Property tax in Madison County, Kentucky

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

The bill comes from the Madison County Sheriff's Office. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Madison 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's website lets you look up a bill but does not take payments online. Pay by mail with a check or money order and the bill number, or in person at the sheriff's office in the basement of the Courthouse Annex at 135 West Irvine Street in Richmond, where cards are also accepted. The cities of Richmond and Berea bill and collect their own city property tax separately, so owners inside those cities get a city bill as well as the sheriff's bill. The bill goes to whoever owned the property on January 1. Owners with an escrow account still receive a copy of the bill; check with your mortgage company if you are unsure whether it will pay.

When are property taxes due in Madison County?

For the 2026 bill, Madison County has one due date: December 31, 2026. Kentucky sends one bill a year, with no installments. The sheriff mails the bill postcards around October 1, and the amount due for each payment date is printed at the top right of the bill and on the payment stub. The discount applies only if the payment is received in the sheriff's office by the discount date, so allow time for mail. 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. 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. State law makes an unpaid bill delinquent on January 1. Paid from January 1 through January 31, 2027, it carries a 5% penalty. From February 1, 2027 the penalty is 10%, and the sheriff adds a collection fee equal to 10% of the tax plus 10% of that penalty, so the bill grows by 21% in all. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, and the county has not said whether a Monday payment still avoids the higher charge. The sheriff collects through April 15, 2027; after that, unpaid bills go to the Madison County Clerk, where interest of 1% for each month or part of a month and further fees are added, and the unpaid bill can be sold to a third-party buyer at the clerk's annual tax sale in August. The clerk takes delinquent payments at its Richmond and Berea offices, in full only, and the Madison County Attorney's Office can set up a payment plan.

From Madison 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 Madison County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Madison County's average effective rate of 0.73% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.

Property tax in Madison 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 Madison County compare in Kentucky?

Among Kentucky's 120 counties, Madison County has the 42nd highest effective property-tax rate: 41 rank higher and 78 rank lower. That is on the higher side for Kentucky. Nationally, it ranks 1787th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every Kentucky county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Madison County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Madison County's 22,965 owner-occupied homes, 15.9% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 36.8% pay at least $2,000, and 16.1% pay under $800. Another 5.5% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $1,858 and owners without one pay $1,394. 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 Madison County property tax bill compare with local incomes?

The median property tax bill of $1,698 is about 1.9% of the median income of Madison County homeowner households, $88,572 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 62% of Madison 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 Madison County?

Yes. The median bill went from $1,311 in 2015-2019 to $1,698 in 2020-2024, a 29.5% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 45.6%, from $159,300 to $232,000. 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 Madison County

Madison County borders 7 counties.

How is a home assessed in Madison County?

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

Is there a homestead exemption in Madison 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 Madison County. Kentucky's exemptions and relief programs in full.

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

How to appeal your Madison County property assessment

In Madison County you appeal to the Madison County Board of Assessment Appeals (appeals are filed with the Madison 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 on the clerk's form with the Madison County Clerk no later than one workday after the inspection period ends, normally the third Tuesday in May, and bring the PVA's written conference summary. The window for 2026 assessments has passed; the next one normally opens in May 2027. How to file. Checked September 23, 2026 against the official appeal rules.

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 Madison 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 Madison County

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