Pennsylvania Property Tax Search: County Records, CLR Factors and Homestead Exclusion (2026)

Updated October 2026. For PA owners, buyers and sellers who want to look up a tax bill or parcel. Rates and factors come from state and city sites.

Pennsylvania property tax is assessed by your county and billed by up to three bodies: the county, the municipality and the school district. To check yours, search the county assessment site, then apply the combined millage. As of October 2026, Philadelphia charges 1.3998% of assessed value, and state transfer tax factors run from 1.00 to 17.86 by county.

Jump to: 🏠 County search · 💲 CLR factors · 🤝 Homestead · 🪜 Selling · ❓ FAQ

The state has no single tax roll. Each of the 67 counties keeps its own, picks its own base year and runs its own search site. That’s why two similar homes an hour apart can carry very different assessed values. Here’s how to find yours, read it and use it when you buy or sell.

How do you search Pennsylvania property tax records by county?

Start with the county assessment office. Every county runs a free online search by owner name, address or parcel number. You’ll see the parcel ID, assessed value, assessment history and often the tax bill. The parcel ID may be called a UPI, a tax map number, a control number or, in Philadelphia, an OPA account number.

Here are the search sites for the most populous counties:

• Philadelphia: property.phila.gov. Search by address or OPA number.
• Allegheny (Pittsburgh): realestate.alleghenycounty.us. IDs look like 0012-J-00240-0000.
• Montgomery: propertyrecords.montcopa.org.
• Bucks: the Bucks County Board of Assessment owner search.
• Chester: chesco.org, ChescoViews map viewer.
• Lancaster: Lancaster County DevNet property search.
• York: the York County Assessment Database.
• Erie: Erie County Property Tax Search.
• Dauphin (Harrisburg): Dauphin County DevNet.
• Lehigh (Allentown): Lehigh County Property Search.

No luck online? Your annual tax bill, your deed and your closing statement all show the parcel number. Deeds are recorded with the county Recorder of Deeds, so the deed book and page are a second way in.

How do you figure a PA property tax bill?

The math is simple once you have two numbers. Take the assessed value, times the mill rate, divided by 1,000. One mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of value. You pay a county rate, a town rate and a school rate. The school share is often the biggest.

Philadelphia is the easy case because the City and the School District bill together. The City lists the 2025 rates as 0.6159% for the City and 0.7839% for the School District, 1.3998% in all, due March 31. Late payments pick up 1.5% a month from April 1, per the City of Philadelphia Real Estate Tax page.

The $231,600 is Zillow’s typical Philadelphia home value for September 2026, used here as if it were the assessed value. Your own assessment will differ, so plug in the number from the OPA portal.

Outside Philadelphia, the county, the town and the school district each set a rate. Many school districts mail their own bill. Check every bill you get, not just the county one.

What is the common level ratio in Pennsylvania?

Many counties still use values from an old base year. The common level ratio (CLR) measures how far assessments sit from today’s market. The Department of Revenue publishes the reciprocal, a “factor,” for each county. Multiply an assessed value by the factor and you get an estimate of current value.

These factors are used for realty transfer tax when there’s no real sale price, such as a gift or a transfer between relatives. They apply to documents accepted from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, and they’re based on sales data the State Tax Equalization Board compiled in 2024.

A Bucks County home with a $50,000 assessment isn’t cheap; it reflects a very old base year. That’s also why you can’t compare assessed values across county lines. The list comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue realty transfer tax program, as posted by county recorders.

Think you’re over-assessed? Divide your assessed value by your county’s ratio and compare it with what similar homes sold for. Assessment appeals use the ratio set for appeals in that year, so check the deadline and the exact figure with your county assessment office before you file.

Who qualifies for Pennsylvania’s homestead exclusion?

Under the Taxpayer Relief Act (Act 1 of 2006), the state sends money to school districts, and they pass it to owners as a “homestead or farmstead exclusion” off the school tax. Only a primary residence qualifies. You apply once with your county assessment office.

The deadline is the one people miss. To get the break for a tax year starting July 1 or January 1, the application must be filed by the preceding March 1, per the DCED homestead exclusion page. School districts must tell you by December 31 if you’re not approved. Just bought? File right after closing.

Philadelphia runs its own version, the Homestead Exemption, which cuts $100,000 from the assessed value. You apply once and don’t reapply unless your deed changes, per the City’s homestead page.

The Property Tax/Rent Rebate

Older owners and renters can get money back from the state. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue pays rebates of $380 to $1,000 to people 65 and older, widows and widowers 50 and older, and people with disabilities 18 and older. Household income must be $48,110 or less, and the top $1,000 rebate is for incomes up to $8,550.

What does property tax mean when you sell a Pennsylvania home?

Two tax lines show up on a Pennsylvania settlement sheet. The first is prorated property tax: you and the buyer split the year’s bills by the days each of you owns the home. Bring your latest county, municipal and school bills to closing so the numbers are right.

The second is realty transfer tax. The state’s rate is 1% of the value, collected by the county Recorder of Deeds, often with a local transfer tax on top. In Philadelphia, the City adds 3.578%, for 4.578% in total, according to the City’s realty transfer tax page.

Who pays? The City says the tax is usually split evenly between buyer and seller, but that isn’t a legal rule, and it can collect the full amount from either side. Your sales agreement decides. $287,100 is Zillow’s typical Pennsylvania home value for September 2026, up 2.2% in a year.

For the rest of the costs, from title fees to recording, see who pays closing costs when you sell.

How can you sell a Pennsylvania home for less?

Transfer tax and prorated taxes are fixed by law and the calendar. The commission is the part you choose. With a Pennsylvania flat fee MLS listing, Beycome puts your home on Bright MLS, Pocono Mountains MLS, Greater Lehigh Valley MLS or West Penn MLS for $99, with $0 due to Beycome at closing.

A 3% listing commission on $287,100 would be $8,613. That’s only an example: commissions are not set by law or NAR rules and are fully negotiable. Sellers choose whether to offer any compensation to a buyer’s agent, and how much, and since August 17, 2024 those offers can’t be shown on the MLS.

Every plan includes e-signature, unlimited listing updates, ShowingTime where available and the Artur AI assistant. In Pennsylvania, the listing term is 12 months. Price it first with our CMA property value calculator, then follow how to list on the MLS without a realtor. All plans are on the flat fee MLS page.

Looking up a parcel in another state? See our guides to Connecticut mill rates and property tax IDs, the Illinois PIN, the Virginia property tax ID and Tennessee property tax records.

Pennsylvania property tax questions