Property tax is the wildcard in your PITI. It is set by your county, not your lender, and it swings your monthly payment by hundreds of dollars depending on where you live.
Effective property tax rates run from about 0.3% of home value (Hawaii) to over 2% (New Jersey and Illinois). On a $400,000 home, that is the difference between $1,200 and $8,000 a year — over $500 a month.
Most lenders escrow property tax, collecting a twelfth of it each month and paying the county on your behalf. It is part of your payment whether you like it or not.
Unlike a fixed-rate mortgage, property tax is not fixed. Reassessments and new levies raise it. Budget for it to climb.
Two identical houses on either side of a state line can cost wildly different amounts. Compare rates on our state and city pages before you commit to a location.
Reading is step one. Step two is running your own numbers — taxes, insurance, PMI and all.
Open the mortgage calculator