Property tax in Chester County, South Carolina

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

The bill comes from the Chester County Treasurer. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Chester County Assessor, 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.

Three county offices share the job: the Assessor values the property, the Auditor calculates the tax and corrects bills, and the Treasurer sends the bill and collects it. A home you live in is taxed at the 4% assessment ratio instead of 6% only after you apply to the Assessor, by January 15 of the first year you claim it. Property in the City of Chester, the Town of Great Falls or the Town of Fort Lawn carries the town's tax on the same county bill: the county's levy sheet adds the town rate to the district total, and the Treasurer passes the money on to the town. The Treasurer's page links to the county's online tax search, where bills can be viewed and paid. Mailed payments for real property bills go to PO Box 63464, Charlotte, NC 28263-3464.

When are property taxes due in Chester County?

For the 2026 bill, Chester County has one due date: January 15, 2027. South Carolina law makes property taxes payable between September 30 and January 15, and the county says bills usually go out in October. January 15, 2027 is a Friday. A mailed payment counts as paid on its U.S. postmark date. If the bill is mailed late, the first penalty waits until 30 days after mailing. A 3% penalty is added if the bill is still unpaid after January 15 (or 30 days after the bill was mailed, if that is later). A further 7% is added if it is still unpaid after February 1, and another 5% if it is still unpaid after March 16; on March 17 the Treasurer turns the account over to the county Tax Collector. The Tax Collector then adds the costs of collection and can sell the property at the tax sale held on the first Monday in November or December.

From Chester 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 Chester County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Chester County's average effective rate of 0.56% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.

Property tax in Chester 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 Chester County compare in South Carolina?

Among South Carolina's 46 counties, Chester County has the 12th highest effective property-tax rate: 11 rank higher and 34 rank lower. That is on the higher side for South Carolina. Nationally, it ranks 2425th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every South Carolina county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Chester County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Chester County's 10,321 owner-occupied homes, 6.1% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 13.1% pay at least $2,000, and 39.3% pay under $800. Another 8.5% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $1,095 and owners without one pay $774. 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 Chester County property tax bill compare with local incomes?

The median property tax bill of $890 is about 1.5% of the median income of Chester County homeowner households, $59,188 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 78.4% of Chester 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 Chester County?

Yes. The median bill went from $676 in 2015-2019 to $890 in 2020-2024, a 31.7% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 65.6%, from $95,600 to $158,300. 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 Chester County

Chester County borders 4 counties.

How is a home assessed in Chester County?

South Carolina assesses homes at 4% of market value in every county, Chester County included. How South Carolina assesses and reappraises homes.

Is there a homestead exemption in Chester County?

Not as a dollar amount. South Carolina owner-occupants get a 4% assessment ratio instead of 6% plus an exemption from school operating millage; apply for the 4% ratio with the county assessor. That is the South Carolina rule, and it applies in Chester County. South Carolina's exemptions and relief programs in full.

On top of the South Carolina programs, Chester County runs its own:

• Local Option Sales Tax (L.O.S.T.) credit: A credit on the property tax bill paid for by the county's one-cent local option sales tax, shown on the bill as the L.O.S.T. credit; it is applied automatically, and property in the City of Chester and the towns of Great Falls and Fort Lawn also gets a separate town credit from the same tax.

How to appeal your Chester County property assessment

In Chester County you appeal to the Chester County Assessor (a written objection first; the Chester County Board of Assessment Appeals hears it if the Assessor does not agree). The deadline: Within 90 days after the Assessor mails an assessment notice. In a year with no notice, you may appeal in writing at any time; an appeal filed before the first late penalty date counts for that tax year, and one filed on or after it counts for the next year. If a conference with the Assessor does not settle it, you have 30 days after the conference to file a written protest, and then 30 days after the Assessor's written response to appeal to the Board of Assessment Appeals. These windows are set by state law. Some of the Assessor's help pages give shorter ones (30 days after a notice, or January 1 to March 1); the county's own 2025 reassessment guide gives the 90 days. How to file. Checked September 23, 2026 against the official appeal rules.

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

South Carolina rules from primary state sources, reviewed September 7, 2026; sources on the South Carolina 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 Chester County's tax rate to hand.

• Mortgage calculator

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

• South Carolina income tax

  Brackets, standard deduction and what South Carolina actually taxes.

• Sales tax in Chester County

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