A typical North Dakota owner-occupant pays $2,468 a year on a home worth $249,900, which is 0.99 percent of value in the Census Bureau’s latest five-year survey. County shares range from 0.23 percent in Slope to 1.34 percent in Cavalier. Pick a county and type a home’s worth, and this North Dakota property tax calculator applies that county’s Census share (midpoint payment over midpoint value) to return a gross yearly amount, each installment, a monthly figure, and the local midpoint payment. Enter true and full value, meaning market value, not the far smaller taxable value on your statement. The result comes before the $1,600 primary residence credit, so subtract it if your application was approved.
The $1,600 Primary Residence Credit Changes the Math
North Dakota’s signature relief is a flat dollar credit for owner-occupied homes. The primary residence credit, created in 2023 at $500, rose to $1,600 per household under House Bill 1176 in the 2025 session, with no age or income test. Apply with the Office of State Tax Commissioner between January 1 and April 1, and it prints as a deduction on that year’s statement. It can cut the amount owed to zero but not below, and each household gets one.
North Dakota Property Tax Calculator (2027)
Choose one of the 53 North Dakota counties and enter the home's true and full value. The estimate uses Census ACS 2024 five-year figures on what owner-occupants in that county pay relative to what their homes are worth, and it shows a gross yearly amount before the state's primary residence credit, the two installments, a monthly set-aside, and the county median payment.
Estimate only. The figure is your true and full value times the county's ratio of median real estate taxes paid to median owner-occupied value, from Census ACS 2024 five-year data. It is a gross amount and leaves out the primary residence credit of up to $1,600 (apply with the Office of State Tax Commissioner between January 1 and April 1), the 5 percent discount for paying in full by February 15, the homestead credit for owners 65 or older or permanently disabled with household income of $70,000 or less, the disabled veteran credit, and special assessments. An actual statement multiplies taxable value (4.5 percent of true and full value for a home) by the combined mills of every district you live in. Confirm your valuation with the county or city assessor, and your amount due with the county treasurer.
The Governor’s office reported that about 50,000 households owed nothing for the 2025 tax year, up from 16,000 the year before, and another 95,000 got smaller statements. Legacy Fund earnings pay for it, an estimated $400 million or more across tax years 2025 and 2026.
The surveys behind the county ratios ran from 2020 through 2024, before the $1,600 amount existed, so the calculator shows a gross figure. An approved owner-occupant pays up to $1,600 less.
From True and Full Value to Mills: the 4.5 Percent Step
North Dakota values every parcel as of February 1 each year. Assessed value is 50 percent of true and full value, and for a house the taxable value is 9 percent of that, so taxable value equals 4.5 percent of market value. A $275,000 home, the example the Tax Department uses, has a taxable value of $12,375.
Rates are expressed in mills. One mill is one dollar of tax per $1,000 of taxable value, and your statement adds the mills of the county, the city or township, the school district, and any park, fire, or other district that reaches your parcel. The assessor sets value but not the levy; each board adopts a budget, and the county auditor converts the certified dollars into rates against equalized valuation. A combined 250 mills on that $275,000 house produces about $3,094.
Run backward, the Census ratios hint at local levies: Cass County’s 1.20 percent implies roughly 267 mills, Burleigh’s 0.88 percent roughly 196. Treat those as rough, not official rates.
Where Counties Land, Slope Through Cavalier
The lightest ratios cluster in the west: Slope (0.23 percent), Billings (0.37), McKenzie (0.43), Sioux (0.49), Mountrail (0.52), and Burke (0.54). The heaviest sit mostly along the eastern edge and the Red River Valley: Cavalier (1.34), Cass (1.20), Foster (1.19), Grand Forks (1.15), and Richland (1.13).
Home values scramble the picture. McKenzie County has the highest midpoint value in the state at $349,600, yet its owners’ midpoint payment is only $1,491. Cass County, home to Fargo, has the largest midpoint payment at $3,564 on a $298,000 house. Slope has the smallest, $387. McIntosh County has the lowest midpoint value, $84,200.
Of the 53 counties, 29 fall below the statewide 0.99 percent share, 23 sit above it, and Ramsey matches it exactly. The middle county is 0.92 percent. Small counties such as Slope and Billings rest on small survey samples, so their ratios carry wide margins of error.
Two Worked Estimates: Fargo and Bismarck
- Cass County, $300,000 home. At 1.20 percent the gross estimate is $3,600, or $1,800 per installment and $300 a month. That is $36 above the county midpoint payment of $3,564. Subtract the $1,600 primary residence credit and the owner would owe about $2,000. Paying the whole amount by February 15 earns the 5 percent discount first, which state law applies before the credit: $3,600 less 5 percent is $3,420, and less $1,600 is $1,820.
- Burleigh County, $350,000 home. At 0.88 percent the gross estimate is $3,080, or $1,540 per installment and $256.67 a month, $217 above the county midpoint of $2,863. After the credit, about $1,480 remains.
At the low end, a $170,000 home in Slope County estimates at $391, which the $1,600 credit would erase entirely.
Homestead and Disabled Veteran Credits on Top
The primary residence credit stacks with North Dakota’s two older programs, both of which lower taxable value rather than subtracting dollars. Applications for both are due April 1 of the assessment year.
- Homestead credit (NDCC 57-02-08.1). Owners 65 or older, or of any age with a permanent and total disability, whose household income is $70,000 or less and who live in the home. With income up to $40,000, taxable value drops 100 percent up to $9,000, which covers the first $200,000 of true and full value. From $40,001 to $70,000, it drops 50 percent up to $4,500, or $100,000 of market value. Homeowners face no asset limit, and out-of-pocket medical costs reduce counted income.
- Disabled veteran credit (NDCC 57-02-08.8). Veterans with a service-connected rating of 50 percent or more get a taxable value reduction scaled to the rating: $4,500 at 50 percent, rising by $900 per step to $9,000 at 100 percent.
A retiree with $35,000 of income in a $200,000 house could see taxable value reach zero through the homestead credit alone, leaving only special assessments on the statement.
April, June, August: Climbing the Equalization Ladder
An appeal in this state is a three-rung climb, and skipping a rung ends it. Township and city boards of equalization meet within the first 15 days of April. If they do not lower your valuation, take the evidence (recent sales, an appraisal, condition photos) to the county board, meeting within the first 10 days of June. The State Board of Equalization meets the second Tuesday in August and may reduce a valuation only for an owner who appealed at both earlier levels; its decision is final.
Assessors must mail a notice when a valuation rises past set thresholds, and by August 31 each owner facing $100 or more of tax gets a notice of estimated tax listing the budget hearings, the moment to question the levy side. An abatement application, due November 1 of the year after the tax becomes payable, remains available once the State Board finishes.
February 15, March 1, October 15: Paying and Falling Behind
Statements are postmarked by December 26 and fall due on January 1. Pay the full year by February 15 and the county treasurer takes 5 percent off. Otherwise the first half is delinquent after March 1 and the second half after October 15; when a date lands on a weekend, it moves to the next business day.
Late first-half payments collect a 3 percent penalty right after March 1, another 3 percent on May 1, July 1, and October 15, for 12 percent in all. A late second half draws 6 percent. Starting January 1 of the following year, unpaid tax also accrues interest at 1 percent a month. Once two or more years have passed since the tax came due, the county auditor issues a notice of tax lien foreclosure by June 1, the lien is foreclosed on October 1, and a tax deed then passes the property to the county.
The 3 Percent Levy Cap and What 2027 Brings
House Bill 1176 also limited how fast local governments can grow property tax collections: no more than 3 percent a year without voter approval, with unused room banked for up to five years. Local budgets for 2025 were already set when it passed, so the 2026 statements, mailed in December 2026 and payable in 2027, are the first to carry its full weight. Voter-approved school bond levies now appear on their own line, labeled Voter Approved School Bond.
The Legislature next meets in regular session in 2027, where the credit’s future amount and funding get decided. Apply for the 2027 credit between January 1 and April 1. The ratios here refresh with the next Census five-year release.
Sources: Census Bureau ACS 5-year data for 2020 to 2024 (vintage 2024), B25103 and B25077, table-based summary file; Office of State Tax Commissioner pages on residential property tax, the primary residence, homestead, and disabled veteran’s credits, and the assessment process; NDCC 57-20-01, 57-20-09, 57-28-01, 57-28-02, 57-28-09; House Bill 1176 (2025); Governor’s office 2025 relief release; Williams County statement guide. Verify your valuation with your city or county assessor and your amount due with your county treasurer.