Property tax by ZIP code in Alabama
Enter an Alabama ZIP and see the median property tax paid, median home value, and effective tax rate from the 2020–2024 American Community Survey — plus how it compares to the Alabama state median.
Look up an Alabama ZIP code
Enter a 5-digit Alabama ZIP code above to see its property tax data.
ZIP doesn't have ACS data — typically because it's a PO-box-only ZIP, a single-business ZIP, or a small area where the Census suppresses small-sample estimates. Try a nearby ZIP.
ZIP isn't an Alabama ZIP code. This page covers Alabama only. Other states are launching state by state — check back, or use our state-by-state median page in the meantime.
Alabama has one of the lowest effective property-tax rates in the country — around 0.38% of value statewide — and it's by design. A home is assessed at just 10% of its market value, the state constitution caps the state's own millage at 6.5 mills, and the homestead exemptions can wipe out the bill entirely for older homeowners. The result is small bills almost everywhere in the state.
Enter a 5-digit Alabama ZIP to see its median property tax, median home value, and effective rate from the US Census American Community Survey 2020–2024 vintage, plus how it compares to the Alabama state and US national medians. The explainer below covers the four assessment classes, the new 7% cap on annual assessment increases, and the H-1 through H-4 homestead exemptions.
How Alabama property tax works
Alabama taxes property in four classes, each assessed at a different fraction of fair market value: Class I utility property at 30%, Class II other/business property at 20%, Class III agricultural/forest/residential/historic property at 10%, and Class IV motor vehicles at 15%. Your home is Class III, so only 10% of its market value is ever taxed — a $200,000 house has just $20,000 of assessed value before any exemption.
Two structural limits keep bills low. The state constitution (§214) caps the state millage at 6.5 mills, and a 2024 law, HB 73 / Act 2024-344, now caps the annual increase in taxable assessed value of Class II and Class III real property at 7% — so a sharp jump in market value can't fully hit your assessment in a single year. (That cap is enacted, with a base year of October 1, 2024.)
The homestead exemptions do the rest. A basic homestead (H-1) removes up to $4,000 of assessed value from the state portion and $2,000 from the county portion. For owners 65 or older — or who are permanently and totally disabled — the breaks grow sharply: an owner 65+ with low taxable income (H-3), or any permanently and totally disabled owner, can be exempt from all state and county ad valorem taxes. These are current-law exemptions; the amounts and income tests are set by the Department of Revenue.
Why your actual bill differs
The numbers above describe a typical homeowner in this ZIP — not your specific bill. A few things move bills away from the median:
- Local millage. The state's own rate is tiny; the bulk of an Alabama bill is county, city, and school millage, which varies a lot between jurisdictions in the same ZIP.
- Age and disability. The H-2 through H-4 exemptions for owners 65+ and for disabled owners can cut the bill dramatically — up to a full exemption from state and county tax — so an older owner's bill can be a fraction of a younger neighbor's.
- The 7% assessment cap. After a hot market, the new cap limits how fast your taxable assessed value can climb, smoothing the increase across years.
Alabama has no single statewide bill lookup. Each county runs its own Revenue Commissioner or Assessor/Collector site; the Department of Revenue's county-offices directory points to the right office for your county.
Methodology
Data on this page comes from the US Census American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 vintage (released January 29, 2026), at the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) level. After filtering ZCTAs the Census suppresses for privacy or small-sample reasons, this page covers 554 Alabama ZIPs.
Topcoding in Alabama. The Census caps median property tax at $10,000, reporting anything higher as $10,001. With the 10% assessment ratio and low millage, no Alabama ZIP approaches the cap, so the figures here are true medians.
See the full methodology page for source details (Census table IDs, the comparison-median rule, calculator formulas), how we handle topcoding across every state, and the refresh cadence.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the median tax in my ZIP different from what I pay?
Median is the middle of the distribution, not your bill. Homes are taxed on just 10% of value and the state rate is tiny, so the homestead exemptions — especially the over-65 and disabled exemptions that can zero out state and county tax — push qualifying owners well below the median.
Why might my ZIP show $10,001 as the median tax?
That's the Census topcode for privacy, but it's absent in Alabama — the 10% ratio and low millage keep every ZIP far under the $10,000 cap.
Where do I find my actual Alabama property tax bill?
Through your county. There's no statewide portal; each of the 67 counties runs its own site. The Department of Revenue's county-offices directory points to yours.
When does Alabama data update on this page?
Annually, when the Census Bureau releases a new ACS 5-year vintage. The 2020–2024 vintage released January 29, 2026. The next vintage (2021–2025) typically follows the next year, though the Census has not yet posted its release date.
Why don't you cover other states yet?
State-by-state rollout. Each state needs its own context section (assessment classes, exemptions, local taxing structure) to be genuinely useful. High-search-volume states are going live first.