13 States Where Seniors Pay Almost Nothing in Property Taxes and Living Costs Are Below Average
Even if you've paid off a home by retirement, many seniors have to pay ongoing property taxes. To reduce this burden, many states offer a variety of exemptions, tax freezes and tax credits that can reduce seniors' property taxes to almost nothing.
Check Out:
Read Next:
These are the 13 states where seniors pay the least in property taxes, according to Realtor.com, and where living costs are also below average in the U.S., according to recent GOBankingRates research. Please note that there are other states where seniors can pay little in property taxes, but those states — Alaska, Arizona and Florida — have above average costs of living.
The state of Alabama exempts seniors from the state portion of property taxes, though county taxes may still apply. Alabama ranks as the fifth cheapest state in the U.S., with an annual cost of living at $68,006.
Explore More:
Arkansas, the sixth cheapest state in the U.S., freezes the assessed value of a home or homestead for eligible seniors. This means if you purchased a home at a lower price, your property taxes won't go up. Here, the annual cost of living is $68,547.
In Iowa, the eighth cheapest state in the U.S., homeowners ages 65 and older can receive a $6,500 exemption on their home value. Here, the annual cost of living is $69,320.
Kansas, the third cheapest state in the U.S., offers a generous tax credit for up to 75% of the property taxes on a principal residence. With an annual cost of living at $67,234, this is a great deal for seniors.
Kentucky, the 17th cheapest state in the U.S., exempts $49,100 of assessed value for qualifying homeowners ages 65 or older. The annual cost of living here is $71,870.
Louisiana also offers a generous property tax assessment freeze for eligible seniors on the first $75,000 of a home's value. Louisiana is the 14th cheapest state in the U.S. where the annual cost of living is $71,252.
In North Carolina, the 28th most affordable state in the U.S., seniors can get a tax exemption on the greater of $25,000 or 50% of their home's assessed value. The annual cost of living here is $75,580.
The state of Ohio, 20th cheapest state in the U.S., exempts $26,200 of assessed value for qualified senior homeowners. The annual cost of living is $72,798.
Oklahoma, the second cheapest state in the U.S., has the most generous offer yet: The Senior Valuation Limitation freezes the fair cash value of a qualifying homestead for seniors, stabilizing property tax bills. The annual cost of living here is $66,229.
South Carolina, the 26th cheapest state in the U.S., exempts the first $50,000 in fair market value for homeowners over age 65. The annual cost of living here is $74,112.
The state of South Dakota offers eligible seniors and disabled residents a yearly refund of sales or property taxes. In the 15th cheapest state in the U.S., cost of living is $71,252 per year.
The state of Tennessee, the 11th cheapest state in the U.S., reimburses a portion or all of property taxes for eligible homeowners in the form of a tax credit. The annual cost of living here is $69,938.
Texas, the 16th cheapest state in the U.S., requires school districts to offer $10,000 homestead exemption for seniors. Local taxing offices may offer an additional exemption of at least $3,000. The annual cost of living here is $71,639.
More From GOBankingRates
3 Luxury SUVs That Will Have Massive Price Drops in Summer 2025
10 Genius Things Warren Buffett Says To Do With Your Money
7 Luxury SUVs That Will Become Affordable in 2025
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 13 States Where Seniors Pay Almost Nothing in Property Taxes and Living Costs Are Below Average
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why Barbara Corcoran Says Now Might Be the Best Time To Buy a House
Once you navigate through the housing market, mortgage rates and competition among buyers, you may be left with a feeling of uncertainty. However, 'Shark Tank' host, money expert and all-around real estate guru Barbara Corcoran says if you're looking to purchase a home, you should do it now. Learn More: Find Out: Last year, interest rates for real estate hit a 23-year high. The real estate mogul said in an Instagram Reel that this news is pushing more buyers to the sidelines in an attempt to wait it out. Here's why buyers should be brave and prioritize buying a house now. Corcoran stressed that what makes now the best time to buy a house is that 'everyone is scared.' Though it sounds bad, this could be good news for buyers as it affects everything from existing home sales to supply and demand to even determining the best time of year to fork over a down payment. A much more frightening aspect for buyers out of the market to consider is what the market might look like if interest rates do drop again. While Corcoran said the days of 2% to 3% interest rates are effectively gone, she also added that interest rates will come down. 'The minute [interest rates] drop and come to anything with a five in front of it, the whole world is going to jump back into the market,' said Corcoran. Lower interest rates, however, present a few issues when buying a home. The first is that there will be no houses available to buy, and the second is that home prices will go up as soon as they hit the market, with Corcoran predicting a 10% or 15% price increase. As of June 2025, current mortgage rates are generally in the 6% to 7% range for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, averaging about 6.81%. If you don't take Corcoran's word for it you could also factor in that in the early months of 2025, mortgage rates dropped, which can create a little more relief and wiggle room in your housing budget. Despite that fact, the housing market is less than booming thanks to other economic uncertainties like tariffs, global trade, pending resurgence of inflation, rumors of recession and the stock market's performance moving forward. Read Next: For buyers who are brave enough to be in the current real estate market, Corcoran recommends following these three tips. This doesn't have to be your forever home. The home you buy now can be traded up later, according to Corcoran. Your budget won't go as far as it used to. Instead of looking at the added cost of a house or a mortgage, Corcoran said to figure out how much the mortgage payment is and to ask yourself if you can afford that. Don't forget to shop for the best possible rate. 'People don't do this,' said Cororan, adding you can start by reaching out to your bank to see if they have any special customer discounts. Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article. More From GOBankingRates 4 Housing Markets That Have Plummeted in Value Over the Past 5 Years This article originally appeared on Why Barbara Corcoran Says Now Might Be the Best Time To Buy a House Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Post
6 hours ago
- New York Post
Here's how much wealthier homeowners are than renters
The best investment on Earth is … earth. So much so that homeowners are a whopping 43 times wealthier than renters, according to a 2025 estimate from the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, as reported by The data revealed that US homeowners are enjoying a median net worth of $430,000. By comparison, renters are holding onto pocket change, with just $10,000 to the name of the median tenant. Advertisement 5 Homeowners' wealth has grown by 45% since 2019. Antonioguillem – 5 The net worth of America's renters has stalled. Blacqbook – The issue of the wealth gap between owners and renters was highlighted last week in Washington, DC at the 2026 REALTORS Legislative Meetings. Advertisement Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, told conference attendees that property owners saw their wealth grow by an estimated 45% since 2019. That's 9 percentage points higher than renters, who've found their bank accounts stalling. The wealth of the median renter actually shrunk by $400 since 2022. Real estate is popularly seen as one of the best investments anyone can make, and the truth of this sentiment has played out over the past several years of rapid price appreciation, reported. 5 Skyrocketing home values significantly enriched homeowners in recent years. Davide Angelini – Advertisement 5 Homeownership is an excellent long-term investment, and renters know it. Alex – 5 Economic pressures are making homeowners a rarity. Zamrznuti tonovi – Hannah Jones, the company's senior economic research analyst, explained how homeowners have been substantially enriched over the last five years. 'Rapid price appreciation also gave existing homeowners the opportunity to cash in on home equity and level up into a larger or more desirable home, while renters were not able to take advantage of recent housing market dynamics in the same way,' Jones told the outlet. Advertisement For most renters, leases are a necessity rather than a choice, with just 15% of those surveyed reporting that they prefer renting over homeownership. Yet declining housing affordability is keeping renters under the auspices of landlords. A recent analysis of census data found that renters are outnumbering homeowners in a growing number of New Jersey suburbs. Eager homebuyers are still hamstrung, in part, by high interest rates and high home costs. While it's still possible to snag a home under $300,000 in some metros, young people are largely falling behind as homeowners. The newest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, a triennial financial survey of thousands of families, is currently underway. The final results, expected in mid to late 2026, will reveal fresh insights into how the tumultuous economy of the past three years has impacted the wallets — and living conditions — of Americans.
New York Post
7 hours ago
- New York Post
How NYC renters could begin saving thousands in fees
If a new New York City rental law goes through as expected, New Yorkers can expect to pay a lot less to rent an apartment. Unless there is a last-minute reversal by a judge, the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses (FARE) Act is scheduled to take effect on Wednesday. The law will end the process of passing along the broker's fee to tenants. From now on, unless a tenant explicitly hires a broker to find an apartment, the landlord will have to eat this cost, which ranges from one month's rent to up to 15% of the annual cost of renting an apartment. What brokers think about the new law 'There has been a lot of talk about this issue. As a broker, I am glad that there will be no commission charge by a landlord if someone wants to lease their apartment,' Sonia I. Christian-Bendt, a broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New York Properties, tells 'I think this is a win-win move for both sides.' 4 It's forecasted that broker's fees will not longer be passed to tenants once this law goes into effect. Getty Images/iStockphoto She says the broker's fee was so onerous that even the wealthy weren't happy with it. 'In the past two rentals that an owner called me to represent, [the landlord] offered to pay the commission without even being asked,' says Christian-Bendt. 'It made it easier to lease her units—and attracted a lot of qualified renters who didn't mind paying a high rent, but who were relieved they didn't have to pay one month's rent commission or 15% of the annual rent as a broker's commission.' Nor does she think landlords will raise the rent to regain the fee. 'They have to remain competitive,' she says. But Douglas Elliman top 1% rental agent Keyan Sanai, who spoke in front of the City Council about the measure, disagrees. He asserts that tenants will end up paying more in the long run than if they'd simply paid a one-time flat fee, because landlords will not only raise rents the first year to regain the fee, but also keep it higher. 4 Even wealthy apartment owners were unhappy with the excessive broker's fee. Getty Images 'If you stay in an apartment for more than a year, then you've just paid more in rents than if you'd paid that broker's fee,' he tells Couldn't landlords raise the rent for a year until the fee is repaid, then lower the rent? 'We're talking about landlords here,' he says. Additionally, he says that while higher rents will affect all tenants, the broker's fee can be avoided, as only about half of the rentals in the city carry it. 'If you want to live on Perry Street in the West Village and have your 'Sex and the City' lifestyle, then that apartment probably has a broker's fee because the demand is higher to live in the West Village,' he says. 'But if you want to live in Hudson Yards, you probably won't have to pay a fee.' He concludes: 'The law is a short-term gain for long-term pain.' Danielle Nazinitsky, founder and CEO of Decode Real Estate, agrees the fallout won't be good for anyone. 'For landlords, there's now a new fixed expense in a declining-value market where they're already dealing with rising property taxes, wages, and insurance costs,' she tells 4 Only about half of the rentals in New York City carry broker's fees. Getty Images/iStockphoto 'For real estate agents and brokerages, this means lower margins in an already high-turnover, low-margin segment, and that means you will get lower quality agents over time. For tenants, the broker's fee cost doesn't disappear; it will get absorbed into upfront premiums and rent increases.' The cost of the broker's fee for tenants The broker's fee hit about half of the 2.3 million apartments in the city, including those units that are rent-stabilized. When nonprofit attorney Elizabeth Gyori and her partner were apartment hunting in Brooklyn last year, they coughed up about $4,000 to a broker—or 12% of their annual rent. 'We could have used that money for other things,' Gyori tells 'It could have gone toward savings to buy our own place, an emergency fund, or a higher general rent for a place that would have suited us better. 'I'm sad we don't get to take advantage of the change in law, but it will be really helpful for other people,' she says. 'I think it's fantastic that the law was passed.' What New York City renters can expect While the final word on the new law will be up to a judge overseeing the lawsuit filed by the Real Estate Board of New York and some brokerages, the board seems to expect the shift to happen. On its website is a fact sheet preparing landlords for what appears to be the inevitable. According to the new law, brokers representing a landlord can no longer charge tenants a fee in connection with a rental transaction. The exception is when the tenant specifically hires a broker to find them an apartment, and landlords are allowed to pay the tenant's broker. 4 The broker's fee hit about half of the 2.3 million apartments in the city, including those units that are rent-stabilized. Christopher Sadowski Additionally, rental listings must include all fees paid by the prospective tenant for the rental of the unit. This could include lost key, pet, first and last deposits, and move-in/move-out costs. Violations of the FARE Act may result in financial penalties of up to $2,000 and will be enforced by the New YC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. (Complaints can be filed at 311.)
