Is It Worth Appealing Your Property Taxes? What the Data Actually Shows

Key Takeaways

• Most property tax appeals succeed, yet most homeowners never file one.

• Not appealing can cost thousands in compounding overpayments over time.

• The process varies by state, but the financial case is nearly universal.

• Ownwell's contingency model means zero upfront cost and no risk.

Why Most Homeowners Overpay Property Taxes Without Knowing It

You opened your property tax bill this year and felt a jolt of sticker shock. Maybe your assessed value jumped 15%. Maybe your monthly escrow payment climbed by $200. You are not alone, and the size of the problem is larger than most people realize.

According to our 2026 National Homeowner Survey, 74% of U.S. homeowners have never appealed their property taxes. That is nearly three out of four homeowners who accept whatever value the county assigns, no questions asked.

The reasons are predictable. Fifty-seven percent of respondents did not know they had the right to challenge their assessment. Another 64% said they were shocked by their bill but took no action.

The gap between what homeowners pay and what they should pay adds up to billions of dollars every year. This article breaks down what the data actually shows about success rates, savings, and the real cost of doing nothing.

By the end, you will know whether filing an appeal makes financial sense for your home, what the process involves, and how to avoid leaving money on the table.

What Is a Property Tax Appeal?

A property tax appeal is a formal request to your local taxing authority to lower your property's assessed value. The term varies by state. In Texas, the process is called a property tax protest. In New York, it is called a property tax grievance. In most other states, it is simply called an appeal.

Here is how your tax bill is calculated. Your county assessor assigns an assessed value to your property, which is an estimate of what your home is worth. That assessed value is then multiplied by the local tax rate (sometimes called a millage rate, which is the tax charged per $1,000 of assessed value) to produce your annual tax bill.

The formula:

Assessed Value x Tax Rate = Annual Property Tax Bill

Worked example:

In this scenario, a successful appeal that reduces your assessed value by $50,000 saves you $1,250 per year. That is real money, roughly enough to cover two months of groceries for an average household.

If the county overvalued your home, you have the right to challenge that number. The appeal process gives you a structured way to present evidence that your home is worth less than the county's estimate.

The most common evidence is comparable sales: recent transactions of similar homes in your neighborhood that sold for less than your assessed value. Other factors, like property condition issues or data errors in the county's records, can also support a reduction.

The International Association of Assessing Officers sets standards for how properties should be valued, and most counties follow these guidelines. Understanding this formula is important because even a modest reduction in assessed value produces meaningful annual savings. And those savings repeat every year your assessment stays corrected.

Is It Worth It? What the Success Rates Actually Show

This is the core question, and the data clearly answers it: yes, for the vast majority of homeowners, appealing is worth the effort.

Consider Texas, where Ownwell has the deepest dataset. Ownwell's Texas Protest vs. Non-Protest Study found that non-protesters across seven Texas counties missed a combined $2.02 billion in potential savings from 2022 through 2024.

In 2024 alone, non-protesters left $722.35 million in unrealized savings on the table. That is money homeowners could have kept but did not because they never filed.

Despite those numbers, Ownwell's 2026 Texas Homeowner Survey found that 54% of Texas homeowners have never protested their property taxes. Thirty-seven percent did not even know they had the right to do so.

What about the fear of your taxes going up?

This is the most common concern homeowners raise. In most states, your assessed value cannot increase as a result of filing an appeal. The appeal process reviews whether the current assessed value is too high. It does not invite the county to reassess your property at a higher number.

A small number of states, including Washington and Georgia, do allow assessed values to increase during the appeal process. Ownwell reviews market data before filing in those states and will decline to file if the data suggests risk of an upward reassessment.

The bottom line: for most homeowners, the risk of filing is close to zero. Ownwell customers save an average of $774 per year.

The Hidden Cost of Not Appealing

Most articles about property tax appeals focus on the upside of filing. Few cover the compounding cost of not filing. Here is what the data shows.

Ownwell's Texas Protest vs. Non-Protest Study tracked the gap between properties that protested and those that did not across multiple years. In Dallas County, the market value gap between non-protesters and successful protesters reached 6.46% by 2024.

That gap does not reset. It compounds.

When you skip a protest in Year 1, your assessed value stays inflated. The next year's assessment starts from that higher baseline. By Year 3, you are not just overpaying, you are overpaying on an overpayment.

Compounding overpayment example:

In reality, the Year 2 and Year 3 overpayments are often larger because counties tend to increase assessed values over time, and each increase builds on an already inflated baseline.

At a broader scale, the numbers are staggering. Across 17 Texas counties in 2025, only 32% of properties protested. The remaining non-protesters left an estimated $1.2 billion in potential savings unrealized.

Every year you skip is a year your baseline drifts further from where it should be. The financial case for annual appeals is not just about saving money this year. It is about preventing a higher starting point next year.

This compounding dynamic is why Ownwell encourages homeowners to appeal their property taxes every single year, not just when a bill feels unusually high.

Skip the research — let Ownwell build your case.

How the Property Tax Appeal Process Works

The appeal process follows a similar structure in most states, even though terminology and deadlines differ. Here are the six core steps:

1. Review your assessment notice for errors. When your county mails the notice (called a Notice of Appraised Value in Texas, a Tentative Assessment Roll notice in New York), check the basics: square footage, lot size, bedroom count, and property classification.

   1. Errors in these fields inflate your assessed value. Based on hundreds of thousands of appeals, Ownwell finds that data errors account for a meaningful share of overassessments.

2. Research comparable sales.

   The strongest evidence in any appeal is recent sales of similar homes in your area that sold for less than your assessed value. Ownwell's AI-powered analysis pulls from multiple listing services, county records, and proprietary data to identify the three to five comparables that make the strongest case.

3. File before the deadline.

   This is non-negotiable. In Texas, file Form 50-132 by May 15 in most counties. In Nassau County, file Form RP-524, typically by January through March. Miss the window, and you lose your right to challenge for that tax year.

4. Prepare your evidence package.

   Comparable sales data, photographs of property condition issues, and documentation of any errors. Ownwell prepares a complete evidence package tailored to local hearing officer expectations.

5. Attend the hearing or submit evidence.

   Some jurisdictions allow informal negotiations before a formal hearing. Others require appearing before a board. In Texas, you present your case to the Appraisal Review Board (ARB). In Nassau County, you submit evidence to the Assessment Review Commission (ARC). Ownwell attends hearings and handles all negotiations on your behalf.

6. Receive the decision and evaluate a second-level appeal if needed.

   If the initial decision does not fully reflect your evidence, most states offer a second-level appeal through a court or state review board. Ownwell evaluates whether a second-level appeal is worth pursuing based on the remaining gap between your assessed value and the evidence.

The most important thing to understand about this process is that evidence quality determines outcomes. Based on hundreds of thousands of appeals, Ownwell has found the difference usually comes down to three to five well-chosen comparable sales.

Most homeowners do not have the time, tools, or access to county records needed to build a competitive case. That is why professional services with access to real-time market data and local hearing experience consistently outperform DIY efforts.

State by State: What You Need to Know

The financial case for challenging your assessment is nearly universal, but the process, terminology, and deadlines differ by state. Here is a quick comparison of four major markets.

Texas

Texas has no state income tax, making property taxes the primary source of local government funding. That translates to higher-than-average tax bills and a strong incentive to protest every year.

Ownwell's Texas Homeowner Survey found that 54% of homeowners have never filed a protest, despite the process being well-established and homeowner-friendly. If you own property in Texas, explore the Texas property tax trends page for county-level rate data.

New York (Nassau County)

Nassau County on Long Island is a different story. According to Ownwell's Long Island Homeowner Survey, 62% of Long Island homeowners have filed a grievance. That is nearly three times the national rate of 22%.

The reason is simple: Nassau County has some of the highest effective tax rates in the country, and homeowners feel the burden. In the same survey, 93% of respondents agreed that the system negatively affects homeowners who do not file. If you own property in Nassau County, visit the Nassau County property tax trends page for local rate data.

California

California's Proposition 13 caps annual increases in assessed value at 2% for existing homeowners. That protects long-term owners but can leave recent buyers with assessments that do not reflect a market downturn.

If you purchased your home at a peak price and the market has since declined, an appeal through your county's Assessment Appeals Board can bring your assessed value in line with current conditions. Explore California property tax trends for county-level data.

Florida

Florida's Save Our Homes cap limits annual assessment increases to 3% for homesteaded properties. As in California, this benefits long-term owners but can lead to overassessment after a market correction.

Appeals are filed through the Value Adjustment Board (VAB). Florida also offers a homestead exemption of up to $50,000 in assessed value, which every primary-residence homeowner should claim. View Florida property tax trends for more.

A National Concern

Across all states, Ownwell's 2026 National Homeowner Survey found that 40% of U.S. homeowners have considered moving due to high property taxes. That statistic underscores how deeply your tax bill affects not just your budget but your decisions about where to live.

How Ownwell Can Help

Ownwell's property tax appeal service manages the entire appeal process from start to finish. You enter your address, and Ownwell's local tax experts and AI-powered analysis determine whether your property is overassessed. If it is, the team handles everything: filing paperwork, building an evidence package with comparable sales data, negotiating with county assessors, and attending hearings on your behalf.

Ownwell operates on a contingency pricing model, which means there is no upfront cost. You only pay if your taxes are actually reduced. If the appeal does not result in savings, you owe nothing.

Ownwell serves homeowners in all 50 states and is designed to be repeated annually, so your assessed value stays in line with the market year after year.

As of 2025, Ownwell customers achieve an 88% success rate, saving an average of $774 per year on properties where a reduction is secured.