Property Tax & Income in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Middlesex County has an effective property tax rate of 1.03%. On the median home value of $727,800, that's roughly $7,501 per year. Median household income is $130,847.
What you'll pay, at a glance
Property taxes are the largest local tax most homeowners pay. The effective rate measures the real tax bill as a share of home value — a more useful number than the nominal “mill rate,” because assessment practices vary county to county.
| Metric | Middlesex County | Massachusetts (state context) |
|---|---|---|
| Effective property tax rate1 | 1.03% | 1.06% |
| Median home value1 | $727,800 | — |
| State income tax3 | top rate 5.00% | top rate 5.00% |
| State sales tax3 | 6.25% combined | 6.25% combined |
How this is calculated
The effective property tax rate is the median real-estate tax bill divided by the median home value — both for owner-occupied homes, from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-year estimates)1. Median income is also from the ACS1. Federal and state income-tax figures use IRS2 and Tax Foundation3 data.
About Middlesex County, MA
Buying in Middlesex County means weighing a steep purchase price against a tax rate that won't pile on as much as you might fear. The median home here costs $727,800, far above what most of Massachusetts commands, and that sticker price is the real hurdle. Once you own, though, the county's 1.031% effective rate sits below the state's 1.063% average and ranks 10th of 14 counties, so the annual bill on that median home lands near $7,501. Households earning the median $130,847 can absorb that more comfortably than buyers in many other counties, especially with per-capita income at $69,556. Cambridge, Lowell, and Somerville anchor the county, and each draws buyers for different reasons. The trade-off is clear: you pay dearly for the house, but the ongoing tax bite is gentler than much of the state's.