The median South Carolina homeowner reports paying $1,251 a year in real estate tax on a house worth $259,000, a ratio of 0.48 percent, based on Census survey answers gathered from 2020 through 2024 for the American Community Survey. Among the 46 counties the ratio stretches from 0.33 percent in Horry County to 0.88 percent in Allendale County. The calculator below divides your county’s median bill by its median owner-occupied home value and applies the result to the figure you type. Enter full fair market value, not the assessed amount, and treat the answer as a legal residence estimate: it assumes the home is where you live.
Two sample runs show how it reads. A $250,000 home in Richland County, which holds Columbia, at 0.67 percent comes to $1,675 a year, or $139.58 a month, which is $38 more than the county’s $1,637 median bill. A $450,000 home in Charleston County at 0.39 percent works out to $1,755 a year and $146.25 a month, $146 below Charleston’s $1,901 median, since the typical Charleston owner lives in a $489,100 house.
South Carolina Property Tax Calculator (2027)
Pick any of South Carolina's 46 counties, enter what your primary residence is worth, and get a yearly and monthly estimate scaled from the bills owner-occupants there report to the Census (ACS 2024 five-year medians). Built for homes taxed at the 4 percent legal residence ratio.
An estimate only, not a tax notice. The figure applies your county's Census ratio (median real estate tax paid divided by median owner-occupied value, ACS 2024 five-year) to the value you type, and that ratio mostly reflects homes approved for the 4 percent legal residence assessment, which also removes school operating millage. Homes held at 6 percent (second homes, rentals, most vacant lots) are not modeled and pay far more. Also left out: the $50,000 homestead exemption for owners 65 or older, disabled, or legally blind, the full exemption for totally and permanently disabled veterans, flat user or storm water fees printed on some bills, and vehicle tax. Long-held homes under the 15 percent reassessment cap often owe less, and recent buyers more. Your county assessor handles values and the 4 percent application; the county auditor and treasurer handle the bill.
Four Percent or Six Percent: The Line That Decides Your Bill
Nothing moves a South Carolina bill more than the assessment ratio, which the state constitution fixes. Under S.C. Code 12-43-220(c), the legal residence and up to five contiguous acres are assessed at 4 percent of fair market value once the county assessor approves an application. A second home, a rental, vacant land, and most other real property sit at 6 percent, and manufacturing and utility property at 10.5 percent.
On a $300,000 house, that is $12,000 of assessed value as a legal residence against $18,000 as a second home, before a single mill is applied. The 4 percent class also unlocks the school operating exemption below, so an identical house next door can owe two or three times as much if its owner lives elsewhere.
The ratio is not automatic. The Department of Revenue’s policy manual says the owner must apply to the assessor before the first penalty date for the tax year, January 16, and certify that no household member claims residency elsewhere. One filing lasts as long as the owner and use stay the same. Renting the home for more than 72 days in a year generally disqualifies it, and a buyer who moves in within 90 days of purchase can have the ratio applied back to the date of ownership. New arrivals miss this step more than any other, and generic calculators that apply one statewide rate hide it entirely.
Mills, Local Levies, and the School Operating Exemption
The state sets the ratio; counties, cities, school districts, and special purpose districts each set millage to fund their budgets. One mill is $1 of tax on each $1,000 of assessed value. Your bill is fair market value, times the ratio, times the combined mills, less credits.
Owner-occupied homes skip the biggest levy. Since Act 388 of 2006, S.C. Code 12-37-220(B)(47) exempts 100 percent of the value of a qualifying legal residence from school operating millage,. School bond debt millage still applies, as do county and city levies. Counties that passed a local option sales tax by referendum also subtract a credit on the bill under S.C. Code 4-10-20. Some bills add flat charges that are not property tax at all: Charleston County’s estimator lists a $150 user fee on improved parcels plus storm water fees.
Horry to Allendale: What Owners Pay County by County
Eighteen counties post ratios below the 0.48 percent statewide figure, 26 sit above it, and Beaufort and York match it exactly; the middle county lands at 0.51 percent. The lowest ratios belong to the coast and the Upstate foothills: Horry at 0.33, Pickens at 0.37, Oconee at 0.38, and Charleston at 0.39. The highest belong to the rural southern interior: Allendale at 0.88, Bamberg at 0.83, Hampton at 0.80, and Barnwell at 0.73.
On a $300,000 home the spread is about $990 a year in Horry against $2,640 in Allendale. Richland and Newberry tie at 0.67, Spartanburg sits at 0.55, Greenville at 0.51, and Lexington at 0.49. Beaufort, home to Hilton Head, reports the largest median bill at $2,174, Charleston has the top median value at $489,100, and Allendale the lowest at $76,200.
The 15 Percent Reassessment Cap and Why a Sale Resets It
Counties reappraise every parcel once every fifth year under S.C. Code 12-43-217. For owners who stay put, Act 388 limits the increase in fair market value from a countywide reassessment to 15 percent over the five-year period, so a long-held home can carry a taxable value well under what it would sell for.
The cap disappears on an “assessable transfer of interest,” which covers a sale and a range of other ownership changes listed in S.C. Code 12-37-3150. The new owner is taxed on a fresh appraisal, and additions or new construction enter at full value in their first taxable year. So a recent buyer often pays more than the county ratio suggests, and a longtime neighbor less.
Homestead at 65, Disabled Veterans, and the Bill That Stalled
Owners who turn 65, are totally and permanently disabled, or are legally blind by December 31, and have been South Carolina residents for a year, can exempt the first $50,000 of fair market value under S.C. Code 12-37-250. The exemption applies to county, city, school, and special assessment levies, and you apply once with the county auditor. At the 4 percent ratio, $50,000 removes $2,000 of assessed value, so every 100 mills on your bill is worth $200 a year.
Veterans with a permanent and total service-connected disability, and qualified surviving spouses, owe no property tax on the home under S.C. Code 12-37-220(B)(1). Act 116 of 2024 (H. 3116, signed March 11, 2024) lets the veteran or surviving spouse claim the full year in which the disability arises, even if the veteran never filed, and extends the exemption for two vehicles to a spouse living with the veteran.
Watch the senior figure. Senate Bill 768 would have raised the $50,000 exemption to $75,000 for residents of five years and $150,000 for residents of ten, and it passed the Senate 44 to 0 on February 19, 2026. The House referred it to Ways and Means on February 24 and never passed it before the 2025 to 2026 session ended, so $50,000 remains the law.
Objecting to a Value: 90 Days, Then the Board and the Law Court
When the assessor mails a notice, usually in a reassessment year or after a sale or improvement, you have 90 days to file a written objection under S.C. Code 12-60-2510. In a year without a notice, object in writing any time. The assessor meets with you within 30 days of a request; if the result still falls short, a written protest follows within 30 days, then an appeal to the county board of assessment appeals within 30 days of the assessor’s response, and finally a contested case at the Administrative Law Court within 30 days of the board’s decision.
January 15 Due Date, Penalties, and the Tax Sale
Taxes fall due after September 30 and can be paid without penalty through January 15 under S.C. Code 12-45-70. Penalties then stack under 12-45-180: 3 percent after January 15, another 7 percent after February 1, and another 5 percent after March 16, after which the treasurer issues an execution and adds collection costs. On the $1,675 Richland example, the first penalty is $50.25 and the full 15 percent is $251.25. Counties may also let owners pay in five installments, electing between December 1 and January 15.
Unpaid real estate is advertised three weeks running and sold at a delinquent tax sale. The owner has twelve months to redeem by repaying the bid plus interest of 3, 6, 9, or 12 percent depending on the quarter of redemption. If no one redeems within that year, the winning bidder receives a tax deed.
What 2027 Brings and When These Numbers Refresh
Expect the senior exemption debate to return when the new General Assembly convenes in January 2027, and check whether your county reassesses that year. The county ratios here come from the Census five-year file and will be refreshed when the Bureau releases its next edition each December. For a parcel level figure, use your county auditor’s estimator with the 4 or 6 percent ratio selected.
Sources: 2024 American Community Survey five-year data from the US Census Bureau, table B25103 for owner-reported real estate taxes and table B25077 for owner-occupied home values; South Carolina Department of Revenue, SC Tax Incentives for Economic Development policy manual, Chapter 5, Individual Property Tax (September 2025); S.C. Code 4-10-20, 12-37-220, 12-37-250, 12-37-3140, 12-37-3150, 12-43-217, 12-43-220, 12-45-70, 12-45-75, 12-45-180, 12-51-40, 12-51-90, and 12-60-2510 through 12-60-2540; Act 116 of 2024; S. 768 (2025 to 2026 session) bill history; Charleston County Auditor tax estimator. For values and the 4 percent application, contact your county assessor; for exemptions and bills, the county auditor; for payment, the county treasurer.