Headline comparison
| Long Island | Connecticut | |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual property tax bill | $11,129 | ~$6,800 |
| Median single-family home value | ~$580,000 | ~$340,000 |
| Median effective property tax rate | ~1.98% | ~1.79% |
| School funding from property tax | 65–70% local | ~60% local |
| State income tax | Yes (NY) | Yes (CT) |
| Sales tax | 8.625% (LI) | 6.35% (CT) |
The dollar gap is mostly home values
The headline-bill difference ($11,129 LI vs. $6,800 CT) is real, but it’s 60% driven by home values, not by rate. LI’s median single-family home is around $580k; CT’s is around $340k. Multiply that gap out by similar effective rates and you get most of the dollar difference automatically.
The remaining 20–30% gap comes from LI’s higher effective rate (1.98% vs. CT’s 1.79%) and from LI’s more layered taxing-district structure (school + county + town + village + library + fire + sewer + special). CT generally taxes at the town level only — town millage covers school, fire, etc. in one number.
Where each “wins”
It depends what you’re optimizing for:
- Lowest absolute bill: Connecticut. The $4,000-5,000/yr lower bill is real and persistent.
- Lowest effective rate: Connecticut, but only slightly. The rates are close enough that a $700k CT home pays about the same as a $700k LI home.
- Most-funded public schools: Long Island. Median per-pupil spending on LI is around $39,000/yr; CT is around $23,000/yr. You pay more, you get more.
- Easier grievance/appeal process: Connecticut. Each CT town has a Board of Assessment Appeals (BAA) and the process is simpler than NY’s ARC + BAR + SCAR escalation chain.
- Closer to NYC: Long Island, obviously. Fairfield County CT is comparable but Stamford / Greenwich are pricier than most of Nassau.
CT’s mill rate is shockingly high — don’t let it scare you
CT towns publish mill rates that look astronomical compared to LI. Hartford’s mill rate is around 74 mills ($74 per $1,000 of assessed value). Bridgeport is around 53 mills. Greenwich is around 12 mills. On LI a typical mill rate looks like 200-300 (Suffolk) or 15-20 (Nassau).
Those numbers aren’t comparable. CT assesses at 70% of fair market value (statewide standard); LI counties use different Levels of Assessment (Nassau 0.10%, Suffolk varies). Without normalizing by the assessment base, the mill rate alone is meaningless. The only fair comparison is effective rate (bill ÷ market value), and that’s how the 1.98% LI vs. 1.79% CT number above is computed.
Frequently asked questions
Should I move to Connecticut to save on property taxes?
If property tax is the only consideration: yes, you’ll save $4-5k/yr at comparable home values. But CT also has a higher income tax in some brackets, and Fairfield County home prices have caught up to Nassau in many neighborhoods. The savings are real but smaller than the headline gap suggests.
Why are Fairfield County (CT) taxes still high even though CT is “cheaper”?
Fairfield County mill rates are lower than Hartford / New Haven because Fairfield home values are much higher — the same town levy spreads over a richer base. Effective rates in Fairfield are often 1.2–1.5%, below the CT average. Still cheaper than LI but not by as much.
What about the income tax difference?
NY income tax tops out at 10.9% (over $25M income). CT tops out at 6.99% (over $500k). For most middle-income households the two are within ~1% of each other. The property tax difference is more material than the income tax difference for most LI homeowners considering a move.
Do LI and CT have the same school funding setup?
Similar but not identical. Both states fund K-12 primarily through local property tax, with state aid backfilling. NY’s state share of K-12 spending is ~37%, CT’s is ~38%. So both states are heavily local-property-tax-funded. The difference is in how that local revenue is collected (CT town vs. NY school district), not in the overall structure.
Get one email when LI tax rules change
Grievance deadlines, STAR limit updates, new exemption laws. One short email, only when something actionable happens. Unsubscribe in one click.
Sources and citations
- NY General Municipal Law § 3-c — Property tax levy cap statute nysenate.gov
- NY State Open Data — Property Assessment Data data.ny.gov
- Tax Foundation — Property Taxes by State, 2024 taxfoundation.org
- Connecticut Department of Revenue Services — Property Tax portal.ct.gov
- US Census ACS 2023 — Median home value + property tax (5-year) data.census.gov
Last verified May 23, 2026. Tax rules change; we re-check every page each quarter.
Educational content and estimates only, not legal, tax or financial advice. Verify with your county or town receiver, an attorney or a CPA before making financial decisions.