Residents of the Mid-Hudson village of Liberty had the highest effective property tax rate in New York (outside New York City and Nassau) during fiscal year 2019, according to the newest edition of Benchmarking NY, the Empire Center’s annual examination of local property taxes.
Liberty, a small village in Sullivan County with a population of less than 5,000, had an effective rate of $60.81 per $1,000 of estimated market value—or $9,121 on a $150,000 house. The lowest effective tax rate in the state was $3.93 per $1,000, levied on homes and businesses in the Sagaponack school district portion of the Suffolk County town of Southampton. That low rate reflected the town’s high property values, where the latest Census Bureau data put the median home price at $626,400.
One Suffolk County village – Lloyd Harbor – had combined annual taxes of $38,341 on a median-value home. The lowest tax bill on a median-value home was $1,128 in the Hamilton County town of Arietta in the Raquette Lake school district, which sends its small handful of students to neighboring districts.
Benchmarking NY uses data from the state comptroller’s office to calculate effective tax rates–combined county, municipal and school taxes as a percent of market value–for thousands of localities across the state during 2019, excluding only New York City and Nassau County. The complete report lists the top and bottom 20 tax rates and tax bills on a locality’s median-value home in each of nine regions. The highest effective rate and highest tax bill on a median-value home in each region were found in the following communities:
Taxpayers can see the components of their local property taxes and compare taxes across the state using the Empire Center’s Property Tax Calculator on SeeThroughNY.net, the Center’s transparency website.
The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies to make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.
You may also like
NYC Employee Pension Payments Cross $6 billion; 70 Members Collect $200k+
The pension plan covering most New York City government agencies, including the City’s subway system, had 70 members with pension payments of at least $200,000 last year, almost quadrupling 2019’s tally of 19, according to new , the Read More
23 MTA Workers Receive $200K in Overtime as Total Payroll Surpasses $8 Billion
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)’s payroll surpassed $8 billion in 2024 – a 2.6 percent increase since 2023, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
Overtime, as measured using payroll records, totaled $ Read More
State Lawmakers Spend $268 Million on Legislative Operations
Spending by state lawmakers on office personnel and administrative costs varies widely, with some paying out nearly twice as much as others on their office operations, according to the most recent reported, posted to SeeThroughNY.net.
Read More
Empire Center Digs Through Albany’s Pork Barrel
Albany steered over $226 million in grant awards to 581 local projects between June 2024 and April 2025 through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), according to the Empire Center recently received und Read More
Teacher Pensions Added to SeeThroughNY Include 26 Over $300k
New York’s two teacher pension systems last year had 26 retirees eligible to collect pensions of more than $300,000, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
Data reported from Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of Read More
School Districts Plan To Spend Over $35K Per Student, Outpacing Inflation
School districts presenting budgets to voters on Tuesday, May 20, plan to spend an average of $35,012 per student, up 4.6 percent from the current school year, according to new state data.
Data collected by the state Education Departme Read More
SeeThroughNY Updated With 1,000+ Latest Union Contracts
New York’s of state and local government union contracts has been updated with the latest collective bargaining agreements for local teachers, police, firefighters, libraries, and public authorities.
Among the on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center Read More
The Empire Center Comments on the Budget Deal in Albany
As Governor Hochul and legislative leaders belatedly released details of their agreement on a state budget for fiscal year 2026, the Empire Center released a statement from its Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Bill Hammond: Read More