Property Tax Alaska: Rates and Exemptions (2027)

Alaska property tax is purely a local affair, and in large parts of the state there is no tax on homes at all. Where boroughs and cities do levy, the typical Alaska homeowner pays $3,901 a year on a $352,900 home, a 1.11 percent effective rate, with local ratios running from 0.38 percent in Skagway to 1.72 percent in the Dillingham Census Area. The calculator below covers 23 boroughs and census areas. It applies the local Census ratio of median tax to median home value and shows the area’s median bill beside your estimate. Enter the full market value of the home, the same full and true value your assessor uses, and do not subtract any exemption.

No State Levy on Homes: Alaska Taxes Locally

The State of Alaska does not tax houses. The one state property tax on the books, AS 43.56.010, is a 20 mill levy on oil and gas exploration, production, and pipeline property, and a homeowner never sees it. Every residential tax bill in Alaska comes from a borough, a unified municipality, a city, or a service area, under the powers in AS 29.45.010. With no state income tax either, local governments lean on property and sales taxes in whatever mix their voters accept. Juneau carries a 0.95 percent effective ratio on the second highest median home value in the dataset, $449,300, while Anchorage, which has no general sales tax, sits at 1.26 percent. State money still shapes the bill: AS 29.45.020 makes every taxing city and borough disclose the state school and municipal aid it received and what that aid equals in mills.

Boroughs, Cities, and the Unorganized Borough

Alaska has no counties. Its county equivalents are organized boroughs, unified municipalities such as Anchorage and the City and Borough of Juneau, and census areas. The census areas are statistical slices of the Unorganized Borough, the vast region that has never formed a borough government. With no borough assembly, nothing levies an areawide tax there, so a home outside city limits in the Nome, Bethel, or Yukon-Koyukuk census areas usually owes no property tax at all, and only a city that chooses to levy can change that. Inside organized boroughs the assembly sets an areawide levy, may add a nonareawide levy for land outside cities, and can create service areas for roads, fire, or water that carry their own mills.

Alaska Property Tax Rates by Borough and Census Area

Census ACS 2024 5-year data shows what Alaska homeowners pay. Each area’s median tax divided by its median home value gives an effective ratio that already reflects local mill rates, exemptions, and untaxed homes. The highest ratio belongs to the Dillingham Census Area at 1.72 percent, followed by the Nome Census Area at 1.55 percent and Anchorage at 1.26 percent. Fairbanks North Star and Southeast Fairbanks both come in at 1.19 percent, and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough at 1.06 percent. At the low end, Skagway’s 0.38 percent is the smallest in the state even though its $435,400 median home ranks among the priciest; Hoonah-Angoon (0.43 percent), Sitka (0.46 percent), and Prince of Wales-Hyder (0.51 percent) follow. The middle of the 23 ratios is 0.83 percent.

Seven areas are left out because they levy no areawide borough property tax. The state assessor’s Alaska Taxable 2024 report says only 15 of 19 organized boroughs and unified municipalities levy one; Aleutians East, Denali, Lake and Peninsula, and Northwest Arctic do not, and the report lists no taxing city in the Bethel, Kusilvak, or Copper River census areas. A city inside those four boroughs may still levy its own. Also, the Census median bill counts only owners who pay, while its median value spans every owner, so where many homes owe nothing the ratio runs high. Southeast Fairbanks’ $3,350 median bill carries a margin of error near $1,349, so treat rural ratios as rough guides.

Two worked examples show the math. A $400,000 home in Anchorage at 1.26 percent comes to about $5,040 a year, or $420 a month in escrow, roughly $58 more than the Anchorage median bill of $4,982. A $300,000 home in the Fairbanks North Star Borough at 1.19 percent lands near $3,570 a year, $297.50 a month. At the extremes, $500,000 in Skagway works out to about $1,900, while $250,000 in the Dillingham Census Area reaches about $4,300.

Mill Levies and the 30 Mill Ceiling

Local bills in Alaska are written in mills, dollars per $1,000 of assessed value, and the governing body fixes its rate by resolution. State law requires the levy to be set before June 15, with tax statements in the mail by July 1 (AS 29.45.240). AS 29.45.090 then puts two ceilings on every municipality. No ad valorem levy may exceed 3 percent of assessed value, which is 30 mills, and all taxed property must bear the same rate that year. Separately, tax revenue from all sources may not exceed $1,500 a year for each resident, along with a per capita limit on the value that can be taxed. Local caps can go further: Anchorage’s tax cap limits the total property tax it can collect, so when assessed values climb across the city the mill rate tends to drop instead of the levy growing with them.

The $150,000 Senior and Disabled Veteran Exemption

Alaska’s biggest homeowner break is written into AS 29.45.030(e), and every taxing municipality must grant it. The first $150,000 of assessed value of a primary residence is exempt for a resident who is 65 or older, a disabled veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 50 percent or more, or a widow or widower at least 60 years old whose late spouse qualified. You must apply in writing, and a municipality may require Permanent Fund Dividend eligibility. At Anchorage’s 1.26 percent ratio, $150,000 of exempt value is worth roughly $1,890 a year; at the city’s nominal mill rate the saving is larger, because the effective ratio already blends in exempt homes. Voters may extend the exemption above $150,000 under AS 29.45.050(i), and AS 29.45.050(a) lets voters approve a general residential exemption of up to $75,000 of assessed value. The statute says the state shall reimburse municipalities for the mandatory exemption, but that money has not flowed in decades, so local taxpayers absorb it.

Full and True Value and the 30 Day Appeal

Assessors value property at full and true value as of January 1, meaning the price a willing buyer and willing seller would agree on in the open market (AS 29.45.110). Notices go out at least 30 days before the board of equalization sits. If the value looks wrong, the clock is short: AS 29.45.190 gives you 30 days from the mailing date to file a written appeal with the assessor. The board of equalization then hears it, the owner carries the burden of proof, and the only grounds are unequal, excessive, improper, or under valuation. In Anchorage, notices go out by January 15, and for 2026 most appeals were due February 11, with exemption applications due March 15.

Due Dates, Penalties, and Tax Foreclosure

Each borough and city picks its own due dates, often splitting the year into two installments. Anchorage mails bills by June 1, with the first half due June 30 and the second half due August 31, plus a seven day grace period before penalties post. Alaska’s statute sets the outer limits for everyone: a penalty of up to 20 percent of the unpaid tax and interest of up to 15 percent a year (AS 29.45.250). Unpaid property tax is a lien that outranks every other claim on the parcel, including the mortgage, and municipalities enforce it through annual foreclosure. After foreclosure the property is held for at least one year, and the owner can redeem it by paying the tax, penalty, interest, and costs.

House Bill 13 and What Changes in 2027

The most recent state change arrived in June 2026, when House Bill 13 became law without the governor’s signature as Chapter 25, SLA 2026. It hands boroughs and cities new optional exemptions: for owner-occupied homes, first-time homebuyers, short-term rentals converted to long-term rentals, low-income rentals, and new or renovated mobile home parks for up to 10 years. It also drops the old $10,000 limit on exemptions for volunteer firefighters and EMS providers. None apply automatically, so watch assembly and council agendas in 2027. A 2024 Senate proposal to triple the senior exemption to $450,000 stalled, leaving $150,000 in place. The ratios in this calculator will be refreshed when the Census publishes its next 5-year release, typically in December.

Sources: every effective ratio and median comes from Census tables B25103 and B25077 in the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year release; Alaska Statutes Title 29, Chapter 45, and AS 43.56.010; Alaska Taxable 2024 from the Office of the State Assessor; Alaska Legislature bill records for HB 13; Municipality of Anchorage Property Appraisal and Treasury divisions. Verify your own assessed value, mill rate, and due dates with your borough or city assessor and tax collector.