Franklin County Property Tax Rates: How to Find and Read Your Rate

Property tax rate basics

• 1 mill= $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value
• 35%of appraised value is assessed (taxable)
• Mid-Decemberwhen the state sends new rates to the Auditor
• 2 ratesper district: full and effective

Unlike some states, Ohio doesn’t have one county-wide property tax rate. Franklin County is divided into many taxing districts. Each is a unique overlap of a city or township, a school district and other levies such as the library, parks and county services. Everyone in the same district pays the same rates, which is why two neighbors on opposite sides of a school district line can pay noticeably different amounts on similar homes.

Franklin County millage varies from district to district because each district combines a different set of school, city, village, township and county levies.

Full rate vs. effective rate

The effective rate is the one that matters for your bill. The Auditor’s appraisal page tells owners to find their property’s effective tax rate on the tax bill from the Treasurer.

Two classes of property, two effective rates

Ohio calculates reduction factors separately for two classes of real property, so each district usually has two effective rates.

In the 2026 update, preliminary averages rose about 10% for residential, 4% for commercial and 13% for industrial property, so the two classes’ reduction factors will move differently for tax year 2026.

How to find your Franklin County property tax rate

1. Check your tax bill. It shows the full rate and the effective rate for your parcel’s district.
2. Find your tax district. The first three digits of your parcel ID are the tax district. See the parcel number guide.
3. Open the Auditor’s rate sheet. The Property Tax Rates page posts spreadsheets for 2022–2025 and PDFs back to 2003. Find your district number to see its rates.
4. Look at the levies behind it. The Tax Distribution tab on your parcel in the property search shows how your bill splits among levies.

There is no single countywide rate: the rate that matters is the one for your Franklin County tax district, shown by the first three digits of your parcel number.

Reading the Auditor’s rate sheets

The Auditor’s yearly files list every taxing district with its rates. Column names vary by year, but you’ll generally find:

The file posted as “2025” covers tax year 2025, the taxes paid in 2026. Rates for tax year 2026, reflecting the 2026 update, reach the Auditor from the state in mid-December 2026.

Turning a rate into dollars

Because Ohio taxes 35% of appraised value, there’s a handy rule of thumb:

The same rule helps with levies: a new levy is usually described in mills, so you can estimate its cost per $100,000 of value. The Auditor’s Levy Estimator does this for your exact parcel; see the estimator guide.

Quick reference: what mills cost per $100,000 of value

Because Ohio taxes 35% of appraised value, you can translate any millage into dollars. This is simple arithmetic, not a Franklin County rate:

Plug in your own effective rate from your bill or the Auditor’s rate sheet, then subtract credits.

Inside millage explained

Ohio’s Constitution limits taxes that can be levied on property without a vote to 1% of its value, which works out to 10 mills. This unvoted “inside” millage is divided among overlapping governments, such as the county, the city or township, and the school district. Everything above it is “outside” millage that voters approved.

Inside millage matters because, unlike most voted levies, it traditionally wasn’t reduced when values rose, so its revenue grew with reappraisals. House Bill 335 changed that from tax year 2026: in reappraisal and update years, county budget commissions must limit inside millage revenue growth to inflation, measured by the GDP deflator over the preceding three years.

The 20-mill floor explained

Reduction factors can’t push a school district’s effective rate for current operating expenses below 20 mills. When a district’s effective rate hits that floor, its collections rise with property values instead of staying flat. That protects school funding but means taxes in those districts grow with values.

The 2025 reforms tackled the floor from two directions. House Bill 129 counts current-expense fixed-sum levies toward the floor starting in tax year 2026, moving many districts statewide above it. House Bill 186 created the Inflation Cap Credit for property still in floor districts, limiting growth to inflation. In Franklin County, only a few school districts that reach into the county were at the floor, according to Columbus Dispatch reporting based on the Auditor’s office.

How different levy types affect your rate

The Auditor’s Levy Estimator shows the levies on your parcel. See the estimator guide.

Reading your parcel’s Tax Distribution tab

Your district’s rate is the sum of many levies. The Tax Distribution tab on your parcel in the property search breaks your bill down by taxing body, such as the school district, city or township, county, library and parks, and the Treasurer’s FAQ points taxpayers to the same tab. It’s the easiest way to see which levies drive your bill and how a proposed levy would fit in.

What to expect for tax year 2026 rates

• Reduction factors will reset to reflect the 2026 update: about +10% average for residential property and +4% for commercial, with industrial higher.
• Inside millage growth is capped at inflation for the first time in an update year.
• New levies approved November 3, 2026 can add millage.
• Rates arrive in mid-December 2026 and are posted by the Auditor afterward; they apply to bills paid in 2027.

Why your effective rate changes every year

House Bill 129 also changes the math starting in tax year 2026 by counting current-expense fixed-sum levies toward the 20-mill floor, which moves many Ohio districts off the floor.

Reading one district’s row, step by step

1. Find your district number, the first three digits of your parcel ID, in the rate sheet’s district column.
2. Read the full rate. That’s the total millage of every levy in the district.
3. Find your class. Homes and farms are Class I; commercial and industrial property is Class II.
4. Read the effective rate for your class. That’s the rate your tax is calculated on.
5. Apply the $35 rule. Multiply the effective rate by $35 for each $100,000 of appraised value to estimate tax before credits.
6. Compare with your bill. Your bill’s effective rate should match your district and class.

Why Class I and Class II effective rates differ

Reduction factors are calculated separately for each class, based on how values in that class changed. If residential values rise faster than commercial values, as in the 2026 update’s preliminary figures, Class I levies need larger reductions to hold collections steady, so the Class I effective rate falls further. Over many cycles, this is why the two classes in the same district can end up with quite different effective rates.

New construction and your rate

Reduction factors are designed to offset value changes on existing property, not new buildings. New construction adds to the tax base and generally pays the district’s effective rate, which is how growing districts collect more without raising rates on existing owners. That’s one reason effective rates can move differently in fast-growing suburbs than in built-out neighborhoods.

Historical rate sheets

The Auditor’s Property Tax Rates page posts spreadsheets for 2022 through 2025 and PDFs back to 2003. Comparing your district across years shows how levies were added, renewed or expired, and how earlier reappraisal and update years changed effective rates. For a single parcel’s history, the Value History tab in the property search shows how its value moved over the same years.

Pitfalls when comparing rates

• Comparing full rates. Always compare effective rates, for the same class.
• Ignoring value. A lower rate on a higher-valued home can still produce a bigger bill.
• Forgetting credits. Owner-occupied homes receive credits on qualifying levies that rentals don’t.
• Mixing tax years. The file labeled 2025 is for taxes paid in 2026.
• Overlooking assessments. Special assessments sit outside the rate.

Comparing districts before you move

If you’re shopping for a home, comparing effective rates across districts is useful, but it’s only half the picture. Your bill also depends on the home’s appraised value, the credits you’ll qualify for, and special assessments. For a specific home, look up its current bill in the Treasurer’s search and remember the rollbacks change for owner-occupied and rental property under House Bill 186. The property tax guide explains the full calculation.

Where Franklin County rates come from

1. Voters approve levies for schools, cities, townships, libraries and county services, each stated in mills.
2. The county Budget Commission (the Auditor, Treasurer and Prosecuting Attorney) reviews local budgets and, under 2025 laws, limits inside millage growth in update years and can adjust certain levies.
3. The State of Ohio establishes the rates for each taxing district, including reduction factors, and sends them to the Auditor in mid-December.
4. The Auditor applies the rates to each parcel’s assessed value, applies credits and prepares the tax list.
5. The Treasurer bills the result in two halves.

This is why a rate isn’t something the Auditor can raise or lower on request. What owners can change is their value (see the property values guide and the 2026 update) and their credits (see the owner occupancy credit and Homestead).

Tax rate terms

Questions to answer with your district’s rates

For the credit side of the bill, see the tax relief guide.

Other taxes that aren’t property tax rates

People searching for Franklin County tax rates are sometimes after a different tax. The Auditor’s rate sheets cover only property taxes.

• Sales tax: set by the state and county and collected by businesses. Check the Ohio Department of Taxation’s sales tax rate lookup.
• Municipal income tax: set by each city and collected by the city or its tax agency.
• Conveyance fee: charged when property changes hands, $3 per $1,000 of sale price in Franklin County. See the transfers guide.

Reading your rate in 60 seconds

1. Find your tax district: the first three digits of your parcel ID.
2. Find your effective rate for Class I (homes and farms) or Class II (commercial) on your bill or the Auditor’s rate sheet.
3. Multiply the effective rate by $35 for each $100,000 of appraised value.
4. Subtract credits and add special assessments.

For the full picture, including credits, see the property tax guide.

Manufactured home tax rates

Manufactured and mobile homes can be taxed separately from real property, and the Treasurer publishes separate manufactured home tax rate information. Homes whose owners elected to be taxed like real property (form DTE 55) follow real property rules. Questions about which applies go to the Auditor’s Manufactured Homes counter on the 20th floor.

Where to see the levies behind a rate

A district’s rate is the sum of its levies. To see them for your own parcel, open the Tax Distribution tab in the property search. Before an election, the Auditor’s Levy Estimator lists current levies on your parcel and estimates proposed ones.

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