Property Tax Kentucky: County Rates, the $49,100 Homestead Exemption, and 2027 Deadlines

The median Kentucky homeowner pays $1,544 a year in property tax on a house worth $205,600, an effective rate of 0.75 percent in Census Bureau figures. By county, that ratio runs from 0.48 percent in Rockcastle to 1.01 percent in Campbell. This Kentucky property tax calculator applies what owners in your county really pay, as a share of home value, to the figure you enter and sets the answer beside the local median bill. Enter fair cash value: the Commonwealth assesses homes at 100 percent of market value as of January 1, so the total on your PVA notice and a sensible sale price should be close.

HB 44: Why Kentucky Rates Fall When Values Climb

House Bill 44, passed in a 1979 special session, keeps each taxing body from simply riding rising assessments. Every year a local district picks from three options. The compensating rate raises about the same revenue from existing property as the year before. A second option allows up to 4 percent more. Going past the compensating rate at all means advertising the rate and holding a public hearing, and the portion over 4 percent can be put to a recall vote if voters equal to 10 percent of the district’s turnout in the last presidential election sign a petition.

The state follows a similar rule for its own levy. When statewide assessments grow more than 4 percent, the Department of Revenue must cut the state real property rate so its receipts rise no more than 4 percent. For 2026, assessments grew an estimated 6.48 percent, so the rate dropped from 10.6 to 10.3 cents per $100, the sixth decline in a row. It once stood at 31.5 cents. On a $250,000 home the state’s share is now $257.50; the rest of the bill is local.

Cents per $100 on Full Fair Cash Value

Section 172 of the Kentucky Constitution requires property to be assessed at fair cash value, the price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller. An elected Property Valuation Administrator (PVA) in each county sets that value every January 1, and state law requires each parcel to be physically examined at least once every four years. When your value changes, the PVA must mail you a notice.

Rates are quoted in cents per $100 of assessed value, and several bodies stack them on one bill:

• The Commonwealth (10.3 cents for 2026).
• The county fiscal court.
• The school district, county or independent.
• A city, when the home sits inside one.
• Special districts such as library, fire, soil conservation, and extension districts.

Add the lines, multiply by value over $100, and subtract any exemption. The Department of Revenue’s annual rate books list every district’s figures.

County Ratios, Campbell Down to Rockcastle

Campbell County, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, has the highest ratio at 1.01 percent. Harlan follows at 0.99, Kenton at 0.98, Letcher at 0.96, and Bracken at 0.92. The low end is Rockcastle at 0.48 percent, then Carter at 0.49, Menifee at 0.51, and Clinton at 0.52. The middle county sits near 0.68 percent, and 83 of the 120 counties are below the statewide 0.75; Anderson and McCracken match it exactly.

Three estimates from the calculator:

• Jefferson County (Louisville Metro), $250,000: 0.86 percent gives $2,150.00 a year, or $179.17 a month, which is $14 above the county’s $2,136 median bill. Paid in full by November 1, the 2 percent discount brings it to $2,107.00.
• Campbell County, $300,000: 1.01 percent gives $3,030.00 a year and $252.50 a month, $474 above the $2,556 local median.
• Rockcastle County, $150,000: 0.48 percent gives $720.00 a year and $60.00 a month, $124 more than the $596 median.

The same $200,000 house costs about $2,020 in Campbell against $960 in Rockcastle. Oldham County, east of Louisville, has both the largest median bill ($3,519) and the highest median value ($393,100).

Northern Kentucky and the Coalfields Both Rank High

The top of the list mixes two very different places. Campbell and Kenton are Cincinnati suburbs where school and city levies stack on homes worth about $250,000 at the median. Harlan and Letcher, in the eastern coalfield, have median values of $73,700 and $67,400 (Letcher’s is the state’s lowest), yet ratios near 1 percent. Their bills are small in dollars ($732 and $648), but a school or county levy spread across low home values claims a bigger share of each.

Lexington’s Fayette County sits at 0.87 percent with a $2,542 median bill. Warren County, home to Bowling Green, has a $258,000 median home value, not far behind Lexington’s $293,500, yet rates just 0.65 percent: a $300,000 home there estimates at $1,950 against $2,610 in Fayette.

The $49,100 Homestead Exemption, and a Freeze That Stalled

For the 2025 and 2026 tax years, the homestead exemption removes $49,100 of assessed value, up $2,750 from $46,350 in 2023 and 2024. The Department of Revenue resets the amount every two years for inflation under KRS 132.810, so a new figure for 2027 and 2028 is due this winter. You qualify if you are 65 or older during the tax year, or classified as totally disabled under a federal program or a retirement system, and you own and live in the home on January 1.

Apply with your county PVA by December 31 of the tax year. Owners who qualify through disability must reapply each year unless they are veterans with a service-connected disability or have been found totally and permanently disabled under Social Security or Kentucky Retirement Systems rules. At the state levy alone the exemption saves $50.57; with local rates added the savings are much larger. In tax year 2023 it saved more than 474,000 Kentuckians about $293 million in all, roughly $620 each.

Some 2026 coverage said a senior freeze was headed to voters. Senate Bill 51 would have amended the constitution to exempt any growth in a 65 or older owner’s home value, and it passed the Senate 37 to 0 in January 2026. It never came out of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, so it is not on the November 3, 2026 ballot and no freeze exists.

Challenging a PVA Value in May

Each county holds a tax roll inspection period, normally starting the first Monday in May and ending the third Monday, six days a week, though a reassessment can shift the dates. Book a conference with the PVA or a deputy before it closes (by phone is fine), state your own opinion of value, and bring comparable sales or a recent appraisal. Most disputes end there.

If yours does not, file an appeal form at the county clerk’s office no later than one working day after the inspection period closes, which is the third Tuesday in May on the usual schedule. A three-member local board of assessment appeals hears the case and mails its ruling. From there you have 30 days from that mailing to reach the Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals, then circuit court. While an appeal is pending you may pay tax on your own claimed value and settle any difference later.

One Bill a Year: The November 1 Discount and the April 15 Handoff

Kentucky sends one annual bill in the fall, collected by the county sheriff, and KRS 134.015 sets the calendar:

• Paid in full by November 1: 2 percent off.
• November 2 through December 31: the face amount.
• January 1 through 31: a 5 percent penalty.
• After January 31: a 10 percent penalty.

If bills go out late, the discount window becomes the first full month after mailing. At the close of business on April 15, unpaid bills pass from the sheriff to the county clerk as certificates of delinquency, liens that add interest of 1 percent a month, a 10 percent clerk fee, and a 20 percent county attorney fee. From mid-July into late October, clerks sell those certificates to third party purchasers. Owners can then negotiate payment plans with the purchaser.

What Changes for 2027 Bills

Three things move before 2027 bills: a new homestead amount, a state rate set by July 1 under the same 4 percent test, and each local district’s choice of a compensating rate or something higher. The county ratios here divide the Census median tax paid by the median owner-occupied value in the American Community Survey five-year file released for 2024, pooling answers from 2020 through 2024. Because they reflect what owners paid, exemptions already received are baked in; treat them as typical outcomes, not the 2027 rate sheet. The calculator refreshes with each December release.

Sources: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 five-year estimates, tables B25103 and B25077; Kentucky Department of Revenue, Property Tax Rates, Homestead Exemption, Delinquent Property Tax, and Appeals Process for Real Property Assessments (62F003); 2026 state real property rate announcement (July 16, 2026); KRS 132.810 and 134.015; Kentucky Constitution Section 172; Legislative Research Commission record for 2026 SB 51. Value questions go to your county PVA; payments go to the county sheriff.