New York Assessed Value vs Market Value: Why the Rate Is on Full Value

A New York tax bill is not "the price times a rate." The assessed value on your listing is usually not the market value, the tax rate is quoted against a different base than the one printed on the bill, and a sale does not change either. Reading the pieces correctly is the difference between a $9,000 and a $13,000 estimate on the same house.

General information about how New York real property tax works, not tax advice. Confirm a parcel's figures with the assessor or the State's assessment-roll data.

Three numbers

• Assessed value. What the municipality's assessor puts on the roll. It is often a fraction of market value, because many towns have not revalued in years.
• The municipality's level of assessment. The State measures, for each city and town, how assessed values compare with what properties sell for. For residential property it publishes a residential assessment ratio: Albany's is 90.01%, so a $360,000 assessment corresponds to roughly $400,000 of market value there. Many towns are far below that.
• Full value. Assessed value divided by the municipality's level of assessment, the State's estimate of market value. The State publishes tax rates per $1,000 of full value for the county, the city or town and each school district, so a rate in "per $1,000" on this site is against full value, not against the assessed value on the bill.

Why the rate is quoted on full value

Municipalities assess at different fractions of market value, so a raw rate on assessed value cannot be compared across them. Putting the rate on full value makes towns comparable, and it means a revaluation that raises assessments does not by itself raise the tax: the rate falls when assessments rise.

A sale does not reassess

Nothing in New York resets an assessment when a home sells. A buyer pays the same assessed value, at the next year's rates, until the municipality revalues, and the next revaluation year is something each municipality reports. That cuts two ways. A buyer of a house assessed well below its price benefits until the next revaluation, then faces a step up; a buyer of an over-assessed house keeps the high bill and can contest it.

So the right planning numbers are two scenarios: the bill on the current assessment, and the bill on a revaluation at the price you are paying. A full report shows both, with the municipality's reported next reassessment year.

Worked example

A home with an assessed value of $360,000 in the city of Albany, where the State's published rates are $2.78 for the county and $8.59 for the city, plus $16.22 for the school district, per $1,000 of full value, a combined $27.59 per $1,000:

• Full value, using Albany's 90.01% residential assessment ratio as its level of assessment: $360,000 ÷ 0.9001 = about $400,000.
• Estimated bill: $400,000 ÷ 1,000 × $27.59 = about $11,040 a year, or 2.76% of full value.

What this leaves out

Village, fire, library, water, sewer and other special-district charges are not in the State's county, town and school rates, so a home in a village or special district pays more than these figures. Exemptions belong to the seller: STAR, senior, veteran and others. A buyer may qualify for their own, but should not assume the seller's bill is the buyer's. Nassau County has its own assessment scale and class system, and New York City has its own system, so neither follows the method above.

Where to look

The New York State city pages show the published rates and the next reassessment year for each city, and the county pages put every city and town in a county side by side. The New York closing-cost guide covers the taxes you pay at the closing table.

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Sources: the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and Office of the State Comptroller data published on data.ny.gov (assessment and full-value tax-rate tables, residential assessment ratios); the municipality's own reassessment schedule.