Property tax in Monroe County, Tennessee

By Brent Chudoba, editor Updated September 23, 2026

In Monroe County, the property tax bill comes from the Monroe County Trustee. The 2026 bill is due February 28, 2027. You can look up and pay the bill on the county's own payment page. Taken from Monroe County's own pages, checked September 23, 2026.

The median property tax bill in Monroe County, Tennessee is $934 a year, which is about 0.41% of the county's median home value of $227,500. That effective rate is lower than the typical Tennessee county (0.47%) 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 Monroe County, and how do you pay it?

The bill comes from the Monroe County Trustee. The value it is based on is set by a separate office, the Monroe County Property 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.

The Monroe County Trustee, in Madisonville, sends the county bill and collects it; online payment runs through the Trustee's payment processor, reached from the county website. Some towns collect their own city property tax separately from the county bill, including the City of Sweetwater and the Town of Vonore, so owners inside those towns get a second bill. Monroe County has not adopted the state's optional tax freeze for older homeowners.

When are property taxes due in Monroe County?

For the 2026 bill, Monroe County has one due date: February 28, 2027. Monroe County does not publish its own tax calendar online. Under state law, 2026 taxes are payable from the first Monday in October (October 5, 2026) through the last day of February 2027, and March 1 is the delinquency date, when interest is added. February 28, 2027 is a Sunday. The county has not said whether a payment on Monday, March 1 counts as on time, so pay by Friday, February 26, 2027. Call the Trustee's office at 423-442-2920 to confirm dates and payment options. Under state law (Tenn. Code Ann. 67-5-2010), 2026 taxes not paid by the end of February 2027 have interest of 1.5% added on March 1, 2027 and on the first of each month after that.

From Monroe 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 Monroe County

Enter a home's market value for a ballpark at Monroe 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.

Home market value

Estimated property tax: $933 / year

Property tax in Monroe County at a glance

Monroe County, Tennessee property tax (Census ACS, reviewed September 23, 2026)
Measure	Value
Median annual property tax	$934
Median home value	$227,500
Effective tax rate	0.41%
Typical Tennessee county rate	0.47%
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 Monroe County compare in Tennessee?

Among Tennessee's 95 counties, Monroe County has the 75th highest effective property-tax rate: 74 rank higher and 20 rank lower. That is on the lower side for Tennessee. Nationally, it ranks 2914th of 3135 US counties by effective rate. See every Tennessee county ranked.

How much do homeowners in Monroe County actually pay?

The median is only the middle bill. Across Monroe County's 14,225 owner-occupied homes, 4% pay $3,000 or more a year in property tax, 14.1% pay at least $2,000, and 38.6% pay under $800. Another 6.2% report paying no property tax at all, which usually means an exemption covers the whole bill.

Annual property tax paid by Monroe County homeowners (Census ACS 2020-2024)
Annual bill	Homes	Share
Under $800	5,497	38.6%
$800 to $1,499	4,290	30.2%
$1,500 to $1,999	1,539	10.8%
$2,000 to $2,999	1,436	10.1%
$3,000 or more	575	4%
No property tax paid	888	6.2%

Owners with a mortgage pay a median of $1,030 and owners without one pay $886. 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 Monroe County property tax bill compare with local incomes?

The median property tax bill of $934 is about 1.3% of the median income of Monroe County homeowner households, $71,555 a year. That compares two middles, so a retiree in a long-held home can pay a far larger share. 72.2% of Monroe 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 Monroe County?

Yes. The median bill went from $735 in 2015-2019 to $934 in 2020-2024, a 27.1% rise. Over the same span the median home value moved 70.2%, from $133,700 to $227,500. 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 Monroe County

Monroe County borders 6 counties, 2 of them across the state line.

Monroe County and its neighbors, highest effective rate first (Census ACS 2020-2024)
County	Effective rate	Median bill	Median home value
Graham County, NC	0.57%	$979	$170,600
Polk County, TN	0.5%	$856	$169,900
Cherokee County, NC	0.46%	$1,064	$232,300
Blount County, TN	0.45%	$1,453	$320,500
Monroe County, TN (this county)	0.41%	$934	$227,500
McMinn County, TN	0.35%	$748	$211,800
Loudon County, TN	0.33%	$1,162	$348,000

How is a home assessed in Monroe County?

Tennessee assesses homes at 25% of market value in every county, Monroe County included. How Tennessee assesses and reappraises homes.

Is there a homestead exemption in Monroe County?

No. Tennessee has no general homestead exemption; relief comes through the state Tax Relief program and the local-option Tax Freeze. That is the Tennessee rule, and it applies in Monroe County. Tennessee's exemptions and relief programs in full.

How to appeal your Monroe County property assessment

In Monroe County you appeal to the Monroe County Board of Equalization. The deadline: Monroe County has not published its appeal schedule online. Under state law the county board convenes on June 1 each year (the next business day if June 1 falls on a weekend), and you generally must appeal to it to keep your right to appeal further; the next session opens June 1, 2027. Call the Property Assessor's office at 423-442-3637 for that year's dates and to schedule a hearing. A county board decision can be appealed to the Tennessee State Board of Equalization by August 1 of the tax year or within 45 days of the date the county board's notice was sent, whichever is later. How to file. Checked September 23, 2026 against state law, because Monroe County does not restate them on its own pages.

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

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

Work out your own numbers

Sources

Median real estate taxes paid and median home value for Monroe County, Tennessee: 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.