Property Tax & Income in Kanawha County, West Virginia
Kanawha County has an effective property tax rate of 0.65%. On the median home value of $147,300, that's roughly $964 per year. Median household income is $60,943.
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 | Kanawha County | West Virginia (state context) |
|---|---|---|
| Effective property tax rate1 | 0.65% | 0.49% |
| Median home value1 | $147,300 | — |
| State income tax3 | top rate 4.82% | top rate 4.82% |
| State sales tax3 | 6.60% combined | 6.60% 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 Kanawha County, WV
Kanawha County’s effective property tax rate of 0.654% sits noticeably above West Virginia’s statewide median of 0.489%, placing it fifth among the state’s 55 counties. That higher ranking means homeowners in Charleston, the county’s largest city, and elsewhere in the county face a heavier property tax load than most West Virginians. At the same time, the national median effective rate is 0.794%, so Kanawha County still falls below the countrywide figure. A median home value of $147,300 produces an estimated annual tax bill of $964. With median household income at $60,943 and per-capita income of $37,354, that bill amounts to a meaningful but not overwhelming share of local earnings. The county’s position between its state and national benchmarks signals a property tax environment that is steeper than West Virginia’s norm yet milder than much of the country.