Kansas property tax by county

Property tax rate by county in Kansas

Effective rate = median real estate taxes paid divided by median home value. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2020-2024), tables B25103 and B25077.

Why county rates vary so much

Property tax is set locally, not by the state, so the rate depends on the county, city, school district, and special districts where a home sits, and on how those local budgets compare to local home values. A county with low home values can still have a high effective rate if its local budgets are large, and a wealthy county can have a low effective rate. The effective rate shown here is the median tax bill divided by the median home value, which is the standard way to compare places; your own bill depends on your assessment and any exemptions.

For Kansas's income and retirement taxes, see Kansas income tax and Kansas retirement taxes.

How does Kansas assess homes for property tax?

Kansas assesses homes at 11.5% of market value, the same in every county. Kansas taxes a percentage of your home's appraised market value rather than the whole value, and the constitution fixes that percentage by class. Homes are assessed at 11.5%, so a house appraised at $300,000 has a taxable assessed value of $34,500. Other classes differ: commercial and industrial property is 25%, vacant lots 12%, farmland 30% of agricultural use value, and other real property 30%.

Every property is revalued every year as of January 1, so your appraised value can move annually even without a formal reappraisal project. County appraisers must also physically view and inspect each parcel at least once every six years. Counties mail valuation notices between mid-February and early April, and the notice should go out by March 1 unless the appraiser gets an extension.

Is there a homestead exemption in Kansas?

Yes. Kansas has a homestead exemption of $75,000, applied to appraised value, but only against the 20 mill statewide school levy. Kansas has no broad homestead exemption that cuts your whole bill. What it has is an exemption of the first $75,000 of appraised value from the 20 mill statewide school levy. That levy is one slice of your bill, so the exemption is worth roughly $173 a year at most. It is applied automatically by the county with no application to file, and every other levy still applies to your full value.

Other state relief for homeowners:

• Seniors and disabled owners: Kansas helps older and disabled homeowners through refunds claimed on a tax form, not by exempting value off the assessment. Three programs exist and you may claim only one. The Homestead Refund pays back part of the tax and caps at $700, for homeowners 55 or older, blind or disabled, or with a dependent child under 18, with 2025 household income of $43,389 or less. SAFESR refunds 75% of property tax paid for homeowners 65 and older with income of $25,380 or less. The Seniors and Disabled Veterans refund acts like a freeze, paying back the difference between your current tax and your base year tax, for those 65 and older or disabled veterans with income of $58,041 or less. All three also require the home to be valued at $350,000 or less, and 2025 claims are due April 15, 2026. The limits are reset by the Legislature and can change every year.
• Disabled veterans: Kansas does not exempt a set amount of home value for veterans. The state's official list of property tax exemptions has no veteran entry at all. Relief comes through the income tax side instead: a veteran with a 50% or greater service disability can claim the Homestead Refund, and a disabled veteran can claim the refund that offsets increases above a base year. Those are refund claims filed with the Department of Revenue, not reductions in your county assessment.
• Kansas has no owner-occupancy credit or residential rate discount for living in the home you own. The $75,000 school levy exemption applies to residential property generally, whether or not the owner lives there, and is granted automatically. Only the refund claims require you to occupy the home, and all three are filed with the Department of Revenue by April 15, not with your county.

Kansas sets these rules and each county's property tax office applies them, which is where the application, the filing deadline and the form come from. Some counties add programs of their own; where we have checked a county, its page lists them.

When are property taxes due in Kansas?

County treasurers mail statements from November through December 15. You can pay the full year by December 20, or split it and pay half by December 20 and the rest by May 10. If the bill is $10 or less the whole amount is due December 20. When a due date lands on a weekend it moves to the treasurer's next business day.

Kansas splits the bill into 2 installments. That is the state rule. Each county issues and collects its own bill, so the dates printed on your statement are the ones that bind you.

How do you appeal a property assessment in Kansas?

You contest the assessed value with the county appraiser (informal meeting), then the Board of Tax Appeals Small Claims Division, then the full Board of Tax Appeals. The filing deadline is typically 30 days after the county mails your valuation notice. Kansas gives you two separate chances to challenge your value, but you must pick one. The equalization route starts when your spring notice arrives: contact the county appraiser within 30 days and you get an informal meeting where the county, not you, has to produce the evidence supporting its value. If that does not satisfy you, you have 30 days from the mailed results to go to the Board of Tax Appeals Small Claims Division, and single-family homes must go through Small Claims before reaching the full Board. The alternative is to pay under protest when the bill comes, but once you start an equalization appeal you cannot also protest for the same property that year.

Kansas property-tax rules from primary state sources (revenue department and statute), reviewed September 7, 2026. Exemption amounts and credits change; confirm the current figures with your county assessor. Sources: assessment, exemptions, due dates, appeals.