Property Tax & Income in Rensselaer County, New York
Rensselaer County has an effective property tax rate of 2.05%. On the median home value of $258,400, that's roughly $5,301 per year. Median household income is $87,915.
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 | Rensselaer County | New York (state context) |
|---|---|---|
| Effective property tax rate1 | 2.05% | 2.04% |
| Median home value1 | $258,400 | — |
| State income tax3 | top rate 10.90% | top rate 10.90% |
| State sales tax3 | 8.54% combined | 8.54% 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 Rensselaer County, NY
Rensselaer County’s effective property tax rate of 2.051% sits just above New York’s statewide median of 2.040%, placing it 30th among the state’s 62 counties — essentially the middle of the pack within a state known for high property taxes. Against the national median of 0.794%, however, the county’s rate is more than two and a half times higher, a gap that reflects New York’s broader reliance on property taxes to fund local services. That rate translates into a median annual bill of $5,301 on a median home value of $258,400, set against a median household income of $87,915 and per-capita income of $46,000. Communities such as Troy, Stephentown, and Averill Park fall under this same countywide tax structure, so homeowners across the area face similar pressures. The figures signal a market where housing costs extend well beyond the purchase price.