Property Tax Indiana: County Rates, the 1% Cap, and Pay 2027 Deductions

A typical Hoosier homeowner pays $1,614 a year in property tax on a house worth $218,200, a ratio of 0.74 percent according to the Census Bureau. Across the 92 counties that ratio stretches from 0.41 percent in Clay County to 0.92 percent in Lake County. This Indiana property tax calculator scales the figure you type in by what the middle owner in your county pays relative to the middle home’s worth, divides the result into the two installments Indiana bills, and compares it with what the typical local owner pays. Enter gross assessed value, the total on your Form 11 notice before any deductions; because Indiana assesses homes at 100 percent of market value-in-use, a realistic sale price is a fair stand-in.

The 1 Percent Circuit Breaker That Caps a Homestead Bill

Indiana’s defining feature is a ceiling in the state constitution. Voters approved the property tax caps in Article 10, Section 1 on November 2, 2010, and they limit each bill to a share of gross assessed value: 1 percent for an owner-occupied homestead, 2 percent for other residential property (rentals and apartments) and farmland, and 3 percent for commercial, industrial, and personal property. Locals call the resulting credit the circuit breaker. A $250,000 homestead can owe no more than $2,500, however high local rates climb.

One exception matters in growing school districts. Taxes that voters approve in a referendum sit outside the caps, so a school operating or construction referendum can push a homestead past 1 percent. When the caps do bite, the credit is revenue the local units lose, and Ind. Code 6-1.1-20.6-9.5 bars them from raising their levy to recover it.

SEA 1 Rewrites the Homestead Deductions, Year by Year

Senate Enrolled Act 1 of 2025 changed how Indiana shelters owner-occupied homes, in steps. The flat homestead standard deduction, $48,000 for the 2025 assessment date, falls to $40,000 for 2026 (the bills you pay in 2027), then $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000, and reaches zero with the 2030 assessment date. At the same time, the supplemental homestead deduction, taken from whatever value remains, rises from 40 percent on pay 2026 bills to 46 percent in 2027, 52 percent in 2028, 57 percent in 2029, 62 percent in 2030, and 66.7 percent from 2031.

SEA 1 also added a supplemental homestead credit, first applied to 2026 bills: 10 percent of the homestead’s tax, capped at $300, applied automatically to anyone who has the standard deduction. It does not reduce referendum taxes. Because a percentage deduction replaces a fixed dollar amount, pricier homes gain more over time than modest ones.

Several popular calculators still mix these years together, quoting “60 percent up to $40,000” or the older 35 percent supplemental rule. The 60 percent option ended after the 2024 assessment date, and $40,000 pairs with the 46 percent supplemental rate, not the 40 percent one.

From Gross Assessed Value to a Pay 2027 Bill

Here is the arithmetic on a $250,000 homestead under pay 2027 rules:

• Gross assessed value: $250,000.
• Minus the $40,000 standard deduction: $210,000.
• Minus the 46 percent supplemental deduction ($96,600): net assessed value of $113,400.
• At a district rate of $2.17 per $100 (the illustration the Department of Local Government Finance uses in its own guidance), gross tax is $2,460.78, below the $2,500 cap.
• The supplemental homestead credit removes 10 percent, $246.08, leaving $2,214.70, or 0.89 percent of gross value.

Your own rate depends on the taxing district your parcel sits in, the combination of county, township, city or town, school corporation, library, and special units that levy on it. Each unit adopts a budget, and the Department of Local Government Finance sets the rate by dividing the approved levy by the assessed value beneath it. For a parcel-exact figure, the state’s Gateway tax bill calculator uses your real district rate.

County Effective Rates: Clay at 0.41%, Lake at 0.92%

Lake County, in the northwest corner, is highest at 0.92 percent, followed by Marion at 0.91, Hamilton and Vigo at 0.88, and St. Joseph at 0.86. Clay County is lowest at 0.41 percent, then Brown at 0.44 and Pulaski and Switzerland at 0.45. The middle county sits at 0.66 percent, and 67 of the 92 counties fall under the statewide 0.74.

Two worked estimates from the calculator:

• Marion County (Indianapolis), $250,000: 0.91 percent gives $2,275.00 a year, two installments of $1,137.50, or $189.58 a month. That is $247 more than the county’s $2,028 median bill.
• Hamilton County, $400,000: 0.88 percent gives $3,520.00 a year, $1,760.00 per installment, or $293.33 a month, which is $29 under the county median of $3,549, the largest median bill in the state.

The same $200,000 home would come to about $1,840 in Lake County and $820 in Clay County. Hamilton also has the highest median value, $405,500, and a fixed standard deduction shelters a smaller share of an expensive house. At pay 2027 rules, net assessed value is 45.4 percent of gross on a $250,000 home but 49.7 percent on a $500,000 one.

Credits for Seniors, Blind or Disabled Owners, and Veterans

SEA 1 turned several old deductions into flat credits against the bill, and a 2026 law, House Enrolled Act 1210, did the same for most veterans. Apply with the county auditor by January 15 of the year the taxes are due; January 15, 2027, for pay 2027 bills.

• Over 65 credit, $150: for owners 65 or older by December 31 of the prior year who have owned the home at least a year, with federal adjusted gross income (from two years before the bill) of $60,000 or less single, $70,000 joint.
• Over 65 circuit breaker: keeps a qualifying senior’s homestead bill from rising more than 2 percent a year, using the same income limits, adjusted annually for the Social Security cost of living increase.
• Blind or disabled credit, $125 on the home you live in.
• Veterans, starting with pay 2027: the old $24,960 deduction for a service-connected disability of at least 10 percent became a $350 credit, and veterans at least 62 with a 10 percent disability now get a $250 credit instead of the $14,000 deduction. A totally disabled veteran who has lived in Indiana for a year can deduct 100 percent of the homestead’s assessed value, but must file a new application to get it.

The mortgage deduction is gone; it last applied to 2022 pay 2023 bills. HEA 1210 also made the penalty for a false homestead claim mandatory, back taxes plus a 10 percent fine. Marion and St. Joseph counties offer an extra county option circuit breaker credit, which Senate Enrolled Act 163 of 2026 extended so that it now expires January 1, 2029.

Form 11, Form 130, and the June 15 Deadline

Values are set as of January 1. Assessors adjust every parcel each year from sales (“trending”) and physically reassess about a quarter of each county’s parcels every year on a four-year cycle. A change arrives on a Form 11 notice of assessment.

To appeal, file Form 130 with the township or county assessor. If the Form 11 was mailed before May 1, the deadline is June 15 of that assessment year; if mailed later, it is June 15 of the year the tax bill goes out. An informal meeting with the assessor usually comes first, then a hearing before the county Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. After that, appeals go to the Indiana Board of Tax Review and finally the Indiana Tax Court. Claims of an objective error can reach back up to three years.

May 10, November 10, and the County Tax Sale

Indiana bills arrive in spring for the prior year’s assessment and are paid in two equal installments, due May 10 and November 10. Miss one and the county adds a 5 percent penalty if you pay in full within 30 days and have no earlier delinquency on the parcel, or 10 percent otherwise. Taxes that stay unpaid can send the property to the county’s tax sale.

Reading These Numbers Before the Next Refresh

County ratios here rest on five-year American Community Survey data the Census Bureau released for 2024, pooling answers from 2020 through 2024, when owners paid under the older deduction rules. Treat the calculator as typical outcomes, not the pay 2027 formula. More change is coming: for the 2027 assessment date the standard deduction drops to $30,000 and pay 2028 bills use a 52 percent supplemental deduction. Each December the Census releases a newer five-year file, and this calculator updates to it.

Sources: Census Bureau tables B25077 and B25103 (ACS five-year estimates, 2024 release); Indiana Department of Local Government Finance memoranda on deductions and credits (May 27, 2026) and assessment legislation (May 23, 2025), its 2025 legislative FAQ, the Citizen’s Guide to Property Tax, and State Form 51781; Indiana Constitution Article 10, Section 1; Ind. Code 6-1.1-12-37, 6-1.1-12-37.5, 6-1.1-15-1.1, 6-1.1-20.6-7.7, and 6-1.1-51.3. Assessed value questions go to your township or county assessor, deductions and credits to the county auditor, and payments to the county treasurer.