Do You Pay More Property Tax on a New Townhome or a New Single-Family Home in Utah?
On a rate basis, new townhomes tend to carry a slightly higher effective property tax rate than new single-family homes, because a lot of new-townhome supply sits in higher-rate submarkets. Overall the effective rate on new townhomes runs about 0.55% of value versus about 0.52% for new single-family. In Salt Lake County the gap is wider – roughly 0.60% for townhomes versus 0.55% for single-family – driven by Magna, West Valley City, Millcreek, and Midvale. In Utah County new townhomes actually come in a bit lower than single-family, around 0.48%. But because a townhome costs less, the total dollar bill is lower: the median new townhome runs about $2,000 a year in Utah County and about $2,800 in Salt Lake County, versus roughly $3,100 and $3,900 for a median new single-family home. Effective rates are from tax year 2024 assessor records on completed new-construction homes (2023-2025 builds); a brand-new 2026 home is assessed on land only for its first year or two, so your first tax bill will look tiny and then jump to roughly the rate times what you paid once the county adds the house to the roll. Figures are as of September 2026 and move with annual valuations and mill rates. All rates assume the primary-residence exemption; a rental or second home pays roughly 1.8 times as much.
Related: Are Property Taxes Higher in Salt Lake County or Utah County? · How Do Utah Property Taxes Work on a Newly Built Home? · New Construction Homes in Utah