This RIPEC report summarizes the findings of a property tax burden comparison among the fifty states developed in partnership with the National Taxpayers Conference – a national, nonprofit corporation whose members are devoted to the pursuit of objective analysis of public finance issues.  The study surveys 53 urban and 50 rural cities across the United States, which included the City of Providence and the Town of Hopkinton. This report focuses on the findings related to Providence and the other 52 urban cities across the nation. The report focuses on residential property, commercial property, and industrial property rankings. 

Highlights Include:

• Providence property tax burdens on a $300,000 home ranked 24th among surveyed cities.
• On a $300,000 home, the residential property tax burden was $4,301, or 2.9 percent below the average of New England cities.
• The effective residential property tax rate was 1.43 (property tax as a percentage of full market value) compares to the average effective tax rate of 1.49 percent.
• Providence ranked 3rd highest in the nation for commercial property taxes, and highest among surveyed New England cities.
• The commercial tax burden in Providence on a $1.2 million commercial facility was $45,679 with an effective tax rate of 3.81 percent; over 50.0 percent higher than the average among surveyed cities and 37.7 percent higher than the New England average.
• Providence commercial property taxes were 26.7 percent higher than in Boston – the Providence effective property tax rate was 3.81 percent compared to 2.97 percent in Boston.
• Providence property tax burdens on industrial property ranked between 13th and 15th highest depending on the distribution of real and personal property value
• When personal property equaled 50.0 percent of the total assessment value of an industrial facility, Providence property tax burden (effective tax rate of 2.04 percent) was 28.0 percent higher than the national average, and the highest in New England.
• When personal property equaled 60.0 percent, Providence’s industrial property tax burden (effective tax rate of 1.73 percent) was nearly 20.0 percent higher than the national average.