New Albany and Jeffersonville sit directly across the Ohio River from downtown Louisville, in Floyd County and Clark County, Indiana. Winner Realty is licensed in both Kentucky and Indiana, and the questions we field about Southern Indiana are consistent: how do Indiana property taxes actually work, what do the bridge tolls cost, what is the housing like downtown versus in the newer subdivisions, and how does a Kentucky buyer handle the closing differences. This guide answers those with sources and lays out the seller and investor view.

Two cities, two counties

New Albany (Floyd County)

New Albany is the county seat of Floyd County, laid out in 1813 and, in the mid-1800s, one of the largest cities in Indiana on the strength of steamboat building. That era left the Mansion Row Historic District along East Main Street, with Italianate, Greek Revival and Second Empire houses, and the New Albany Downtown Historic District around Pearl, Bank, Market and Spring streets, both on the National Register of Historic Places. Housing radiates outward from the restaurant-and-retail downtown: late-1800s and early-1900s cottages and two-stories in the blocks east and west of downtown, 1920s to 1950s bungalows and Capes toward Silver Street and the Knobs, 1960s to 1980s ranches and two-stories along Grant Line Road and Green Valley Road near Indiana University Southeast, and newer subdivisions along Charlestown Road and the north side of the city toward I-265.

Jeffersonville (Clark County)

Jeffersonville faces downtown Louisville across the river and is connected to it by the Clark Memorial Bridge (US 31, no toll) and the Big Four pedestrian bridge. The Old Jeffersonville Historic District around Spring Street, Market Street and Court Avenue holds the oldest housing, a mix of shotgun-era cottages, Italianate two-stories and 1900s frame houses, many restored since the Big Four Bridge opened. Moving north and east, the stock shifts to 1940s to 1970s ranches along 10th Street and Utica Pike, 1980s to 2000s subdivisions along Veterans Parkway and Charlestown Pike (SR 62), and active new construction near the River Ridge Commerce Center and toward Utica and the Lewis and Clark Bridge.

Employment anchors

River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville and Charlestown is the region's largest job engine: roughly 6,000 acres on the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, more than 13,300 on-site jobs, over 20 million square feet developed as of 2025, and tenants including Collins Aerospace, Amazon, Medline, CTDI and a Meta data center. Add downtown Louisville (10 minutes from either city), Clark Memorial Health, Baptist Health Floyd and IU Southeast, and you have the demand base for owner-occupants and renters.

Price bands and what they buy

A data note first. Winner Realty's Flexmls feed is the Greater Louisville MLS; most Southern Indiana sales are entered in the Southern Indiana REALTORS Association MLS instead. The GLAR feed showed only 1 closed sale in New Albany and 6 in Jeffersonville for August 2026, far too thin to publish a median, so we do not print one here. Because Winner Realty is licensed in Indiana, we pull current New Albany and Jeffersonville numbers from the SIRA MLS for any buyer or seller who asks; the metro baseline below is the comparison point:

• Louisville metro baseline, August 2026 (Flexmls): median sale price $280,000; 28 median days on market; 2.9 months of supply; 98.8% sale-to-list.

What the bands generally buy across both cities:

• Under $200,000: unrestored 1900s to 1950s frame and brick cottages in the older grids of both cities, and small 1950s ranches near 10th Street in Jeffersonville and Silver Street in New Albany. Expect original wiring, plumbing and windows.
• $200,000 to $325,000: updated bungalows and Capes, 1960s to 1980s ranches with garages in the Grant Line Road, Green Valley Road and Veterans Parkway areas, and the smaller renovated historic-district houses.
• $325,000 to $475,000: restored Mansion Row and Old Jeffersonville two-stories, 1990s to 2010s subdivision two-stories with basements, and new-construction ranches near River Ridge and Charlestown Road.
• $475,000 and up: the largest historic homes, riverfront and river-view property along Utica Pike and the New Albany riverfront, and premium new construction on the north sides of both cities.

Indiana property taxes: what is actually different

This is the biggest financial difference from Kentucky, and it favors owner-occupants. The facts below come from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (in.gov/dlgf); confirm a specific parcel with the Floyd or Clark County auditor.

• The 1% cap. Indiana's constitutional circuit breaker caps property tax at 1% of gross assessed value for a homestead (owner-occupied primary residence), 2% for other residential property including rentals, and 3% for nonresidential property. A homestead assessed at $300,000 cannot be billed more than $3,000 a year, regardless of the local rate.
• Homestead deductions. Under Senate Enrolled Act 1 (2025), the standard homestead deduction is phasing down ($48,000 for the 2025 assessment, $40,000 for 2026, $30,000 for 2027, $20,000 for 2028, $10,000 for 2029, $0 for 2030 and after) while the supplemental homestead deduction phases up to 46% of assessed value for taxes payable in 2027, 52% in 2028, and 66.7% for 2031 and each year after. Qualifying homesteads also receive a 10% credit, up to $300, on 2026 bills. File the homestead deduction with the county auditor after closing; it is not automatic for a new owner, and the deadline is December 31 for the following year's bill.
• Timing. Indiana bills are paid in two installments due May 10 and November 10, and the bill paid in a given year is based on the prior year's assessment, so your first full bill as a homestead owner may not arrive until the year after you close.
• Rentals pay more. Because a non-homestead house is capped at 2% rather than 1%, an investor's tax bill on the same house can be roughly double an owner-occupant's. Underwrite Indiana rentals at the 2% cap, not at the seller's homestead bill.

Kentucky, by comparison, has no equivalent constitutional cap on the homestead bill and charges a grantor-paid 0.1% transfer tax under KRS 142.050. Winner Realty's in-house lender, Cam Keehn, is licensed in both states and can model the payment difference for a specific house.

Bridges and tolls

RiverLink is the all-electronic tolling system on three of the Ohio River crossings: the I-65 Kennedy Bridge (southbound), the I-65 Abraham Lincoln Bridge (northbound) and the SR 265 / KY 841 Lewis and Clark Bridge between Prospect and Utica. Effective July 1, 2026, passenger cars pay $2.79 per crossing with a transponder account and $4.18 with a registered plate-only account; unregistered plates are invoiced by mail at the highest rate, and rates rise each July with inflation. A daily I-65 commuter with a transponder pays roughly $5.58 a day, or about $117 a month over 21 working days; check riverlink.com for current rates and any account discounts before you count on a number. The Sherman Minton Bridge (I-64, New Albany to west Louisville) and the Clark Memorial Bridge (US 31, Jeffersonville to downtown) are not tolled, and the Big Four Bridge is pedestrian and bicycle only.

The Big Four moved the Jeffersonville market. A former 1895 railroad bridge, it reopened as a pedestrian span on February 6, 2013 on the Louisville side and in 2014 on the Jeffersonville side; it is about 2,562 feet long, and Waterfront Park's counters record about 1.5 million crossings a year. Big Four Station, the park at the Jeffersonville landing, borders the historic district, and houses within walking distance of it price differently than the rest of the city.

What buyers should know

Inspection points by era

• Pre-1930 historic houses: stone or brick foundations, knob-and-tube remnants, galvanized and cast-iron plumbing, slate or standing-seam roofs, window condition, and lead paint (pre-1978 disclosure). In a locally designated historic district, exterior changes may need approval from the city's historic preservation commission.
• 1940s to 1970s ranches: electrical service size, aluminum branch wiring in late-1960s houses, sewer lateral condition, and crawl-space or basement moisture near the river.
• 1980s to 2000s subdivisions: polybutylene supply lines in late-1970s to mid-1990s builds, roof age, HOA documents.
• New construction near River Ridge: builder contract terms, warranty, and the lot's grading plan.

Flood zones

Both cities sit behind Army Corps-built Ohio River floodwalls, but parcels outside the protected area along the river and lots along Silver Creek (the Floyd-Clark county line), Falling Run and smaller tributaries can be in FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas. Check any address at msc.fema.gov; a federally backed lender will require flood insurance in a mapped zone.

Disclosure and closing differences

Indiana has its own statutory seller disclosure, the Seller's Residential Real Estate Sales Disclosure (Indiana State Form 46234); Kentucky's KREC 402 form does not apply across the river. The Indiana purchase agreement also differs from the Kentucky form in inspection-response and earnest-money mechanics, and your Winner Realty agent will walk through it before you sign.

Schools

Jeffersonville is within Greater Clark County Schools; New Albany is within the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation. Assignment follows each district's plan; verify with the district for a specific address.

What sellers should know

Southern Indiana sellers are marketing to two buyer pools at once: Indiana buyers and Louisville buyers weighing the tax difference and the toll. State the current homestead tax bill plainly in the listing, note which bridge the house uses and whether it is tolled, and, for downtown houses, the walking distance to the Big Four landing or to Main Street. Get the last two tax bills from the county auditor before listing, and have preservation-commission approvals on hand for any exterior work on a historic-district house. Ask your agent to enter the listing in both the SIRA and Greater Louisville MLSs so Kentucky agents see it; Winner Realty does both. Start with a home value estimate and the net proceeds calculator.

The investor angle

Demand drivers are concrete: River Ridge's 13,300-plus jobs, the two hospitals, IU Southeast, downtown Louisville across a free bridge, and both downtown restaurant districts. Small rental houses in the older grids and the 1950s to 1970s ranch areas lease steadily, and the historic districts near the Big Four and Main Street support furnished and mid-term rentals for hospital and corporate assignments.

Three things to underwrite correctly. First, taxes: a rental is capped at 2% of gross assessed value, not 1%, so do not use the seller's homestead bill. Second, local rules: New Albany and Jeffersonville regulate rentals and short-term rentals under their own ordinances, not Louisville Metro's, so verify registration, inspection and STR permitting with each city before you buy; Louisville's $250 STR registration and Conditional Use Permit process stop at the state line. Third, flood: check the FEMA map for every river-adjacent parcel. Run candidates through the investment property analyzer, and if you buy on criteria on either side of the river, register your buy box. For creative structures, the Kentucky pages on seller financing and subject-to explain the mechanics, but Indiana contract law and forms differ, so confirm with Indiana counsel.

Getting around

From downtown Jeffersonville, the Clark Memorial Bridge lands at Second Street in downtown Louisville in about five minutes with no toll; I-65 via the Kennedy and Lincoln bridges is tolled. From New Albany, I-64 across the Sherman Minton reaches downtown Louisville in about 10 minutes with no toll, and I-265 loops east to Jeffersonville, River Ridge and the tolled Lewis and Clark Bridge into Prospect. The airport is about 20 minutes from either city via I-65. TARC runs limited cross-river bus routes; most residents drive. The Ohio River Greenway connects New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville along the riverfront, and the Big Four Bridge ties Jeffersonville's downtown to Waterfront Park on foot or by bike.

Nearby comparisons

• Norton Commons and Prospect: across the Lewis and Clark Bridge, the Kentucky comparison for new construction near River Ridge.
• Shively and Pleasure Ridge Park: across the Sherman Minton, the price-band peer for New Albany's older stock.
• Crescent Hill and the Original Highlands: Louisville's historic-housing comparison.
• Louisville and Southern Indiana history.
• The monthly Louisville housing market report for metro baselines.

Frequently asked questions

Are Indiana property taxes really lower than Kentucky's?

For an owner-occupied home, usually yes. Indiana caps homestead property tax at 1% of gross assessed value and layers on homestead deductions that, under 2025's SEA 1, phase toward removing 66.7% of assessed value from taxation by 2031. Rentals are capped at 2% and commercial property at 3%. Confirm a parcel's bill with the county auditor.

How much are the bridge tolls?

As of July 1, 2026, RiverLink charges passenger cars $2.79 per crossing with a transponder and $4.18 with a registered plate-only account on the Kennedy, Lincoln and Lewis and Clark bridges; unregistered plates pay more by mailed invoice. The Sherman Minton (I-64) and Clark Memorial (US 31) bridges are free, and the Big Four is pedestrian only.

Can Winner Realty represent me on an Indiana purchase?

Yes. Winner Realty and in-house lender Cam Keehn are both licensed in Kentucky and Indiana, so one team can handle a search that spans the river.

What is the housing like in downtown New Albany and Jeffersonville?

Mostly 1850s to 1920s houses: Italianate, Greek Revival and Second Empire homes on Mansion Row in New Albany, and cottages and two-stories in the Old Jeffersonville Historic District near the Big Four landing. Exterior changes in locally designated districts may require preservation-commission approval.

Which school districts serve these cities?

Jeffersonville is within Greater Clark County Schools; New Albany is within the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation. Assignment follows each district's plan, so verify with the district for a specific address.

Do I need to file anything after closing to get the Indiana homestead deduction?

Yes. File the homestead deduction with the county auditor (Floyd or Clark) after closing; the deadline is December 31 to affect the following year's bill. Ask your closing agent whether the sales disclosure filed at closing covers the application in your county.

Cross the river with Winner Realty

Winner Realty runs Kentucky and Indiana searches, tax comparisons and lending side by side. Book a conversation with Rob Bergeron, get a home value estimate for a New Albany or Jeffersonville property, or run a rental through the investment property analyzer. Winner Realty donates 1% of net profits to Hand in Hand.