In absolute dollars, Long Island's median property tax bill is roughly $11,129/yr. Connecticut's median is about $6,800/yr. LI is higher by ~60%, but the difference is mostly home values. Effective rates are closer than the headline numbers suggest — LI ~1.98%, CT ~1.79%.
| 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 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.
It depends what you're optimizing for:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Estimates and educational content only — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Verify with your county or town receiver, an attorney, or a CPA before making financial decisions.