Property Tax Georgia: County Rates, the Floating Homestead Cap, and Exemptions for 2027

The typical Georgia homeowner pays $2,341 a year in property tax on a home worth $303,300, an effective rate of 0.77 percent by Census figures. County ratios run from 0.33 percent in Fannin County to 1.53 percent in Stewart County. The Georgia property tax calculator below covers 158 counties: it applies the county’s effective ratio (median tax paid divided by median home value) to your value and compares the result with the local median bill. Enter fair market value, the full 100 percent figure on your annual assessment notice, not the 40 percent assessed value.

The Floating Homestead Cap, and Why the Opt-Outs Are Ending

House Bill 581, signed April 18, 2024 and ratified by voters that November 5, created a statewide floating homestead exemption. It does not freeze the tax. It limits how fast a homestead’s taxable assessment can climb: any increase beyond the inflation rate is exempted.

The base year is 2024, and for the 2025 digest a qualifying homestead’s assessed value in effect did not change. From 2026 on, allowed growth equals the prior December’s change in the national CPI-U, which the Department of Revenue set at 2.7 percent for the 2026 digest. The base resets when a home sells or gains a substantial improvement.

Local governments could opt out by resolution after three public hearings before March 1, 2025, and many did, including several large metro Atlanta school systems. Senate Bill 33, the Homeownership Opportunity and Market Equalization Act of 2026, signed May 11, 2026, repeals those opt-out subsections of O.C.G.A. 48-5-44.2 and makes the exemption mandatory everywhere. If your jurisdiction opted out, ask the board of tax assessors which digest year and base year it will use.

From Fair Market Value to a Bill: 40 Percent, Then Millage

Georgia values property as of January 1. The county board of tax assessors estimates fair market value, assessed value is 40 percent of it, exemptions come off, and combined millage applies to the rest. One mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.

On a $300,000 homestead, 40 percent is $120,000; the $2,000 statewide homestead exemption leaves $118,000, so each mill costs $118. At 30 mills (an illustration only), the bill is $3,540.

Now add the cap. If that home’s 2024 assessed value was also $120,000 and its 2026 assessment rises to $132,000 (a $330,000 market value), the adjusted base is $120,000 plus 2.7 percent, or $123,240, and the $8,760 above it is exempt. At 30 mills that saves $262.80, where every levying body grants the exemption.

Who Levies: Counties, School Boards, and Cities, With No State Share

The state levy was 0.05 mill in 2015 and ended January 1, 2016, per the Department of Revenue. Everything left is local: county commissioners set the county rate, boards of education the school rate, and cities their own. The county tax commissioner collects for all of them.

Under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, each levying body computes a rollback rate, the millage that would raise last year’s revenue had no reassessment happened. Adopting a higher rate requires three advertised public hearings, one starting between 6 and 7 p.m. Since House Bill 581, assessment notices show the estimated rollback rate instead of an estimated bill.

Georgia County Rates, From Stewart to Fannin

With millage and exemptions varying so widely, the Census effective rate is the fairest yardstick. On the ACS 2024 five year estimates, Stewart County is highest at 1.53 percent, followed by Dougherty (Albany) at 1.33 percent, Mitchell at 1.32 percent, Taliaferro at 1.31 percent, and Clinch at 1.30 percent. Fannin is lowest at 0.33 percent, with neighboring Towns at 0.34 percent and Gilmer at 0.35 percent.

Low rates do not always mean small bills. The median Fannin owner pays $1,021 on a $306,600 home, while the median Stewart owner pays $994 on a home valued at $65,100. The largest median bills belong to Fulton ($4,033), Forsyth ($4,020), and Gwinnett ($3,617). Cobb (0.67 percent) sits well below DeKalb (0.93 percent). The statewide 0.77 percent trails the 0.86 percent county midpoint because high value suburbs such as Cobb, Cherokee, and Forsyth carry below average ratios.

Worked examples from the calculator:

• Fulton County, $450,000 home: 0.88 percent gives $3,960 a year, or $330 a month, which is $73 less than Fulton’s $4,033 median bill.
• Gwinnett County, $400,000 home: 0.95 percent gives $3,800 a year, about $316.67 a month, $183 above the county’s $3,617 median.
• Chatham County, $300,000 home: 0.84 percent gives $2,520 a year, or $210 a month, $21 under the $2,541 median.
• Ben Hill County, $150,000 home: 1.07 percent gives $1,605 a year, or $133.75 a month, $395 above the $1,210 median.

A $250,000 house would cost about $3,825 a year at the Stewart ratio and $825 at the Fannin ratio. Each ratio pools 2020 to 2024 survey answers, so it reflects the $2,000 exemption and older local freezes but not the floating cap, which began in 2025. Quitman County is omitted because the Census suppressed its figures.

The Assessment Notice and Your 45 Days to Appeal

The board of tax assessors mails an annual assessment notice showing fair market value, assessed value, and exemptions. You have 45 days from its date to appeal in writing to the board; Fayette County’s 2026 window, for example, closed August 7.

If the assessors disagree, the appeal goes to one of three places. The county board of equalization, a three member panel of county taxpayers appointed by the grand jury, is the default and costs nothing. Nonbinding arbitration covers value only, needs a certified appraisal, and costs a $25 fee plus the arbitrator’s cost if you lose. A hearing officer, a state certified appraiser, is available only for non-homestead real property or wireless personal property worth more than $500,000.

A value reduced on appeal stays locked for three years (House Bill 581 ended the lock for values merely upheld), and it lowers the base future floating exemption increases build on.

Exemptions Beyond the Cap: $2,000 Homestead, Seniors, and Disabled Veterans

O.C.G.A. 48-5-44 removes $2,000 of assessed value from county and school taxes on a primary residence. The Department of Revenue now accepts applications past the old April 1 deadline, through the end of the 45 day appeal window, filed with the county tax commissioner or tax receiver.

Owners 65 or older with prior year household income of $10,000 or less can take $4,000 off county taxes. Owners 62 or older under the same income limit can exempt up to $10,000 of assessed value from school taxes. In both tests, Social Security income up to the maximum Social Security benefit ($96,432 for 2025) is left out of the income count. A separate exemption for owners 62 and older with household income up to $30,000 applies once value rises more than $10,000. Many counties add richer senior exemptions by local act.

Qualifying disabled veterans receive an exemption tied to a federal index, $121,812 for 2025, from all property taxes. Surviving spouses of service members killed in action get the same amount, and surviving spouses of peace officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty can exempt the full homestead.

Due Dates, Interest, and the Tax Sale

Bills go out in the fall for the current year. The Department of Revenue says taxes are normally due December 20 in most counties, with 60 days from billing to pay, but counties vary: Gwinnett’s 2026 bills are due November 15, and some counties bill in installments.

Late balances accrue interest at the bank prime rate plus 3 percent, applied monthly; Gwinnett’s 2026 charge is 0.81 percent a month (9.75 percent a year). A 5 percent penalty is added 120 days after the due date and again every 120 days, up to 20 percent of the tax. The tax commissioner then issues a fi.fa. (tax lien), and the property can be levied on and sold at a tax sale. The owner may redeem within 12 months by paying the bid, later taxes, and a 20 percent premium; after that, the buyer can foreclose the right to redeem with notice.

Looking Ahead: The Next Inflation Index, SB 33, and a Data Refresh

Watch three things in 2027. A new inflation rate arrives each January from the December CPI-U. Former opt-outs, including big metro school systems, must now grant the floating exemption under Senate Bill 33. The same act allows a local homestead option sales tax (LHOST) from January 1, 2028, after a local act and a referendum, with proceeds funding homestead exemptions. Our county ratios use the Census 2024 five year release and are replaced each December when a newer one appears.

Sources: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates, tables B25103 and B25077; Georgia Department of Revenue exemption, FAQ, millage, and Taxpayer Bill of Rights pages and bulletins 2025-01 and 2026-01; House Budget and Research Office HB 581 brief; SB 33 (2026) as passed; Fayette, Gwinnett, and Hall county pages. Value questions go to the county board of tax assessors; amounts due go to the county tax commissioner.