CALC_MARKER
Jefferson County doesn't have one property tax rate. It has a state rate, a county rate, a school rate that's the same everywhere, and then a patchwork of urban-services, fire-district, and small-city rates that depend on the exact parcel. Two houses a half-mile apart can owe noticeably different tax bills. Here's how to estimate yours.
How Jefferson County property tax actually works
Kentucky assesses real property at 100% of fair cash value (your PVA assessment). Every taxing entity that covers your property sets its own rate per $100 of assessed value, and your bill is the sum of all of them. Three of those entities cover the whole county. One more depends on exactly where your parcel sits.
The three rates everyone in Jefferson County pays
- State of Kentucky: $0.106 per $100 of assessed value
- Jefferson County / Louisville Metro government: $0.118 per $100
- Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS): $0.717 per $100
The one rate that depends on where you live
On top of the three rates above, you pay exactly one of the following:
- Urban Services District (roughly the old City of Louisville boundary, pre-1990s-merger core): $0.319 per $100
- A fire protection district, if your property sits outside the Urban Services District. Rates vary by district: Anchorage/Middletown area $0.175, Fairdale $0.10, Fern Creek area $0.18, Jeffersontown/McMahan $0.20, Okolona $0.17, Pleasure Ridge Park area $0.20, St. Matthews/Lyndon $0.185, City of Mockingbird Valley $0.07.
What this calculator does not include
Jefferson County has roughly 80 small home-rule cities inside it — St. Matthews, Jeffersontown, Anchorage, Prospect, Middletown, Indian Hills, and dozens more — and each one sets its own additional city tax rate on top of everything above. This calculator does not have a verified rate for every one of them, so if your property sits inside one of those small cities, your real bill will run higher than this estimate. The Louisville Free Public Library tax is also not included here. For your exact combined rate, check the Jefferson County Sheriff's official rate schedule or ask your PVA.
The Kentucky homestead exemption
If you're 65 or older, or totally and permanently disabled, Kentucky lets you subtract $49,100 from your home's assessed value before the tax rate is applied, for the 2025-2026 assessment period. That's real money — on a median-priced Louisville home it can cut several hundred dollars off the annual bill. Check the box below if it applies to you.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my neighbor's tax bill go down when mine went up, even though our houses are similar?
You're probably in different taxing districts — one of you may be inside the Urban Services District or a specific fire district the other isn't, or one of you is inside a small home-rule city with its own added rate.
Is assessed value the same as what I paid for the house?
Not necessarily. The PVA reassesses property periodically and can adjust the assessment after a sale or a permitted improvement. Your most recent PVA notice has the number actually used to calculate your bill.
Does this calculator account for the homestead exemption automatically?
Only if you check the box — it's opt-in since it only applies to homeowners 65+ or totally disabled who've filed for it with the PVA.