Statewide History & County Data
1998-2025 statewide trend, all 105 counties compared, appeals, and the delinquency-to-foreclosure process
Reviewed September 23, 2026. Figures throughout are drawn directly from Kansas Department of Revenue Property Valuation Division (KDOR PVD) tables and BLS CPI-U data — see Sources and Methodology at the bottom for every source link.
Statewide Trend, 1998-2025
Kansas property tax reported by KDOR rose from $1,964.5 million in 1998 to $6,815.1 million in 2025 — a nominal increase of 246.9%. Expressed in 2025 dollars, the 1998 total was $3,879.7 million, so the inflation-adjusted increase is 75.7%: real, but far smaller than the nominal number alone suggests.
| Year | Total tax, nominal | Total tax, 2025 dollars | Residential share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | $1,964.5M | $3,879.7M | 40.59% |
| 2005 | $3,175.1M | $5,233.2M | 45.95% |
| 2010 | $3,806.3M | $5,619.0M | 49.45% |
| 2015 | $4,359.0M | $5,920.1M | 48.82% |
| 2020 | $5,254.9M | $6,535.8M | 49.70% |
| 2025 | $6,815.1M | $6,815.1M | 58.08% |
Selected years from the full 1998-2025 annual series. "2025 dollars" uses annual-average CPI-U so the two columns can be compared directly; the nominal column cannot.
Residential property has carried a steadily growing share of the total: 40.59% in 1998 to 58.08% in 2025, up 17.49 percentage points. In 2025, residential property was 75.44% of appraised value but only 58.18% of assessed value — the gap exists because Kansas assesses different property classes at different rates. See How Property Tax Works for the full mechanics.
A dollar across 49 years, both directions: $1 in 1976 is worth about $5.66 in 2025 dollars. $1 in 2025 is worth about $0.18 in 1976 dollars. (BLS CPI-U annual average: 56.9 in 1976, 321.9 in 2025 — a general purchasing-power comparison, not a Kansas property-tax index.)
County Comparison, 2025
All 105 Kansas counties, ranked by average levy and per-capita tax. A county-average levy is useful for comparison but is not the exact rate for every parcel — your actual combined levy depends on your specific taxing districts. Per-capita tax is total county tax collected divided by population — not an average homeowner's bill.
| County | 2025 avg. levy (mills) | Levy rank | Per-capita tax | Rank | Residential value change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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No county by that name.
Levy: KDOR Table IV, 2023-2025 average county levies. Per-capita tax: KDOR 2025 per-capita report. Residential value change: KDOR, November 2024 to July 2025. Click any county name for its coalition chapter page and 40-year levy history.
Appeal and Payment Timeline
| Stage | General statewide deadline |
|---|---|
| County mails real-property valuation notice | March 1 |
| Taxpayer files equalization appeal | Within 30 days of mailing |
| Informal meeting with county appraiser | By May 15 |
| County appraiser final determination | By May 20 |
| Appeal from informal decision to Board of Tax Appeals | Within 30 days of the decision |
| County appraiser certifies values | June 1 |
| County clerk calculates revenue-neutral rate | June 15 |
| Revenue-neutral-rate hearings, when applicable | August 20 through September 20 |
Two separate appeal entry points exist, and you cannot use both for the same property and tax year: an equalization appeal through the county appraiser within 30 days of your valuation notice, or payment under protest through the county treasurer when you pay (if an escrow or tax-service agent pays on your behalf, protest no later than January 31 of the following year). See How to Appeal Your Valuation for the full walkthrough.
County treasurers generally mail bills by December 15. All or at least half is due December 20; the second half is due May 10 the following year. Unpaid first-half taxes begin accruing statutory interest after December 20 (K.S.A. 79-2004).
Delinquency and Tax Foreclosure
Unpaid property taxes can ultimately cost an owner the property in every U.S. state. Kansas uses a judicial foreclosure process with real statutory protections most people don't know about.
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Tyler v. Hennepin County that a homeowner plausibly stated a Takings Clause claim when a Minnesota county sold her condo for $40,000 to satisfy about $15,000 in taxes, interest, and penalties — and kept the entire $25,000 surplus. Tyler did not abolish property-tax foreclosure — government can still enforce the debt and collect taxes, interest, penalties, and lawful costs from a sale. What it can't do is automatically keep value above that debt without just compensation.
Kansas already protects auction surplus by statute — this is what makes Kansas different from the Minnesota law challenged in Tyler, which gave the taxpayer no way to recover the excess value. Kansas law directs any sale proceeds above the tax debt, interest, penalties, and costs to the owner or other entitled party.
| Stage | What happens | What you can still do |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes become delinquent | Property enters the county's delinquent-tax process | Pay delinquency; investigate exemptions, corrections, or payment options |
| County tax sale/bid-off | County holds the tax interest rather than immediately transferring the home to a private buyer | Redeem during the statutory period; homesteads may use partial redemption |
| Judicial petition | County seeks a district-court judgment foreclosing the tax lien | Appear, contest improper amounts or procedure, or redeem |
| Judgment and sale notice | Sheriff advertises for three consecutive weeks; sale is at least 30 days after first publication | Redeem before the day of sale |
| Public auction | Parcel sold separately to the highest and best bidder | Statutory pre-sale redemption ends |
| Distribution | Debt and costs are satisfied | Proven owner/entitled party receives any auction surplus |
Redemption periods (K.S.A. 79-2401a): 3 years for a constitutional homestead, generally 2 years for property sold for both delinquent general taxes and special assessments, 1 year for a qualifying abandoned structure. Homesteads may use partial redemption — paying one or more years starting with the earliest year on the county tax-sale book, each extending the timeline by a year. Johnson County applies a distinct most-recent-year-first rule.
What We Can't Tell You Nationally
There is no verified, centralized federal count of completed property-tax foreclosures or owner-occupied homes lost to property taxes nationwide. A delinquent-tax roll, a tax-lien sale, a foreclosure petition, and a scheduled auction are each a different thing — none of them is a completed home loss, since parcels regularly cure, get redeemed, or get dismissed before that point. We will not describe a delinquent parcel, tax-sale listing, filed case, or scheduled auction as a completed home loss. When we don't have a verified count, we say so rather than estimate one.
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Sources and Methodology
Statewide history rows were parsed from KDOR PVD historical tables (tax figures in millions, value figures in billions). County levy rows were parsed from KDOR Table IV and matched to all 105 published county labels; the parser requires one match per county. CPI-U is BLS series CUUR0000SA0, annual average, all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted. Missing source values are left blank rather than treated as zero.