, and it covers only that class. Investment properties, second homes, and short-term rentals sit outside it entirely.
The arithmetic is simple. If your Big Island home carries a taxable value of $600,000 under the homeowner class this year, the cap holds next year's increase to at most 3%, or $18,000, for a maximum taxable value of $618,000, even if the market value the assessor calculates rose far more. Over several strong years the gap between capped taxable value and market value can widen considerably, which is exactly what the cap is designed to do: smooth out spikes for people who live in their homes.
One important caveat: how the cap behaves when a home sells, or when you first qualify for the exemption, is set by each county's own ordinance. Do not assume it works like California's Proposition 13 or Florida's Save Our Homes. Confirm the specifics with the Hawaii County or Kauai County real property tax office before you rely on a number.
Honolulu (Oahu): No Assessment Cap, Home Exemption of $120,000 or $160,000
Honolulu has no assessment cap on owner-occupied property. A residential assessment cap for Oahu was proposed in 2023 as Bill 42, and the idea drew public testimony, but it is not confirmed enacted. As of this writing, Honolulu homeowners have no ceiling on how much their assessed value can rise in a year. Every property on Oahu is reassessed annually at market value, and the new number simply becomes the new number.
What Honolulu offers instead is the home exemption. For the 2026-27 tax year the standard exemption is $120,000, and owners who are 65 or older as of June 30, 2026 (with a birthdate on record by September 30, 2025) receive $160,000. The exemption is subtracted from assessed value before the rate is applied, so a home assessed at $700,000 with the standard exemption is taxed on $580,000, and the same home held by a qualifying 65-year-old owner is taxed on $540,000. The claim deadline is September 30 preceding the tax year, and missing it means paying on the full assessed value for a year, so it is worth confirming your exemption is on file at realpropertyhonolulu.com.
For scale: roughly 323,000 assessment notices went out for Oahu's 2026-27 tax year, with assessed values up about 1.11% overall. That is a mild average, but averages hide the individual notices that jumped far more, and on Oahu there is no cap to blunt them.
Maui: 2025 Owner-Occupied Tier Changes
Maui also has no assessment cap. Its lever is tiered rates for owner-occupants, and those tiers were restructured for fiscal year 2025-26, effective July 1, 2025. Tier 1 now covers owner-occupied value up to $1,300,000, raised from $1,000,000. Tier 2 runs from $1,300,001 to $4,500,000, and Tier 3 applies above $4,500,000. The restructuring came with rate decreases for owner-occupied homes valued below $4.5 million, and the Long-Term Rental classification's Tier 1 threshold was likewise raised to $1,300,000. Maui homeowners should also note that claims for the homeowner and long-term-rental classifications are due December 31.
Here is how the four counties compare on the question this article exists to answer:
| County | Assessment cap (owner-occupants) | Key homeowner protection |
|---|---|---|
| Honolulu (Oahu) | None (Bill 42 proposed 2023, not confirmed enacted) | Home exemption: $120,000 standard, $160,000 age 65+ |
| Maui | None | Tiered owner-occupied rates; 2025-26 rate cuts below $4.5M |
| Hawaii County | 3% annual cap, homeowner class | Cap tied to the Homeowners Exemption |
| Kauai | 3% annual cap, homestead class | Cap tied to owner-occupied status |
Caps and rate limits only control how fast your bill can grow. Nothing in them checks whether the number underneath is right. Assessors in Hawaii set values with mass-appraisal models that price thousands of homes at once, and nobody reviews yours unless you challenge it.
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Do Property Taxes Go Up Every Year in Hawaii?
They can, through two separate doors. The first is the assessed value. All four counties reassess every property annually at market value, so your taxable base is recalculated each year. On Oahu and Maui that recalculation is uncapped. On the Big Island and Kauai it is held to 3% a year for qualifying owner-occupants, but only for them.
The second door is the tax rate. Hawaii has no formula levy limit anywhere in the state: no cap on total revenue growth, no truth-in-taxation rollback calculation, and no voter-override mechanism, because there is no limit to override. Each county council sets the rates for every property class annually as part of the budget. Rates can go down, as Maui's owner-occupied rates did for 2025-26, or they can go up, and the only check is the council's own vote. So even a Big Island homeowner whose taxable value rose exactly 3% can see a bill that rises more than 3% if the council raises the homeowner-class rate that year.
Bills can also jump when a protection lapses rather than when anything is raised. Losing a home exemption because a claim deadline passed, or falling out of the homeowner class after a change in use, moves you to a different class and rate schedule in a single step, and in the two cap counties it takes the 3% cap with it.
What Is Hawaii's Property Tax Rate in 2026?
There is no single Hawaii rate. Each county publishes its own rate schedule by property class, adopted fresh each budget year, and the rate that applies to you depends on your county, your classification (owner-occupied, residential, long-term rental, and so on), and in Maui's case which value tier your home falls into. Hawaii's rates on owner-occupied homes are widely regarded as among the lowest in the country, but the honest way to find your number is your county's current-year rate resolution or your own assessment notice, not a statewide average. Averages quoted for Hawaii vary by source and methodology, and this page deliberately does not lean on one.
Your bill is computed the same way everywhere in the state: assessed value, minus any exemption, times the rate for your class. That means exactly three things can move your bill, and only one of them, the assessed value, is a number about your specific property that you have the right to challenge every single year. The class and the rate are policy decisions made for thousands of properties at once. The value is a claim about your house, and it can be wrong.
- Hawaii3% a year
- California2% a year
- Florida3% homestead
- Texas10% homestead
Big Island and Kauai cap taxable-value growth at 3% for owner-occupants with the homeowner exemption. Other counties do not.
A cap limits how fast the number grows. It does not check whether the number was right to begin with.
What you can do about it
How to Appeal Your Assessment (County Board of Review Deadlines)
Because each county runs its own system, each county also runs its own Board of Review with its own calendar. Honolulu's window is verified: assessment notices are mailed around December 15, and appeals to the Board of Review must be filed between December 15 and January 15. For the 2026-27 tax year that window ran December 15, 2025 through January 15, 2026. Each appeal requires a $50 deposit, and you can file online at realpropertyhonolulu.com, by mail (the postmark deadline runs slightly earlier), or in person.
Maui, Hawaii County, and Kauai each have their own notice dates and appeal deadlines, and those dates differ from Honolulu's. Rather than trust a secondhand date for a deadline that forfeits your appeal rights for a full year if missed, go straight to your county's real property tax office or its assessment website and confirm the current window when your notice arrives.
The appeal itself is a factual argument: that the assessed value exceeds what your home would actually sell for, shown through recent sales of comparable properties, or that the record contains errors such as wrong square footage, wrong condition, or wrong land data. Annual reassessment cuts both ways here. It means a new number lands every year, but it also means a fresh chance to correct that number every year, and in the two cap counties a correction now becomes the lower base that the 3% grows from later.
A real AppealDesk order, Contra Costa County, California
In May 2026, a homeowner in Contra Costa County, California ran the check. The county had their home on record at $1,485,691, while recorded sales of comparable homes supported about $976,571: an over-assessment of $509,120, worth roughly $6,660 per year if corrected. Their packet laid out the comparable sales, the forms, and the filing steps. Nobody at the county was ever going to run that check for them.
Growth limits only help if the number they grow from is fair. If your assessment jumped after a purchase, new construction, or a revaluation, that new number is the one nobody has reviewed. Checking it is free and takes about a minute.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much can my Hawaii property taxes increase this year?
It depends on your county. On the Big Island and Kauai, owner-occupants holding the homeowner exemption have taxable-value growth capped at 3% per year, though the bill can still rise more if the council raises rates. On Oahu and Maui there is no cap: your assessed value resets to market value annually and your bill follows the value and the new rates.
Does the 3% cap reset when I buy a home?
First, the cap only exists in Hawaii County and Kauai, so on Oahu or Maui the question does not arise. In the two cap counties, the cap is tied to holding the homeowner exemption, which a new buyer must claim in their own name, and the exact treatment of a sale year is set by county ordinance. Confirm the mechanics with the county real property tax office rather than assuming the mainland pattern applies.
How often is property reassessed in Hawaii?
Annually, in all four counties, at market value. Every year brings a new assessment notice and, with it, a new appeal window.
Does Honolulu have an assessment cap?
No. A residential assessment cap was proposed in 2023 as Bill 42, but it is not confirmed enacted. Honolulu's homeowner protections are the home exemption ($120,000 standard, $160,000 for owners 65 and older under the 2026-27 rules) and the December 15 to January 15 appeal window.
What is the deadline to claim a homeowner exemption?
In Honolulu, September 30 preceding the tax year. In Maui, homeowner and long-term-rental classification claims are due December 31. Hawaii County and Kauai set their own exemption deadlines, so check with your county office, because in those two counties the exemption is also the key to the 3% cap.
Related Resources
If your assessment notice looks high, start with our step-by-step guide to how to appeal property taxes in Hawaii. If you are weighing whether the effort pays off, see is it worth appealing property taxes, and when you are ready to build your case, what evidence do I need for an appeal walks through the comparable sales and documentation boards expect.
This article provides general information about Hawaii property tax rules as of July 2026. Hawaii property tax is administered by each of the four counties, rules and rates change annually, and county ordinances control the details. Consult your county real property tax office or a tax professional for advice specific to your situation.