Does Oregon Have Property Tax? Rates, Cap, and Exemptions

Yes, Oregon has a property tax. The state taxes real estate and business-use personal property, with county assessors administering bills for more than 1,200 local taxing districts.¹ Two voter-approved measures shape what you owe: Measure 50 caps annual growth in your property’s assessed value at 3%, and Measure 5 limits combined operating tax rates to $15 per $1,000 of real market value. Oregon does not offer a general homestead exemption, but targeted relief exists for seniors, disabled homeowners, veterans, and owners of farm or forest land.²

What Gets Taxed

Two categories of property are taxable in Oregon. Real property covers land, buildings, and any permanent improvements — single-family homes, apartments, offices, warehouses.³ The second category is tangible personal property used in a business, such as machinery, equipment, and furniture.

Items you own purely for personal use are exempt. Household furniture and licensed vehicles do not appear on your tax bill.³ The moment tangible property gets used for business, though, it becomes taxable, and any business with taxable personal property must file a Confidential Personal Property Return with the county assessor by March 15 each year.¹

How Your Bill Is Calculated

Every property in Oregon carries two values. Real Market Value (RMV) is what the property would likely sell for on the open market. Maximum Assessed Value (MAV) is a capped figure that grows by no more than 3% each year. Your Assessed Value (AV) — the number used to compute your tax — is whichever of those two is lower.⁴

The 3% cap is the reason Oregon property taxes stay predictable even when local home prices spike. If the market jumps 12% in a year, your taxable value still cannot rise by more than 3%. And if prices drop and your RMV falls below your MAV, the lower RMV takes over as your assessed value. Your annual tax statement shows the RMV and the Assessed Value side by side.

Buying a Home Does Not Reset the Value

Oregon does not reassess a property to current market value when it changes hands. When you buy, the MAV carries forward from the previous owner and keeps climbing at the same 3% annual limit.⁵ A home held for many years may have a wide gap between its market value and its assessed value, and that gap survives the sale. In a fast-appreciating neighborhood, this can leave a new buyer paying noticeably less tax than the purchase price would suggest.

Certain changes do allow the assessor to reset the MAV outside the 3% cap. New construction or additions above roughly $10,000 in real market value in a single year (or $25,000 cumulatively over five years), subdividing a lot, rezoning followed by a consistent new use, or losing an exemption all trigger a recalculation.⁵ Routine maintenance and minor repairs do not.

The $15 per $1,000 Rate Cap

The Oregon Constitution limits how much all overlapping local districts can charge you for operating taxes. Measure 5 splits that ceiling into two buckets: $5 per $1,000 of real market value for education, and $10 per $1,000 for general government. Combined, operating taxes are capped at $15 per $1,000 of RMV.⁶ Note that the cap runs against real market value, not the usually lower assessed value.

When the taxes billed by every district together would push you over the cap, a mechanism called compression trims the rates back down. Temporary local option levies get cut first. If the bill still exceeds the ceiling, permanent rates are reduced proportionally across the remaining districts.⁶

One important caveat: voter-approved bonds for capital projects such as school buildings are generally excluded from the Measure 5 limits. If your area carries bond levies, your total bill can exceed the $15 combined cap, and the bond portion will appear as a separate line on your statement.

When You Pay and How to Save

County tax collectors mail statements by October 25. The first payment is due November 15, and Oregon offers a discount for paying early:⁷

Pay in full by November 15 and take a 3% discount.
Pay two-thirds by November 15 and take a 2% discount, with the remaining third due by May 15.
Pay one-third by November 15 with no discount, one-third by February 15, and the final third by May 15.

Payments must be postmarked on or before the due date. Miss an installment and interest starts running at one and one-third percent per month, roughly 16% a year.⁷ That is steeper than most consumer debt, so paying on time — or paying in full for the 3% discount — is almost always the better financial move.

Ways to Lower What You Owe

Oregon does not automatically reduce the taxable value of your primary residence the way homestead-exemption states do.² Relief comes through appeals and a handful of targeted programs.

Appealing the Assessor’s Value

If you think your property has been overvalued, you can petition the county’s Board of Property Tax Appeals. The filing deadline is December 31 of the assessment year, and a $50 fee applies per petition. Hearings begin on or after the first Monday in February.

To succeed, you need evidence that your real market value is lower than the assessor’s figure. Recent sale prices of comparable properties near the January 1 assessment date, an independent licensed appraisal, and documentation of damage or deferred maintenance all carry weight. Pointing to a neighbor’s lower assessment usually does not, because differences in lot size, improvements, and MAV history explain most gaps between similar homes.⁸ If the board rules against you, the Oregon Tax Court is the next step.

Disabled Veteran Exemption

Veterans with a service-connected disability of 40% or more, and certain surviving spouses, can exempt a portion of their homestead’s assessed value. For 2026 the standard exemption is $27,092, and the enhanced exemption for more severely disabled veterans or qualifying survivors is $32,512.⁹ Both amounts rise 3% each year. You apply through the county assessor, and the disability rating must be certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or a branch of the armed forces.¹⁰

Senior and Disabled Homeowner Deferral

Homeowners at least 62 years old, or who receive or are eligible for federal Social Security disability benefits, can apply to defer their property taxes. The state pays the county each November and records a lien on your property. You repay the deferred amount plus 6% annual interest when you sell, move out, or otherwise leave the program.¹¹

For 2026, total household income (taxable and non-taxable combined) must be under $70,000 to qualify, and the home’s real market value must meet a minimum cap set at $301,000.¹¹ Applications go to the county assessor by April 15. Late applications are accepted through December 1 with a late filing fee.

Farm and Forest Land

Land actively used for farming or timber can qualify for special assessment that values it by its agricultural or forestry use rather than its development potential. Farm land in an Exclusive Farm-Use zone must be used primarily for profit-generating agriculture.¹² The Designated Forestland program requires at least two contiguous acres of trees being grown for eventual harvest, and the Small Tract Forestland program covers owners with 10 to 4,999 acres of forestland statewide.¹³ Removing land from one of these programs — converting farm land to residential use, for example — ends the special assessment and triggers a recalculation of the MAV, which often means a sharply higher tax bill.

1
Oregon Department of Revenue. Property Assessment and Taxation
2
Oregon Department of Revenue. Property Tax Exemptions
3
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 307 – Property Subject to Taxation; Exemptions
4
OregonLaws. ORS 308.146 – Determination of Maximum Assessed Value
5
Oregon Department of Revenue. Maximum Assessed Value Manual
6
FindLaw. Oregon Constitution Art XI Section 11b
7
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Section 311-505 – Due Dates; Interest on Late Payments; Discounts
8
Oregon Department of Revenue. How to Appeal Your Property Value
9
Oregon Department of Revenue. Disabled Veteran or Surviving Spouse Property Tax Exemption
10
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Section 307-250 – Property of Veterans or Surviving Spouses
11
Oregon Department of Revenue. Oregon Property Tax Deferral for Disabled and Senior Homeowners Program
12
Oregon Department of Revenue. Assessment of Farmland in an Exclusive Farm-Use Zone
13
Oregon Department of Revenue. Forestland Program