Property tax in Craven County, North Carolina

By Brent Chudoba, editor Updated September 23, 2026

In Craven County, the property tax bill comes from the Craven County Tax Department, Tax Collection Division. The 2026 bill is due January 5, 2027. You can look up and pay the bill on the county's own payment page. Taken from Craven County's own pages, checked September 23, 2026.

The median property tax bill in Craven County, North Carolina is $1,450 a year, which is about 0.63% of the county's median home value of $231,600. That effective rate is lower than the typical North Carolina county (0.65%) and lower 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 Craven County, and how do you pay it?

The bill comes from the Craven County Tax Department, Tax Collection Division. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Craven County Tax Department, Real Estate Appraisal Division, 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 county bills and collects City of New Bern property taxes on the same bill as the county tax. Its 2026 tax rate sheet also lists a combined county and town rate for Bridgeton, Cove City, Dover, Havelock, River Bend, Trent Woods and Vanceboro. Bills can be paid online at the county's myCravenCountyNC portal, which accepts partial and scheduled payments, by mail, by phone through the county's card processor, or in person at 226 Pollock Street in New Bern. The last countywide revaluation took effect January 1, 2023, and the next is scheduled for 2028.

When are property taxes due in Craven County?

For the 2026 bill, Craven County has one due date: January 5, 2027. Taxes are due September 1, 2026, and you can pay without interest through January 5, 2027, which is a Tuesday. Under state law, a mailed payment counts as received on the date of the U.S. Postal Service postmark. Taxes unpaid after January 5 are delinquent on January 6. State law charges interest of 2% for January and 3/4% more for each month after that. The county mails delinquent notices in mid-January, begins debt setoff, wage garnishment and bank attachment in mid-February, and publishes unpaid real estate taxes in the newspaper if they are not paid by March 31.

From Craven 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 Craven County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Craven County's average effective rate of 0.63% (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: $1,459 / year

Property tax in Craven County at a glance

Craven County, North Carolina property tax (Census ACS, reviewed September 23, 2026)
Measure	Value
Median annual property tax	$1,450
Median home value	$231,600
Effective tax rate	0.63%
Typical North Carolina county rate	0.65%
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 Craven County compare in North Carolina?

Among North Carolina's 100 counties, Craven County has the 55th highest effective property-tax rate: 54 rank higher and 45 rank lower. That is near the middle for North Carolina. Nationally, it ranks 2150th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every North Carolina county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Craven County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Craven County's 29,343 owner-occupied homes, 11.7% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 26.6% pay at least $2,000, and 18.5% pay under $800. Another 4.7% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Annual property tax paid by Craven County homeowners (Census ACS 2020-2024)
Annual bill	Homes	Share
Under $800	5,424	18.5%
$800 to $1,499	9,189	31.3%
$1,500 to $1,999	5,535	18.9%
$2,000 to $2,999	4,385	14.9%
$3,000 or more	3,423	11.7%
No property tax paid	1,387	4.7%

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $1,472 and owners without one pay $1,411. That is within 10% either way, so in Craven County paying off the house does not go with a noticeably different bill. Census table B25103.

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

The median property tax bill of $1,450 is about 1.8% of the median income of Craven County homeowner households, $79,156 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 68.4% of Craven 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 Craven County?

Yes. The median bill went from $1,219 in 2015-2019 to $1,450 in 2020-2024, a 18.9% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 46.7%, from $157,900 to $231,600. 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 Craven County

Craven County borders 6 counties.

Craven County and its neighbors, highest effective rate first (Census ACS 2020-2024)
County	Effective rate	Median bill	Median home value
Lenoir County, NC	0.84%	$1,015	$120,500
Pitt County, NC	0.83%	$1,734	$208,900
Jones County, NC	0.74%	$964	$130,300
Beaufort County, NC	0.67%	$1,300	$192,700
Craven County, NC (this county)	0.63%	$1,450	$231,600
Pamlico County, NC	0.56%	$1,218	$216,800
Carteret County, NC	0.43%	$1,423	$333,300

How is a home assessed in Craven County?

North Carolina assesses homes at 100% of market value in every county, Craven County included. How North Carolina assesses and reappraises homes.

Is there a homestead exemption in Craven County?

No. North Carolina has no general homestead exemption; relief is targeted to older and disabled owners and to disabled veterans. That is the North Carolina rule, and it applies in Craven County. North Carolina's exemptions and relief programs in full.

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

How to appeal your Craven County property assessment

In Craven County you appeal to the Craven County Board of Equalization and Review. The deadline: Send the county's written appeal form to the Board of Equalization and Review in care of the Craven County Tax Department. For tax year 2026 the deadline was noon on Friday, April 10, 2026; the county has not yet posted the deadline for tax year 2027. Values are based on market value as of January 1, 2023, the last countywide revaluation. The board's decision can be appealed to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission within 30 days after the board mails its decision. How to file. Checked September 23, 2026 against the official appeal rules.

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

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

Work out your own numbers

Sources

Median real estate taxes paid and median home value for Craven County, North Carolina: 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.