Property Tax Kansas: County Rates, Mill Levies, and 2027 Refunds

A typical Kansas homeowner pays $2,798 a year in property tax on a home worth $217,200, or 1.29 percent of market value, according to Census Bureau estimates. Across the 105 counties that share runs from 0.96 percent in Nemaha County to 2.46 percent in Stanton County. This Kansas property tax calculator applies your county’s ratio (median tax paid over median home worth) to the value you type in, splits the result into the December and May halves, and compares it with what local owners actually pay. Enter the appraised value from your notice of value (or a fair sale price), not the smaller assessed value.

The Revenue Neutral Rate Notice: Your Early Warning

Kansas mails homeowners a warning before a local government collects more property tax than it did last year. Under K.S.A. 79-2988, in force since 2021, the county clerk works out a revenue neutral rate for every taxing subdivision by June 15. That is the levy that would raise the same dollars as last year at this year’s values. A unit that wants to go higher must tell the clerk by July 20.

The clerk then mails each owner a notice headed “This is not a bill,” listing each unit’s tax last year, at the neutral rate, and at its proposed maximum, plus hearing dates. It must arrive at least 10 days ahead; hearings fall between August 20 and September 20, with the vote taken the same day. If a unit skips the steps, the State Board of Tax Appeals can order it to refund the excess or cut the levy.

A rising value alone does not raise the dollars collected; a vote to exceed the neutral rate does, and the notice tells you who is voting and when.

Appraised Value, 11.5 Percent, Then Mills

The county appraiser sets the fair market value of each home as of January 1. A residence is then assessed at 11.5 percent of that appraised value. Levies are quoted in mills, one dollar per $1,000 of assessed value, and your statement totals the mills of every unit in your tax district.

At the statewide median of $217,200, assessed value is $24,978. The Census ratio of 1.29 percent works out to roughly 112 mills on that assessed figure, which gives a feel for the combined levy on a typical Kansas statement. The calculator applies the county ratio straight to appraised value, and since that ratio comes from what owners actually paid, it already reflects the school exemption.

Schools, the $75,000 Break, and the State Levy That Ended

Every school district charges the uniform 20 mill general fund levy under K.S.A. 72-5142, then adds local funds such as the supplemental general fund, capital outlay, and bond and interest.

Homes get a break on only the 20 mill piece. Since tax year 2024, the first $75,000 of appraised value on residential property is exempt from it. The 2024 special session bill, Senate Bill 1, set that figure (up from $42,049) and ended the formula that indexed it. The most it can save is $172.50 a year: $75,000 times 11.5 percent is $8,625 of assessed value, and 20 mills on that is $172.50. On a $250,000 home the general fund levy falls from $575 to $402.50. A 2016 Department of Revenue guide still online cites $20,000, which is long out of date.

The state itself stopped levying property tax after tax year 2025. Senate Bill 35, signed April 7, 2025, ended the 1 mill educational building fund levy and the 0.5 mill state institutions building fund levy and replaced them with general fund transfers of $56 million and $25 million starting July 1, 2026. For a $250,000 home those 1.5 mills came to about $43.13 a year. The Census ratios predate that change, so current bills may run slightly under them.

County Ratios: Nemaha at 0.96%, Stanton at 2.46%

The steepest ratios belong to small rural counties, mostly in the west and south, where median home values are low, so each levy dollar is spread over less value. Stanton County is highest at 2.46 percent, followed by Comanche at 2.16, Morton at 2.08, and Elk and Pawnee at 2.03. Nemaha is lowest at 0.96 percent, then Kearny at 1.05, Crawford at 1.06, Doniphan at 1.07, and Coffey at 1.09.

The statewide 1.29 percent sits below the 1.51 percent midpoint of all counties because the two most populous counties have fairly low ratios: Johnson at 1.14 percent and Sedgwick at 1.21. Johnson still has the largest median bill, $4,447, on the highest median value, $391,200. Chautauqua has the smallest, $991.

Two worked estimates:

• Johnson County, $450,000 home: 1.14 percent gives $5,130 a year, or two halves of $2,565 and $427.50 a month, which is $683 more than the county’s $4,447 median.
• Sedgwick County, $250,000 home: 1.21 percent gives $3,025 a year, halves of $1,512.50, and $252.08 a month, $564 over the $2,461 median.

A $200,000 house runs $1,920 in Nemaha and $4,920 in Stanton.

The Spring Notice of Value and Your 30 Day Window

Your notice of value should be mailed by March 1 unless the appraiser receives an extension. If the figure looks high, you have two routes, and you must choose one per year:

• Appeal the notice. Contact the county appraiser within 30 days of the date the notice was mailed to request an informal meeting. Meetings end by May 15 and final determinations by May 20. If you disagree, single-family owners go next to the Small Claims and Expedited Hearings Division of the Board of Tax Appeals, which holds a hearing within 60 days of filing.
• Pay under protest. File the protest form with the county treasurer when you pay. Owners whose taxes go through escrow have until January 31 of the following year.

Kansas places the burden of proof on the county appraiser, not on you (K.S.A. 79-1609). A 2026 law adds protection after a win. House Bill 2644, approved April 6, 2026, says that once a value is lowered on appeal by a final determination on or after January 1, 2026, the appraiser must either adjust the value or obtain an independent fee simple appraisal if it climbs more than 5 percent in any of the next five years, apart from new construction or a change in use or classification. Before 2026 this applied only to commercial property.

Refunds Instead of Exemptions: Homestead, SAFESR, and the Freeze

Aside from the school levy break, Kansas relief comes as refunds from the Department of Revenue, claimed by April 15 for the prior year’s taxes. Each program requires a home appraised at $350,000 or less, and you file for one program per year. Figures below are for tax year 2025.

• Homestead Refund (K-40H): up to $700 for households with income of $43,389 or less that include someone 55 or older, blind or disabled, a dependent child under 18, a veteran with a service-connected disability of 50 percent or more, or a qualifying surviving spouse.
• SAFESR (K-40PT): 75 percent of the property tax actually and timely paid, for owners 65 or older with household income of $25,380 or less.
• Seniors and Disabled Veterans Relief (K-40SVR): refunds any increase over a base year tax, in effect freezing the bill, for owners 65 or older or veterans rated 50 percent disabled, with household income of $58,041 or less. Social Security is left out of that income.

The calculator does not subtract them, since each depends on income. Claims for taxes paid in 2026 are due April 15, 2027.

December 20, May 10, and What Happens to Unpaid Tax

The county treasurer mails statements by December 15. Pay the whole bill or the first half by December 20; the second half is due May 10. If a lender pays from escrow, the monthly figure is a handy check.

Late real property tax draws interest at the rate the Department of Revenue sets each year: 13 percent for calendar 2026, or 15 percent when $10,000 or more is past due. Delinquent real estate is listed in the local newspaper for three weeks each August, and tax left unpaid for three years is referred for foreclosure and a county tax sale.

What 2027 Holds, and When These Ratios Refresh

Statements mailed in December 2026 are the first with no state mill levy, so expect a modest drop in that line. A proposal to cap yearly growth in assessed values, SCR 1603, passed the Senate in 2026 but died in the House, so Kansas still has no assessment cap and the neutral rate hearings remain the main brake on levies. The next Census five year release, due around December, will refresh these county ratios.

Sources: county ratios from the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey, five-year series, tables B25103 and B25077; Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Property Valuation; Kansas Statutes Annotated; 2024 Special Session SB 1, 2025 SB 35, and 2026 HB 2644. Confirm your value with the county appraiser and your amount due with the county treasurer.