Property tax in Oldham County, Kentucky

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

The bill comes from the Oldham County Sheriff's Office (tax collection). The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Oldham 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 collects state, county, school and district property taxes, and also collects the City of Crestwood's tax, which has its own bill lookup. Owners in other cities in the county should check with their city, which may send its own bill. The sheriff's office is in the Fiscal Court Building, 100 West Jefferson Street in La Grange; bills can also be paid online by card, where the card company adds a fee of 2% to 3%. Your bill explains what to do if your mortgage company pays your taxes through escrow.

When are property taxes due in Oldham County?

For the 2026 bill, Oldham County has one due date: December 31, 2026. Kentucky sends one bill a year, with no installments. The sheriff mails bills by the end of September, so the regular state law schedule applies: paying in full by November 1, 2026 takes 2% off the bill, and 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 or a postmark still gets the discount, so pay by Friday, October 30 to be safe and allow time for mail. 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 Oldham County Clerk, where interest of 1% a month and further fees are added, and the unpaid bill can be sold to a third-party buyer.

From Oldham 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 Oldham County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Oldham County's average effective rate of 0.9% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.

Property tax in Oldham 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 Oldham County compare in Kentucky?

Among Kentucky's 120 counties, Oldham County has the 7th highest effective property-tax rate: 6 rank higher and 113 rank lower. That places it among the most heavily taxed counties in the state. Nationally, it ranks 1350th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every Kentucky county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Oldham County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Oldham County's 20,058 owner-occupied homes, 59.2% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 80.9% pay at least $2,000, and 3.4% pay under $800. Another 1.3% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $3,684 and owners without one pay $3,146. 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 Oldham County property tax bill compare with local incomes?

The median property tax bill of $3,519 is about 2.6% of the median income of Oldham County homeowner households, $133,896 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 87.1% of Oldham 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 Oldham County?

Yes. The median bill went from $2,783 in 2015-2019 to $3,519 in 2020-2024, a 26.4% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 39.3%, from $282,100 to $393,100. 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 Oldham County

Oldham County borders 5 counties, 1 of them across the state line.

How is a home assessed in Oldham County?

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

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

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

How to appeal your Oldham County property assessment

In Oldham County you appeal to the Oldham County Board of Assessment Appeals (appeals are filed with the Oldham 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 Oldham 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 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 Oldham 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 Oldham County

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