Wisconsin Property Tax

Key Dates

The state's calendar. Your municipality sets the exact Open Book and Board of Review dates, and some allow more installments.

How Your Bill Is Figured

Source for this section: Wisconsin DOR, 2026 Guide for Property Owners

1. Each taxing body sets a levy. Your town, village or city, county, school district and technical college each adopt a budget, subtract the money they expect from state aid, fees and other sources, and raise the rest from property tax. That remainder is the levy.
2. Levies that cross town lines are split by equalized value. A county or school district covers many municipalities that assess at different shares of market value, so the state splits its levy by each one's equalized value: the Department of Revenue's estimate of all taxable property at market value as of January 1, certified every August 15.
3. Your municipality turns its total levy into a rate. The rate is the total levy divided by all the assessed value in the municipality, usually stated per $1,000.
4. Your tax is your assessed value times that rate, minus the state credits, plus any special assessments or charges (a street or sewer project, for example), which go only to the properties that benefit.

Where Those Numbers Sit on Your Bill

Every municipality uses the state's bill form.(Wis. Stat. 74.09) The net assessed value rate is the dollars per $1,000 of assessed value, all taxing bodies added up, less the school levy credit; times your assessed value it gives your tax before the lottery credit and special charges. The estimated fair market value is your assessed value divided by your municipality's average assessment ratio. Your tax is figured on the assessed value, not that estimate. A bill can rise because a levy rose even when your value didn't: the table on the bill shows each taxing body's net tax this year and last.

A revaluation doesn't raise the total by itself. In the state's example, a $200,000 levy over $4,000,000 of assessed value is a 5% rate; if a revaluation doubles every value to $8,000,000, the rate falls to 2.5%. Only properties that were paying less than their share pay more.

The Credits

Three state credits appear on the bill. The fourth, the homestead credit, is claimed from the state on Schedule H and paid to you.

Both the first dollar and lottery credits are figured from your school district's tax rate on equalized value, so they're the same for every qualifying home in a district that's worth more than the credit value.(DOR first dollar credit FAQ)(DOR lottery credit FAQ) The state sets the next year's values by November 20.(DOR) Other help the state lists: the veterans and surviving spouses property tax credit, run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (Wisconsin has no property tax exemption for veterans), and WHEDA's property tax deferral loans for older homeowners, repaid when you sell or move out.(DOR Guide for Property Owners) Details for the lottery credit are on our lottery credit guide, and the homestead estimator runs Schedule H for you.

Due Dates and Who to Pay

• In full by January 31, or in two equal installments, January 31 and July 31. A bill under $100 is due in full January 31. Special assessments and charges on the bill are due in full January 31 unless your municipality allows installments for them.(Wis. Stat. 74.11)
• Who to pay: payments made by January 31 go to your town, village or city treasurer; later payments go to the county treasurer.(Wis. Stat. 74.11)
• More installments: a town, village or city can allow three or more by ordinance (adopted by August 15 of the year before). The first is still due January 31, at least half by April 30 and all by July 31, and the municipal treasurer collects through July 31.(Wis. Stat. 74.12) Cities that collect their own taxes under a special charter, such as Milwaukee, can allow ten monthly installments, January through October.(Wis. Stat. 74.87)
• On time: a mailed payment counts if it's postmarked by midnight on the due date.(Wis. Stat. 74.69) Not getting a bill doesn't excuse the tax; if you just bought and no bill comes, call your municipality.(DOR Guide for Property Owners)
• Late: if an installment isn't received within 5 working days after its due date, the whole remaining tax is delinquent and goes to the county treasurer, with interest counted back to February 1.(Wis. Stat. 74.11) Interest is 1% a month, and a county can add a penalty of up to 0.5% a month, so up to 1.5% a month in all. Leave a tax unpaid long enough and you can lose the property.(DOR Guide for Property Owners)

What Depends on Where You Live

We don't give one statewide number for these, because there isn't one:

• Your rate. It depends on your municipality, school district and any special district. For 2025, average effective rates ran $10.27 per $1,000 of market value in towns, $13.06 in villages and $16.06 in cities.(DOR) Rates by county.
• The number of installments and who takes the last one. Two by state law, more where a town has adopted them; your bill says where each goes.(Wis. Stat. 74.12)
• The late penalty: 1% a month everywhere, plus up to 0.5% where the county has adopted it.(Wis. Stat. 74.47) Dane County, for example, charges 1.5% a month combined.(Dane County Treasurer)
• Open Book and Board of Review dates, which each municipality sets within the state's window.(Wis. Stat. 70.47)
• Your assessor and assessment level. There's no county assessor anywhere in Wisconsin; each town, village and city has its own, and each must be within 10% of market value at least once every five years.(DOR Guide for Property Owners) The state keeps a list of every municipal assessor.
• Your credits. First dollar and lottery credits follow your school district's tax rate.(DOR first dollar credit FAQ)

If Your Assessment Is Wrong

1. Talk to the assessor during Open Book, before the Board of Review. It's informal, and the assessor can still change the value then.(Wis. Stat. 70.45)
2. Object to the Board of Review. Tell the clerk you intend to object at least 48 hours before the board's first meeting, then file the written objection. The board starts by presuming the assessor is right.(Wis. Stat. 70.47) The best evidence is a recent arm's-length sale of your home, then recent sales of similar homes; comparing your assessment with a neighbor's doesn't count.(DOR Guide for Property Owners)
3. After the board: circuit court within 90 days(Wis. Stat. 70.47), or (for property valued at $1,000,000 or less) the Department of Revenue within 20 days, or an excessive assessment claim to your municipality by January 31 with the tax paid on time. You pick one route.(Wis. Stat. 70.85)(Wis. Stat. 74.37)

Your taxes being high isn't grounds for an appeal; only the value is.(DOR Guide for Property Owners) In Dane County, your assessment notice, line by line and how to appeal have every municipality's dates.

Look Up Any Wisconsin Parcel

Each county keeps its own property records: the tax bill, assessed value and owner of record, usually on a county site run by the real property lister or treasurer. The state's statewide parcel map pulls every county's parcels into one map, but its data was collected January to May 2026 and most tax figures in it are for 2025, a year behind; the State Cartographer's Office says to check the county's own site first. Parcel lines on any of these maps aren't legal boundaries; only a licensed surveyor can set those.

Every county's links, from the state's county land information list dated October 19, 2026:

In Dane County, our AccessDane guide searches all 60 municipalities by address.

Wisconsin Property Tax in Numbers

Source for this section: DOR, 2025 Town, Village and City Taxes

Statewide, 2025 property taxes (on bills mailed December 2025, paid in 2026) came to $14.43 billion on $982.8 billion of taxable property. The state's school levy credit took $1.28 billion off, for an average effective rate of $13.38 per $1,000 of market value, about $1,338 per $100,000 before the lottery and first dollar credits. Residential property was $724.4 billion of that value.

Since 2016, the statewide levy rose 34% while taxable value rose 95%, so the average effective rate fell from $19.68 to $13.38 per $1,000. A lower rate doesn't mean a lower bill: on a home whose value rose with the market, the tax follows the levy.

Rates are averages of all taxable property (gross = tax ÷ full value; effective = after the school levy credit only). Totals leave out special assessments and charges. The levy year is the year on the December bill.

Every Property Tax Guide

For All of Wisconsin

Dane County

Madison and the 59 other Dane County municipalities, with dates, rates and assessors for each.

Questions

When Are Property Taxes Due in Wisconsin?

By January 31 in full, or in two equal installments: January 31 and July 31. Your town, village or city can allow more installments by ordinance, with the last due July 31.(Wis. Stat. 74.11)(Wis. Stat. 74.12)

When Do Wisconsin Property Tax Bills Come Out?

Your municipality must mail them by the third Monday in December (December 21, 2026 this year). The bill is for that year's tax, paid the next year.(Wis. Stat. 74.09)(DOR Guide for Property Owners)

Who Do I Pay?

Payments made by January 31 go to your town, village or city treasurer; later payments go to the county treasurer, unless your municipality collects every installment itself. The bill names who to pay.(Wis. Stat. 74.11)(Wis. Stat. 74.12)

What Is the Average Property Tax Rate in Wisconsin?

For 2025 taxes (paid in 2026) the statewide average was $13.38 per $1,000 of market value after the school levy credit: $16.06 in cities, $13.06 in villages and $10.27 in towns. These are averages; your rate depends on your municipality and school district.(DOR)

What Happens If I Pay Late?

Miss an installment and the whole remaining tax is delinquent, with 1% a month interest counted back to February 1, plus up to 0.5% a month penalty if your county adopted one.(Wis. Stat. 74.11)(Wis. Stat. 74.47)

Does a Revaluation Raise My Taxes?

Not by itself. The levy decides the total. If the levy stays the same and every value goes up, the rate goes down; you pay more only if your value rose more than average.(DOR Guide for Property Owners)

Related Guides

• Dane County Property TaxDates, rates, assessors and appeals for all 60 municipalities.
• Your Assessment Notice, Line by Line
• Property Tax Credits on Your Bill
• Homestead CreditUp to $1,168 back for lower-income owners and renters.
• Open Book and Board of Review Dates