Property tax in Brown County, South Dakota

Estimate the property tax on a home in Brown County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Brown County's average effective rate of 1.18% (Census). The real bill depends on the home's assessed value, the millage where it sits and any exemptions.

Property tax in Brown 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 Brown County compare in South Dakota?

Among South Dakota's 66 counties, Brown County has the 13th highest effective property-tax rate: 12 rank higher and 53 rank lower. That is on the higher side for South Dakota. Nationally, it ranks 765th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every South Dakota county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Brown County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Brown County's 11,014 owner-occupied homes, 38.6% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 63.4% pay at least $2,000, and 8.3% pay under $800. Another 2.9% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $2,605 and owners without one pay $2,586. That is within 10% either way, so in Brown County paying off the house does not go with a noticeably different bill. Census table B25103.

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

The median property tax bill of $2,598 is about 2.9% of the median income of Brown County homeowner households, $88,503 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 67.6% of Brown 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 Brown County?

Yes. The median bill went from $2,199 in 2015-2019 to $2,598 in 2020-2024, a 18.1% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 32.6%, from $166,800 to $221,100. 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 Brown County

Brown County borders 8 counties, 2 of them across the state line.

How is a home assessed in Brown County?

South Dakota assesses homes at 85% of market value in every county, Brown County included. How South Dakota assesses and reappraises homes.

Is there a homestead exemption in Brown County?

Not as a dollar amount. A South Dakota home you own and live in gets the owner-occupied classification, which lowers the school general fund levy. File the certificate with the county director of equalization by March 15. That is the South Dakota rule, and it applies in Brown County. South Dakota's exemptions and relief programs in full.

When are property taxes due in Brown County?

Taxes are due and payable January 1 of the year after the assessment, collected by the county treasurer. You can split the bill: pay the first half by April 30 and the second by October 31 and nothing goes delinquent. Miss those and the unpaid half becomes delinquent on May 1 or November 1 and starts accruing monthly interest. Bills of $50 or less must be paid in full by April 30, and when a deadline lands on a weekend it moves to the last working day of that month.

South Dakota splits the bill into 2 installments. That is the South Dakota rule. Brown County issues and collects the bill, so the dates printed on your statement are the ones that bind you.

How to appeal your Brown County property assessment

You contest the assessed value with the local board of equalization, then the county board of equalization, then the Office of Hearing Examiners or circuit court. The filing deadline is typically mid-March to the local board, with the county board about three weeks later; the exact dates shift each year. That is the South Dakota rule; Brown County sets the exact dates and forms. The South Dakota appeal process step by step.

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

• Mortgage calculator

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

• South Dakota income tax

  Brackets, standard deduction and what South Dakota actually taxes.

• Sales tax in Brown County

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