Property tax in Hopkins County, Kentucky

Who sends the property tax bill in Hopkins County, and how do you pay it?

The bill comes from the Hopkins County Sheriff's Office. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Hopkins County Property Valuation Administrator (PVA), which is who to ask if the value looks wrong. For how to look up and pay the bill, go to the county's own payment information.

The sheriff accepts cash, checks, money orders, cashier's checks and cards at its office at 261 Responders Lane in Madisonville, by mail with checks payable to the Hopkins County Sheriff, and online through a payment processor linked from the sheriff's tax page. Card payments carry a processor fee of 2.5% plus 30 cents, and online checks a $1.50 fee. The City of Madisonville's Finance Department collects city property tax, so owners inside the city should check for a separate city bill.

When are property taxes due in Hopkins County?

For the 2026 bill, Hopkins County has one due date: December 31, 2026. Kentucky sends one bill a year, with no installments, and the sheriff requires payment in full. Paying in full by November 1, 2026 takes 2% off the bill; from November 2 through December 31, 2026 the face amount is due. November 1, 2026 is a Sunday, and the county has not said whether a Monday payment still gets the discount, so pay by Friday, October 30 to be safe. The sheriff accepts the postmark date on mailed payments and has a drop box for after-hours payments on the north side of the Hopkins County Government Center. December 31, 2026 is a Thursday. If bills go out late, state law lets the Department of Revenue set a later schedule, and the dates printed on your bill then replace these. An unpaid bill is delinquent from January 1. Paid from January 1 through January 31, 2027, it carries a 5% penalty. From February 1 through April 15, 2027 the sheriff charges 21%, which is the state's 10% penalty plus the sheriff's collection fee of 10% of the tax and of that penalty. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, and the county has not said whether a Monday payment still avoids the higher charge. Bills not paid by April 15 go to the Hopkins County Clerk as a certificate of delinquency, with further penalties, fees and interest of 12% a year, and if the certificate stays unpaid for six months it can be sold to a third-party buyer. The Hopkins County Attorney's office offers payment plans on delinquent bills.

From Hopkins County's published schedule, checked September 23, 2026. If a date falls on a weekend or holiday, the county's own rules on the next business day apply.

Estimate the property tax on a home in Hopkins County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Hopkins County's average effective rate of 0.77% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.

Property tax in Hopkins County at a glance

Effective rate = median real estate taxes paid divided by median home value. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

How does Hopkins County compare in Kentucky?

Among Kentucky's 120 counties, Hopkins County has the 31st highest effective property-tax rate: 30 rank higher and 89 rank lower. That is on the higher side for Kentucky. Nationally, it ranks 1670th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every Kentucky county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Hopkins County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Hopkins County's 13,009 owner-occupied homes, 7.6% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 18.8% pay at least $2,000, and 36.3% pay under $800. Another 8.6% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $1,315 and owners without one pay $784. Owners who have paid off a home have usually held it longer, and in states that cap how fast an existing owner's assessment can rise, long-held homes carry lower assessed values. Census table B25103.

How does the Hopkins County property tax bill compare with local incomes?

The median property tax bill of $1,104 is about 1.6% of the median income of Hopkins County homeowner households, $68,614 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 70.7% of Hopkins County's occupied homes are lived in by their owners; renters pay property tax too, just folded into rent.

Have property taxes gone up in Hopkins County?

Yes. The median bill went from $917 in 2015-2019 to $1,104 in 2020-2024, a 20.4% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 31.4%, from $108,700 to $142,800. Bills rose more slowly than values, which is what assessment caps and falling millage rates do: the county is taxing a smaller share of each home's worth.

Two Census ACS 5-year periods with no survey years in common, in each period's own dollars. A change counts only if it exceeds the combined 90% margin of error.

Property tax in counties next to Hopkins County

Hopkins County borders 5 counties.

How is a home assessed in Hopkins County?

Kentucky assesses homes at 100% of market value in every county, Hopkins County included. How Kentucky assesses and reappraises homes.

Is there a homestead exemption in Hopkins County?

Only for older and disabled owners. Kentucky's homestead exemption is age and disability based; an owner-occupant under 65 who is not totally disabled gets none. That is the Kentucky rule, and it applies in Hopkins County. Kentucky's exemptions and relief programs in full.

Hopkins County does not add relief programs of its own beyond the Kentucky ones (checked September 23, 2026).

How to appeal your Hopkins County property assessment

In Hopkins County you appeal to the Hopkins County Board of Assessment Appeals (appeals are filed with the Hopkins County Clerk). The deadline: First ask the PVA for a conference, before the tax roll inspection period ends. That period normally begins the first Monday in May and ends the third Monday in May. If the conference does not settle it, file a written appeal with the Hopkins County Clerk no later than one workday after the inspection period ends, normally the third Tuesday in May. The window for 2026 assessments has passed; the next one normally opens in May 2027. How to file. Checked September 23, 2026 against state law, because Hopkins County does not restate them on its own pages.

How Kentucky's appeal process works, including the next level if the first one turns you down.

Kentucky rules from primary state sources, reviewed September 7, 2026; sources on the Kentucky page.

Work out your own numbers

• How much house can I afford?

  Your income, debts and down payment against the 28/36 rule lenders actually use, with Hopkins County's tax rate to hand.

• Mortgage calculator

  Monthly payment with principal, interest, tax and insurance, plus what an extra payment saves you.

• Kentucky income tax

  Brackets, standard deduction and what Kentucky actually taxes.

• Sales tax in Hopkins County

  The other local tax: combined state and local rate for this county.