Westchester Has the Highest Property Taxes in America. Here's What a County Legislator Can Do About It
Quick answer
Westchester County has the highest median property tax bill of any county in the United States, about $9,003 a year, ranking first out of 3,143 counties (tax-rates.org). The county legislature votes on the county budget and the county tax levy, so it is the body that decides how much of that bill grows each year.
The number every neighbor already feels
Ask a homeowner in Yonkers what they pay and you will rarely hear a small number. Ask a senior on a fixed income and you will often hear $15,000 to $18,000 a year. Those are the stories Dan hears at the door.
The national median property tax bill is roughly $2,500. A Westchester homeowner at the median pays about $6,500 more every year, or around $540 more every month, for the privilege of owning the same kind of home. For a retiree, that gap can be the difference between staying in the house they paid off and leaving.
Watch Dan break it down: Video 1: Westchester is #1 in the nation Video 2: What it means for your family
Why this matters in a county race
Property tax bills combine school, town or city, and county pieces. The county piece is set by the Board of Legislators when it adopts the annual budget. That is where a legislator's vote counts.
The pressure is real. The 2026 county budget is about $2.5 billion, and the Board did trim the proposed levy increase from 5.27% to 3.7%. That shows pressure works, and it also shows how much room there is to keep pushing. A smaller increase is still an increase.
Dan's commitment
Dan's position is simple: he will vote against tax increases and press for spending discipline before asking residents for more. As he puts it in the video, being a good steward of taxpayer money is one of the few things a county legislator can control.
What you can do
Tell us what you pay and how it has changed. Real numbers from real households make the case better than any chart.
Share this post with a neighbor who feels the squeeze.
Vote in the County Legislature race on November 3, 2026.
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