Property taxes are inevitable. They help fund the services that support your community—public schools, police and fire departments, roads, parks, libraries, and local government. But they’re also an ongoing cost of owning a home and, unlike a mortgage, they don’t disappear when your home is paid off.
What if you thought about your property taxes as an extension of your mortgage?
Tax to Mortgage converts your annual property tax bill into the amount of mortgage that the same monthly payment could support.
Property-tax assumptions
$
%
Current national average mortgage rates
30-year fixed6.65%
15-year fixed5.95%
Freddie Mac PMMS national averages as of Aug. 20, 2026. Checking for the latest weekly rates… Your actual rate may differ. Source
How much are your property taxes costing you?
Mortgage equivalent
$329,606
Your property taxes consume the same monthly budget as the payment on about a $329,606 mortgage.
Assumes 6.65% mortgage and a 30-year term. Unfortunately, the property-tax payment does not end when the mortgage does.
Your mortgage vs. your property taxes
Compare your monthly principal-and-interest payment with the monthly cost of your property taxes. Enter $0 if your mortgage is paid off.
$
Do not include property taxes, homeowners insurance or HOA in this number.
Mortgage payment$3,500/mo
Property taxes$2,083/mo
Your property taxes equal about 60% of your mortgage payment.
For every $1.00 you pay toward principal and interest, you pay about another $0.60 in property taxes.
Want the full recurring cost?
Keep the main illustration focused on property taxes, or expand this section to include HOA and homeowners insurance in your true monthly carrying cost.
Include other recurring ownership costs
$
$
Use total annual homeowners premiums. Add flood or wind premiums here too if you want an all-in insurance figure.
True recurring monthly cost
$2,083
Property tax + HOA + homeowners insurance
Mortgage equivalent of all recurring costs
$329,606
Compare true housing costs
For a location-to-location comparison, include property taxes, HOA and insurance. This catches cases where lower property taxes are offset by higher insurance or association costs.
Location A
$
$
$
Location B
$
$
$
Additional purchasing power
About $237,316 of additional mortgage purchasing power
Choosing the lower-cost location saves about $1,500 per month in recurring housing costs. At the selected mortgage rate, that monthly savings is equivalent to the principal-and-interest payment on approximately a $237,316 mortgage.
Illustrative purchasing power based on recurring housing-cost differences; not an estimate of mortgage qualification.
What could you pay in property taxes over time?
Property taxes can continue long after a mortgage is paid off. Expand this section to see an illustrative long-term estimate.