Wake County NC Property Taxes - How to Find out How Much You'll Pay

Whether you're considering relocating from one side of the Triangle to the other, or coming to Raleigh from Florida, New Jersey, New York, or elsewhere, you've probably wondered what the yearly property taxes might be for your new home.

Wake County has just reassessed property values, causing some increases to property taxes, but it was time.  The last time property values were assessed was 8 years ago, and a lot has changed since then!  The next reassessment will be in another 8 years. 

Here are the 2007 rates, by town.  To get the total property tax rate for a town, simply add the county tax to the town tax.  For example, Apex has a town rate of .40, and the Wake County rate is .6780.  Add the two together - the total tax rate for Apex, NC is 1.078.

It's not as confusing as it looks.  The tax rates are based on the assessed value of the home, not the asking price. 

• Divide the assessed value by 100.
• Multiply the result by the combined rate on the right side of the table.
• The result will be your yearly property tax bill, as of 2007. 

This table gives sample property tax bills for all the cities in Wake County: Angier, Apex, Cary, Clayton, Fuquay Varina, Garner, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Morrisville, Raleigh, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Wendell, and Zebulon.

Your tax bill can be lower if your home or property is not actually within a municipality, or town.  If this is the case, you'll pay just the County rate, plus possibly a fire district tax and/or the RTP special district tax. 

The fire district tax rate is .10, and the special district tax rates vary from .04452 to .17.

There can be a few more special situations.  Some areas of Angier, Raleigh, and Wake Forest may be subject to a special district tax rate in addition to the rates shown above.  Wendell is also subject to the current fire district tax rate.

When looking at properties, don't take the city address for granted - you could be in a different county, with different tax rates, depending on where exactly the property is located.

Clayton - depending on the address, could be in Wake County or Johnston County.

Fuquay Varina - could be in Wake County or Harnett County.

Apex - could be in Wake County or Chatham County.

Wake Forest - could be in Wake County or Franklin County.

Wendell - could be in Wake County or Johnston County.

If there's a particular home that you're considering, you can go directly to the Wake County Tax Records site, type in the address, and see the assessed value of the property.   The reassessments have just been completed, though, and Wake County is not noted for 100% accuracy in assessing the values of property, so what you see may be either higher or lower than the asking value of the property.   If there is a discrepancy, don't be afraid to ask your real estate agent to pull comps for you!

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