Want to hear a crazy fact? Two neighbors can own the exact same house on the same street, and one of them can pay hundreds less in property taxes every year.
The difference? One of them filled out a form.
Property tax exemptions might be the most boring-sounding money move out there, which is probably why so many people never get around to them. Meanwhile, property tax bills keep going up. In a 2026 Ownwell survey of 2,500 homeowners, 64% said they were surprised or shocked by their most recent property tax bill, and 76% said their taxes had come in higher than they budgeted for in recent years.
Appeals tend to get all the attention (we’ve walked through how to protest your taxes in Texas and grieve your assessment in New York *link once live). Exemptions come before all of that, and they’re a whole lot easier. You just have to know what you qualify for and ask for it.
Vocab Cheat Sheet
- Exemptions: knock a chunk off your home’s taxable value, so your bill gets calculated on a smaller number.
- Assessment Caps: limit how fast your taxable value can climb each year, even when the housing market goes bonkers.
- Freezes: lock your taxable value in place.
- Credits and Rebates: come off the bill itself, or show up as a check in the mail.
Most of these are run by your county or local assessor, even when the rules come from the state. Which means the details can shift a lot depending on your zip code.
The Exemptions You’ll Find (Almost) Everywhere
1. The Homestead Exemption
If you own your home and it’s your primary residence, most states give you some kind of break for it.
How big that break is varies wildly, though. California’s homeowners’ exemption takes $7,000 off your taxable value. Texas takes $140,000 off your value for school district taxes. Same basic idea, waaaay different payday.
And a handful of states skip the general statewide homestead exemption entirely. According to Ownwell’s state-by-state exemption guide, that list includes Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, though some of them offer local or more targeted relief instead.
One catch for all our rental or investment property owners: the homestead exemption only covers the place you actually live. The duplex you own across town doesn’t count.
And in a lot of states, the homestead exemption is also what switches on other protections, like annual caps on how much your assessed value can rise.
2. Senior Exemptions and Freezes
Hit a certain age (usually 65, sometimes earlier) and many states and counties stack another layer on top of the homestead exemption.
Some are flat dollar amounts; others freeze your home’s taxable value so it stops creeping up every year. Plenty come with income limits, but don’t assume you make too much before you check. The limits can be higher than you’d think!
3. Veteran and Disabled Veteran Exemptions
Some of the most generous exemptions in the country go to veterans with service-connected disabilities. Here’s what a few states offer veterans with a 100% permanent and total disability rating:
- Washington, D.C.: $445,000 off assessed value (income limits apply).
- California: $180,671 off assessed value in 2026, or $271,009 for lower-income veterans.
- Georgia: $121,812 off assessed value (2025), adjusted each year.
- Illinois: the first $250,000 of equalized assessed value is exempt for veterans rated 70% or higher.
Texas goes even further and fully exempts the homestead of a veteran rated 100% disabled. Many states also offer smaller breaks for lower ratings, so you don’t need to be at 100% to get something.
4. Disability and Surviving Spouse Exemptions
Homeowners with disabilities often get treated a lot like seniors. In Texas, disabled homeowners get the same extra $60,000 off school taxes that folks 65+ get (you just can’t claim both).
And losing a spouse is brutal enough without losing a tax break on top of it. Many states let a surviving spouse hang onto the exemption the couple already had.
The Lesser-Known Relief Worth a Look
Beyond the exemption crowd, there are a couple of other programs that fly under the radar.
Circuit Breakers: kick in when your property taxes eat up too big a slice of your income.
Rebates: work similarly. Pennsylvania’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program pays up to $1,000 to homeowners and renters who are 65+, widows and widowers 50+, or people with disabilities 18+, with household income of $48,110 or less.
Deferrals: let older homeowners push the bill down the road, which can be a lifeline if you’re house-rich and cash-poor. Just know it gets repaid with interest, usually when the home sells.
State-by-State Standouts
Every state does this a little differently, but a few have rules that are especially worth knowing:
Texas
- Homestead: $140,000 off your home’s value for school district taxes.
- 65+ or Disabled: another $60,000 off school taxes, plus a ceiling on your school tax bill.
- Assessment Cap: your homestead’s appraised value can’t rise more than 10% a year.
- Deadline: apply by April 30. Missed it? Texas lets you file up to two years late.
Once your exemptions are squared away, our Texas protest guide picks up from there.
Florida
Florida’s homestead exemption can take a little over $50,000 off your home’s assessed value. The first $25,000 applies to all property taxes, and the second chunk applies to everything except school taxes.
The real winner, though, is Save Our Homes. Once you have the homestead exemption, your assessed value can only rise by 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. And if you move within Florida, you can often carry part of it with you.
California
California’s $7,000 homeowners’ exemption is small, but it’s a one-time filing with your county assessor, so there’s no reason to leave it unclaimed.
Prop 13, which limits how much your assessed value can rise each year until you sell, does more of the work. And under Prop 19, homeowners who are 55+, severely disabled, or victims of a disaster can transfer their old tax base to a new home anywhere in California, up to three times.
New York
New York leans on the STAR program for school taxes.
- Basic STAR: for owner-occupied homes, with an income limit of $500,000 for the credit version. It’s based on the first $30,000 of your home’s full value.
- Enhanced STAR: for homeowners 65+, with an income limit of $110,750 for the 2026-2027 school year. It covers the first $88,500 of your home’s full value.
Georgia
Georgia’s statewide homestead exemption is a modest $2,000 off your assessed value for county and school taxes. Georgia also has a “floating” homestead exemption, which limits how much your home’s taxable value can rise each year to the rate of inflation.
The catch is that local governments were allowed to opt out, and many big metro-Atlanta jurisdictions did. But a 2026 law makes that cap mandatory statewide come 2027.
Illinois
Illinois exemptions come off your “equalized assessed value,”:
- General Homestead: up to $10,000 in Cook County, $8,000 in the counties bordering Cook, and $6,000 everywhere else.
- Senior Citizens Homestead: up to $8,000 in Cook and its neighboring counties, and $5,000 elsewhere.
- Senior Assessment Freeze: locks your assessed value if your household income is $75,000 or less (tax year 2026).
These stack, so a Cook County senior could be claiming all three!
Washington
Washington’s big program is for homeowners who are 61+, have a disability that keeps them from working, or are veterans with an 80%+ service-connected rating. It freezes your home’s taxable value and exempts you from voter-approved levies and part of the state school levy.
Income limits are set county by county.
Colorado
If you’re 65+ and have owned and lived in your home for at least 10 consecutive years, Colorado’s senior homestead exemption takes 50% off the first $200,000 of your home’s actual value. Ownwell estimates that’s about $536 a year on a $500,000 Denver-area home. Seniors who moved on or after January 1, 2020, may be able to carry the exemption to their new place, too. However, that portability expires after 2026.
A Couple More Worth a Mention
- New Jersey: The new Stay NJ program offers up to $6,500 a year for homeowners 65+ with household income of $100,000 or less, and the income cap is $200,000.
- Michigan: The Principal Residence Exemption exempts your home from the 18-mill school operating tax, which can be roughly $1,000 to $2,500 a year.
How to Actually Claim What’s Yours
Good news: this part usually takes less time than you think.
- Look at your last tax bill or assessment notice. Most list the exemptions you’re currently getting. If the homestead line is blank, that’s your first clue.
- Head to your county assessor’s website. Counties often add their own exemptions on top of the state ones. (In Texas it’s your appraisal district, in Florida your property appraiser.)
- Put the deadline on your calendar. They’re all over the place.
- Gather your paperwork. Usually a driver’s license showing the property address, plus proof of age, disability, or veteran status if needed.
- Re-file every time you move. Exemptions generally don’t follow you to a new house.
- If you missed it, ask about going back. Some states allow late or retroactive filing. Texas gives you up to two years, and Washington lets you request refunds within three years of the tax due date.
Exemptions First, Then Look at Your Assessment
Exemptions and appeals attack the same bill from two different directions.
Your exemption comes off whatever value the assessor put on your home. An appeal challenges whether that value was right in the first place. So if the county has your house valued at $50,000 too high, your homestead exemption is still being subtracted from an inflated number.
Lock in your exemptions, then take a hard look at your assessment.
Want Someone Else to Handle It?
If you read all of that and thought “I’ll get to it eventually” (no judgment, we’ve all got a pile of eventuallys), this is where a company like Ownwell can help.
Along with property tax appeals, Ownwell handles exemptions in sixteen states: Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. They figure out what you qualify for, then prepare, file, and track the applications for you.
In Texas, Illinois, New York, and Ohio, Ownwell can also apply retroactively for missed exemptions, which often requires more paperwork and time.
Signup takes less than five minutes, and you only pay if they save you money. Ownwell reports average annual savings of $774 for its customers.
We’ve used Ownwell ourselves to knock $706 off the annual tax bill on a rental duplex, and signing up took maybe 15 to 20 minutes. For a task that most of us would happily put off forever, that’s a pretty great trade.
FAQs
Do I have to reapply every year?
Depends on the program. California’s homeowners’ exemption is one-and-done, while Texas rechecks eligibility every five years. Income-based senior programs often want fresh paperwork more regularly, so set a reminder!
Can I get a homestead exemption on a rental or a vacation home?
Nope. Homestead exemptions are for your primary residence.
I just bought my house. Can I still apply this year?
Maybe! Many states base eligibility on who owned and lived in the home on January 1. Texas lets new buyers claim the homestead exemption for the portion of the year after they qualify, as long as the previous owner didn’t already have one that year. Check with your assessor either way, and don’t wait for next year to find out.
The Bottom Line:
These exemptions exist for people like you, and most of them take one form to claim.
Even a few hundred dollars a year adds up over time as long as you own your home. That adds up to real money you can throw at your sinking funds, paying off debt, or a much-deserved vacation. 🌴
You don’t have to become a property tax nerd to get this right. Spend one afternoon checking what you qualify for, or hand it off to someone who does this all day. Either way, you’ll stop paying for a discount you already earned.
