Oregon’s property tax system is one of the strangest in the country — and one of the most consequential for new buyers. Unlike most states, Oregon does not tax homes based on their market value. Instead, thanks to a 1997 constitutional amendment called Measure 50, Oregon taxes homes based on a separate, capped value that often has little to do with what the home would actually sell for today.
The practical result: two identical homes on the same street can have tax bills that differ by thousands of dollars a year. A long-time owner’s bill can be half of what a new buyer pays on the same house. This guide explains why, how the math actually works, and what to expect when you become the new owner.
The big idea: RMV vs. MAV
Every Oregon property has two values that matter for property taxes:
- Real Market Value (RMV) is what the county assessor believes the property would sell for as of January 1 each year — the assessment date. Think of this as the appraisal value.
- Maximum Assessed Value (MAV) is a capped value that grows by at most 3% per year, regardless of how fast the real market moves.
Your actual Assessed Value (AV) — the number your tax bill is calculated on — is whichever is lower: RMV or MAV. For most Oregon homes, MAV has been the lower number for more than two decades, so MAV drives almost everyone’s tax bill.
The one-sentence version
In Oregon, you pay property tax on a capped value (MAV) that grows by at most 3% a year — not on the market value of your home. That cap is the whole story.
Measure 5 and Measure 50: a short history
Oregon’s current property tax system was built in two layers in the 1990s.
Measure 5, passed by voters in 1990, capped the rate at which property could be taxed. The operating-tax rate cannot exceed $15 per $1,000 of RMV in total — broken into $5 per $1,000 for schools and $10 per $1,000 for general government. Voter-approved general obligation bonds for capital projects sit outside these caps.
Measure 50, passed in 1997, changed what’s being taxed. Before Measure 50, Oregon taxed property at roughly its market value. Measure 50 rolled the 1997-98 assessed value of every property back to 90% of its 1995-96 value, called that the starting Maximum Assessed Value, and locked MAV growth at 3% a year going forward. It also replaced most local tax levies with permanent rates for each taxing district (county, city, school district, fire district, library, and so on). Measure 50 is a constitutional amendment (Article XI, Section 11 of the Oregon Constitution), and it locks these permanent rates in place by constitutional formula — they cannot be raised by the local government, though voters can approve additional temporary levies and bonds on top.
So your tax bill today is the product of two constraints designed more than 25 years apart: a cap on the value being taxed (Measure 50) and a cap on the rate at which it’s taxed (Measure 5). Both still apply.
How MAV actually works
Under ORS 308.146, each property’s MAV is recalculated every year. The rule is simple: MAV is the greater of (a) the previous year’s MAV or (b) the previous year’s AV multiplied by 1.03. In practice, for nearly all Oregon homes, this means MAV grows at exactly 3% per year, year after year.
Your AV is then set as the lesser of MAV or RMV. For most homes in appreciating markets — virtually everywhere in Oregon for most of the last 20 years — RMV has grown much faster than 3%, leaving MAV as the lower number and therefore the one that actually gets taxed. Only when RMV falls below MAV (in a housing downturn, or on a property whose assessor’s RMV estimate sits below MAV for some reason) does RMV become the operative number.
A handful of exceptions can push MAV up by more than 3% in a year:
- New construction and major improvements. Adding a bedroom, a garage, or finishing a basement triggers an adjustment to MAV.
- Subdivision or partition. Splitting a parcel creates new tax lots and resets MAV on each.
- Rezoning. A zoning change that affects value (for example, reclassifying rural land for commercial use) can trigger an adjustment.
- Disqualification from a special assessment program. Losing farm-use or forest-use status, for example, can reset MAV.
- Omitted property. Property that was missed in prior assessments can be added back.
Crucially, routine maintenance and minor repairs do not trigger an MAV exception. Replacing a roof, repainting, updating a kitchen with comparable finishes, or replacing windows is not supposed to bump your MAV.
A critical nuance for buyers
MAV stays with the property when ownership changes. This is the single most important thing for new buyers to understand. Unlike California's Proposition 13, which reassesses a home to market value when it sells, Oregon does not reset MAV at sale. When you buy an Oregon home, you inherit the seller's MAV. If the seller owned the home for 20 years, you inherit 20 years of 3%-capped MAV growth.
Why your tax bill may differ from the seller's
Wait — if MAV stays with the property, how can a new buyer’s bill differ from the seller’s?
Two main reasons.
First, the property tax year runs July 1 through June 30, not the calendar year. The bill that arrives in late October is for the tax year already underway. The seller paid (or credited the buyer at closing for) a prorated share based on the prior year’s bill. Your first full year of ownership will be taxed on essentially the same MAV, but the reassessed RMV and any new voter-approved bonds or local option levies can shift the total.
Second, and more importantly, new voter-approved measures on your ballot add to the permanent rate. Measure 50 fixed permanent rates for existing taxing districts, but voters can still approve:
- Local option levies — temporary operating levies for schools, libraries, parks, or other services, typically lasting up to five years.
- General obligation bonds — for capital projects like school buildings, fire stations, or transit. These sit outside the Measure 5 rate caps.
If your new address falls in a district that just passed a school bond or a fire-services local option levy, your bill will reflect that — even if the seller’s bill, the year before, did not.
There’s a third scenario worth flagging. If the seller made significant improvements — a major addition, a finished basement, an ADU — and the county hasn’t yet captured that value on the tax roll, you could see an MAV exception adjustment in your first year or two of ownership. Ask the seller’s disclosure and the county about any unpermitted or recently permitted work before closing.
New construction and the Changed Property Ratio
New homes don’t have a 1995-96 assessed value to roll back, so Measure 50 needed a way to give new construction the same proportional benefit as existing property. The answer is the Changed Property Ratio (CPR).
Each county calculates a CPR annually by taking the average MAV-to-RMV ratio of unchanged existing properties in that county (by property class — residential, commercial, etc.). When a new home is built, its MAV is set at the new home’s RMV multiplied by the CPR. This produces a starting MAV that’s roughly proportional to what existing neighbors pay.
The CPR can produce striking numbers in counties where the market has pulled away from MAV over the years. In Hood River County, for example, the residential CPR has recently been as low as 0.421, meaning a new $500,000 home would start with an MAV of about $210,500. Washington County’s 2025 residential CPR was 0.538. In most counties, residential CPRs are well under 1.0 — meaning new homes start taxed on roughly half (or less) of their actual market value.
Permanent rates, levies, and bonds
Your total tax rate is the sum of every taxing district that serves your address: county, city, school district, community college, education service district, fire district, library, parks district, and any others. Each has its own permanent rate, and some have additional voter-approved local option levies or bonds.
Rates vary widely. Hood River County’s permanent county rate is among the lowest in the state at $1.42 per $1,000 of assessed value; counties with more services and more taxing districts run higher. Effective total rates (combining all districts) typically fall between about $10 and $20 per $1,000 of AV across Oregon.
Measure 5 can also kick in. Compression operates within two separate categories: education taxes are compared against the $5-per-$1,000-RMV cap, and general government taxes (cities, counties, fire districts, parks, and the like) are compared against the $10-per-$1,000-RMV cap. If taxes in either category exceed that category’s cap, they’re compressed — local option levies are reduced first, and if that doesn’t bring the total down, permanent-rate taxes in that category are proportionally reduced. You can be compressed in one category while the other stays well below its cap. In practice, compression matters most in urban districts with many overlapping levies.
Oregon's property tax calendar
Every Oregon county runs on the same statutory calendar.
Assessment date. The county sets RMV and MAV as of this date for the tax year starting the following July.
Deadline to file for most property tax exemptions (veteran, surviving spouse, active-duty military, etc.).
Deadline to apply for the Senior and Disabled Property Tax Deferral Program.
First payment deadline. Pay in full by this date for a 3% discount; pay two-thirds by this date for a 2% discount; or pay one-third (no discount) and spread the rest.
Deadline to file a petition with the county Property Value Appeals Board (PVAB, formerly BOPTA) if you disagree with your RMV.
Second installment due (if paying in thirds).
Third and final installment due. Unpaid taxes after this date are delinquent.
Late payments accrue interest at 1.333% per month (16% per year). If your date falls on a weekend or holiday, it rolls to the next business day — Clackamas County, for example, moved the November 15, 2025 deadline to November 17 because the 15th fell on a Saturday.
Exemptions and deferrals
Oregon offers several programs that can reduce or defer property tax for qualifying homeowners. These are not automatic — you have to apply.
Disabled Veteran or Surviving Spouse Exemption
Veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 40% or greater, and surviving spouses of qualifying veterans, can exempt a portion of their homestead’s assessed value from property tax. The exemption amount increases by 3% each year to keep pace with MAV growth. File Oregon DOR form 150-303-086 with your county assessor between January 1 and April 1. Details at Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Active Duty Military Exemption
Oregon National Guard and reserve members deployed on Title 10 active duty or Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) assignment for more than 178 consecutive days can exempt part of their homestead’s assessed value under ORS 307.286. The exemption, which began at $60,000 of AV in 2005, increases 3% per year.
Senior and Disabled Property Tax Deferral
Homeowners age 62 or older (or receiving federal Social Security disability benefits), with qualifying income and equity, can defer property taxes entirely. Under the program, the Oregon Department of Revenue pays the taxes each November 15; a lien is placed on the property, and the deferred taxes plus 6% annual interest come due when the homeowner sells, moves out, or passes away. The application deadline is April 15 for the following November’s bill. This is a deferral, not a forgiveness — it lets qualifying owners stay in their home without a property-tax cash-flow strain, but the taxes are still ultimately owed.
Surviving Spouse of a Public Safety Officer
The surviving spouse of a public safety officer killed in the line of duty may exempt up to $250,000 of homestead AV from property tax, provided they remain unmarried and the home is their primary residence.
Other programs
Farm-use and forest-use special assessments are separate programs that can substantially reduce taxes on qualifying rural and agricultural land; these apply based on use, not ownership, and are administered by the county assessor. Nonprofit, charitable, religious, and educational organizations may also qualify for full or partial exemption on property used for qualifying purposes.
If you disagree with your assessed value
If you think your RMV — the market-value number on your October tax statement — is too high, you have the right to appeal. The first step is filing a petition with your county’s Property Value Appeals Board (PVAB) by December 31 of the year the tax statement was issued. The board was formerly called the Board of Property Tax Appeals (BOPTA) and was renamed by HB 2031, effective January 1, 2024; many county websites still use both names interchangeably. PVAB hearings are held between the first Monday in February and April 15.
A critical point: reducing RMV only reduces your tax if the new RMV drops below your MAV. Because MAV is typically well below RMV for most Oregon homes, an RMV appeal may have no effect on your actual bill unless the reduction is dramatic. Talk to your county assessor before filing — they can confirm whether an RMV change would meaningfully affect your tax.
If you disagree with the PVAB’s decision, you can appeal to the Oregon Tax Court’s Magistrate Division within 30 days of the date the board’s order is mailed, and from there to the Regular Division if needed. Most disputes are resolved at the PVAB.
What to do as a buyer
Three practical steps before you close.
Look at the last three years of property tax statements. The seller should provide these, or your agent can pull them from the county assessor’s public records. Look at the assessed value, the permanent rates, and any recent voter-approved bonds or local option levies. This is the closest you can get to predicting your own first-year bill.
Check for recent or pending MAV exceptions. If the home has been extensively renovated or expanded, or if there’s new construction happening on the parcel, ask whether the county has captured that work on the tax roll yet. A remodeled kitchen won’t trigger an adjustment; a new 600-square-foot addition will.
Don’t assume the seller’s tax bill is your tax bill. On a new-construction purchase, especially, your first bill may be dramatically different than what’s shown on a comparable resale home because your CPR-based starting MAV differs from a long-time owner’s 3%-capped MAV. The inverse is also true: a long-owned home can have an MAV so far below its RMV that the tax bill looks implausibly low. Both are correct — they’re just measuring different things.
The short answer
Property taxes in Oregon are among the most predictable annual costs of homeownership, because Measure 50 caps the growth of the value that's being taxed. But the starting point — what MAV was inherited with the property — varies enormously from house to house and market to market. When you buy, you're inheriting a specific MAV, not a market-value assessment. Your tax bill reflects that inheritance, not your purchase price.
Matt Rose
Licensed Oregon Real Estate Agent
Matt writes Visit Oregon Real Estate’s buyer-guide content and works with the team’s agents across Oregon’s nine regions. His focus is on helping relocating buyers navigate the state’s disclosure, escrow, and property-tax practices, and his writing draws on Oregon Revised Statutes, Department of Revenue publications, and guidance from county assessors. All content on this site is bylined by Matt.
Questions about a specific property?
We can pull the tax history for you
Before you write an offer, we can pull three years of assessment and tax history on any Oregon property — MAV, RMV, permanent rates, recent bonds, and any pending exceptions. It’s a free part of the buyer process. Reach out and we’ll take a look.