Long Island property tax

Long Island has two counties with very different property-tax math. Both are above the U.S. median bill (~$2,800/yr by Census data), but the way they get there is different:

• Nassau County — median bill $11,129/yr across 53 school districts. Homes are assessed at a very low fraction (~0.1%) of market value with a much higher rate per $1,000 of assessed value. Reassessed annually.
• Suffolk County — median bill $11,178/yr across 68 school districts. Each of the 10 towns runs its own assessor; the level of assessment varies by town from 0.3% to 63%.

Within each county the spread is enormous. The cheapest LI district runs around $5,192/yr; the most expensive (Cold Spring Harbor, parts of the Hamptons) clears $30,783/yr.

A typical LI tax bill is the sum of four to seven separate line items, each set by a different government:

• School district (60–75% of the bill). Long Island schools spend about $39,653 per pupil in 2024-25 — the highest in NY State and roughly 2× the U.S. average. This is the single biggest line.
• County (10–15%). Funds courts, police (Nassau), social services, jails. Both Nassau and Suffolk run county-wide police forces — unusual nationally.
• Town (10–15%). Funds town services: roads, parks, sanitation, the receiver of taxes office. In Suffolk, town police are also on this line.
• Village (if you live in one of LI’s ~60 incorporated villages, otherwise zero).
• Special districts (fire, library, water, sewer, sanitation, ambulance, lighting). Nassau and Suffolk together have several hundred of these, each a separate taxing entity with its own budget.

You have three or four real levers. Most people don’t use any of them.

• File a tax grievance. Nassau’s window typically closes around March 31; Suffolk’s around the third Tuesday in May. Nassau grievance is online via ARC, Suffolk goes through your town’s Board of Assessment Review. Most LI grievance firms work on contingency (33% of the first year’s savings). See our grievance guide.
• Claim every exemption you qualify for. STAR (everyone with primary residence and income under $250k/$500k), Enhanced STAR (65+ with income under $110,750), Senior 5/10/20% sliding scale, Veterans, Volunteer Firefighter, Disabled. These stack. See STAR, Senior, Veterans.
• Know that the seller’s bill is NOT what you’ll pay. When you buy a house, the seller’s exemptions disappear at closing. The new owner has to re-apply, and Enhanced STAR / Senior exemptions don’t transfer. Plan to pay the un-exempted bill until your STAR comes through. See buying a house and property tax.
• Watch for assessment errors. Wrong square footage, wrong bed/bath count, wrong land assessment — each is grounds for a grievance and the fix often pays back for years. Pull your assessment record from the appropriate property records lookup (Nassau, Suffolk).

Long Island doesn’t have the highest property-tax rate in the country — Westchester County does, on a percentage-of-home-value basis. But LI home values are higher than Westchester’s, so the dollar bill ends up close. New Jersey has the highest effective rate in the U.S. by most measures, but lower home values keep median bills below LI.

• LI vs. Westchester — Westchester is actually higher per dollar of home value.
• LI vs. New Jersey — Comparable dollars, slightly different mix.
• Why LI taxes are so high — The three structural reasons.