Property tax in Georgetown County, South Carolina

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

The bill comes from the Georgetown County Treasurer. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Georgetown County Assessor's Office, 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 work: the Assessor values real estate and grants the 4% owner-occupied (legal residence) rate, the Auditor calculates the bills and handles the homestead exemption, and the Treasurer mails the bills and collects. Georgetown County reassessed every property in 2025, with notices mailed September 15, 2025, so most owners get no new value notice in 2026. The county will not accept a current bill while prior-year taxes on the same property are unpaid. Online card payments go through a processor, Official Payments, which charges its own fee. Some bills can also carry household or storm water fees.

When are property taxes due in Georgetown County?

For the 2026 bill, Georgetown County has one due date: January 15, 2027. State law makes property taxes payable between September 30 and January 15; the county's own pages do not print the date for this bill. January 15, 2027 is a Friday. Georgetown County also offers an optional advance installment plan for real property under a county ordinance: you apply to the Treasurer each year by January 15, pay five installments during the year based on the prior year's tax, and the Treasurer bills the balance by November 15. Prior-year taxes must be paid in full to join, the plan does not cover personal property or taxes paid through escrow, and it does not change the due date or the penalties. Taxes not paid by January 15 pick up penalties in three steps set by state law: 3% on January 16, another 7% on February 2 and another 5% on March 17. The county's Tax Collector treats unpaid accounts as delinquent on March 17; the Delinquent Tax Office then adds collection costs and can sell the property to satisfy the debt.

From Georgetown 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 Georgetown County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Georgetown County's average effective rate of 0.41% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.

Property tax in Georgetown 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 Georgetown County compare in South Carolina?

Among South Carolina's 46 counties, Georgetown County has the 41st highest effective property-tax rate: 40 rank higher and 5 rank lower. That places it among the least taxed counties in the state. Nationally, it ranks 2910th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every South Carolina county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Georgetown County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Georgetown County's 22,776 owner-occupied homes, 10.7% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 23.3% pay at least $2,000, and 30.8% pay under $800. Another 5.2% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $1,336 and owners without one pay $957. 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 Georgetown County property tax bill compare with local incomes?

The median property tax bill of $1,190 is about 1.6% of the median income of Georgetown County homeowner households, $73,488 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 84% of Georgetown 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 Georgetown County?

Yes. The median bill went from $995 in 2015-2019 to $1,190 in 2020-2024, a 19.6% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 53.3%, from $188,800 to $289,500. 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 Georgetown County

Georgetown County borders 5 counties.

How is a home assessed in Georgetown County?

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

Is there a homestead exemption in Georgetown 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 Georgetown County. South Carolina's exemptions and relief programs in full.

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

How to appeal your Georgetown County property assessment

In Georgetown County you appeal to the Georgetown County Assessor (written appeal), then the county Board of Assessment Appeals. The deadline: In a year you receive an assessment notice, your written appeal must reach the Assessor within 90 days of the date shown on the notice. In a year with no notice, you may appeal in writing at any time; an appeal filed before the January 15 penalty date counts for that tax year, and a later one counts for the next year. If the Assessor's review does not settle it, state law lets you go on to the county Board of Assessment Appeals and then the South Carolina Administrative Law Court, each within 30 days of the decision before it. Pay your bill on time while an appeal is pending. 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 Georgetown 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 Georgetown County

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