Property tax in Albany County, New York

By Brent Chudoba, editor Updated September 23, 2026

In Albany County, the property tax bill comes from your town's receiver of taxes or tax collector; in the cities of Albany, Cohoes and Watervliet, the city treasurer or finance department. The 2027 town and county taxes bill is paid in 2 installments, and the next one is due January 31, 2027. Taken from Albany County's own pages, checked September 23, 2026.

The median property tax bill in Albany County, New York is $5,200 a year, which is about 1.77% of the county's median home value of $294,600. That effective rate is lower than the typical New York county (2.04%) and higher than the national median (0.81%). These are American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024); your own bill depends on your home's assessed value and any exemptions.

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

The bill comes from your town's receiver of taxes or tax collector; in the cities of Albany, Cohoes and Watervliet, the city treasurer or finance department. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, your town or city assessor (each city and town in Albany County assesses its own properties), which is who to ask if the value looks wrong.

Most Albany County homeowners get two property tax bills a year. Town and county taxes, plus fire and other district charges, come on one bill in early January from your town's receiver of taxes, or from the city in Albany and Watervliet; Cohoes bills at the end of February. School taxes come on a separate bill, usually in September, from the town, the city or the school district itself, and that bill prints its own due date. Albany County does not assess homes: each town and city assessor sets values, takes exemption applications and hears the first appeal. The county does not take payment of current taxes; each town and city runs its own payment options, and the county's Department of Finance collects only taxes returned to it unpaid.

When are property taxes due in Albany County?

For the 2027 town and county taxes (bills mailed in January 2027) bill, Albany County splits the bill into 2 payments, the first due January 31, 2027 and the last March 31, 2027. In the towns, interest is added from February 1: 1% if paid in February and 2% if paid in March. Town collection ends March 31, and on April 1 unpaid bills go to the Albany County Department of Finance, which collects delinquent taxes and can foreclose on the property. The county offers a payment plan for delinquent taxes of up to 24 months with at least 10% down. The cities set their own late charges, and your bill prints them. No town or city official can waive late interest, even if you never received a bill.

Albany County property tax due dates, 2027 town and county taxes (bills mailed in January 2027)
Payment	Due	Note
Town and county bill (the towns and the cities of Albany and Watervliet)	January 31, 2027	New York law makes town and county taxes payable without interest through January 31, and the towns and the cities of Albany and Watervliet print January 31 as the due date. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday. State law automatically extends a tax deadline that falls on a weekend or holiday to the next business day, so the last day without interest is Monday, February 1, 2027, and a mailed payment postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service that day is on time. A postage-meter mark or an online bill-pay service's mailing does not count as a postmark. In the City of Albany, bills with a senior exemption have until February 6, which is a Saturday in 2027, so that deadline moves to Monday, February 8. Albany city taxpayers may also pay half by the due date and the other half later in the year with interest.
City of Cohoes: city and county bill, first installment	March 31, 2027	Cohoes mails city and county bills at the end of February. The whole county tax and the first half of the city tax are due without penalty by March 31; the second half of the city tax is due without penalty by September 30. Cohoes has not posted its 2027 dates yet; this is the schedule it describes each year.

From Albany County's published schedule, checked September 23, 2026. The county had not posted a calendar labeled for this cycle when we checked, so these dates come from state law and the county's standing schedule; the date on your bill is the one that binds you.

Estimate the property tax on a home in Albany County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Albany County's average effective rate of 1.77% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.

Home market value

Estimated property tax: $5,214 / year

Property tax in Albany County at a glance

Albany County, New York property tax (Census ACS, reviewed September 23, 2026)
Measure	Value
Median annual property tax	$5,200
Median home value	$294,600
Effective tax rate	1.77%
Typical New York county rate	2.04%
National median county rate	0.81%

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 Albany County compare in New York?

Among New York's 62 counties, Albany County has the 41st highest effective property-tax rate: 40 rank higher and 21 rank lower. That is on the lower side for New York. Nationally, it ranks 160th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every New York county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Albany County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Albany County's 76,213 owner-occupied homes, 72.5% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 82.4% pay at least $2,000, and 2.2% pay under $800. Another 3.8% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Annual property tax paid by Albany County homeowners (Census ACS 2020-2024)
Annual bill	Homes	Share
Under $800	1,680	2.2%
$800 to $1,499	4,629	6.1%
$1,500 to $1,999	4,277	5.6%
$2,000 to $2,999	7,538	9.9%
$3,000 or more	55,227	72.5%
No property tax paid	2,862	3.8%

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $5,540 and owners without one pay $4,657. 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 Albany County property tax bill compare with local incomes?

The median property tax bill of $5,200 is about 4.4% of the median income of Albany County homeowner households, $119,359 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 56.6% of Albany 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 Albany County?

Yes. The median bill went from $4,666 in 2015-2019 to $5,200 in 2020-2024, a 11.4% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 32.4%, from $222,500 to $294,600. 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 Albany County

Albany County borders 6 counties.

Albany County and its neighbors, highest effective rate first (Census ACS 2020-2024)
County	Effective rate	Median bill	Median home value
Schenectady County, NY	2.36%	$5,568	$235,700
Rensselaer County, NY	2.05%	$5,301	$258,400
Schoharie County, NY	2.03%	$3,914	$192,500
Albany County, NY (this county)	1.77%	$5,200	$294,600
Greene County, NY	1.49%	$4,056	$271,600
Columbia County, NY	1.4%	$4,852	$347,100
Saratoga County, NY	1.4%	$4,875	$348,600

How is a home assessed in Albany County?

New York sets the assessment rules and Albany County applies them. How New York assesses and reappraises homes.

Is there a homestead exemption in Albany County?

Not as a flat dollar amount. New York's main owner-occupancy benefit is STAR, which reduces school taxes for owners with income up to $500,000 (STAR credit) or $250,000 (STAR exemption). That is the New York rule, and it applies in Albany County. New York's exemptions and relief programs in full.

On top of the New York programs, Albany County runs its own:

County senior citizens exemption: Under a 2023 county law, homeowners 65 and older (or a married couple or siblings where one is 65) who have owned the home at least 12 months get a partial exemption from county taxes: 50% of assessed value with income of $50,000 or less, shrinking in steps to 5% with income from $57,500 to just under $58,400. Towns, cities and school districts set their own limits for their own taxes. Apply to your town or city assessor. Apply by March 1 in the towns (the taxable status date); cities may use a different date.
County exemption for persons with disabilities and limited incomes: Under a 2023 county law, homeowners with a qualifying disability get a partial exemption from county taxes on the same income scale as the senior exemption: 50% of assessed value with income of $50,000 or less, down to 5% with income from $57,500 to just under $58,400. Apply to your town or city assessor. Apply by March 1 in the towns (the taxable status date); cities may use a different date.

How to appeal your Albany County property assessment

In Albany County you appeal to the Your town's or city's Board of Assessment Review. The deadline: File a written complaint (state Form RP-524) with your assessor or Board of Assessment Review so it is received by Grievance Day. In most towns that is the fourth Tuesday in May (May 25, 2027), and the tentative roll comes out May 1. The City of Albany used Tuesday, May 26 for 2026 and took complaints until 8 p.m. that day. Cities, and towns that share an assessor, can set a different date, so confirm it with your assessor. If the Board denies your complaint, you can file for Small Claims Assessment Review or a tax certiorari case within 30 days of the filing of the final assessment roll. How to file. Checked September 23, 2026 against the official appeal rules.

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

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

Work out your own numbers

Sources

Median real estate taxes paid and median home value for Albany County, New York: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2020-2024), tables B25103, B25077, B25102, B25119 and B25003; the five-year comparison uses the 2015-2019 estimates. Neighboring counties: Census county adjacency file.