District of Columbia mortgage calculator

Property tax in the District of Columbia

The median District of Columbia homeowner pays $4,312 a year in property tax on a home valued at $737,100, an effective rate of 0.585% in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-year 2020-2024). That ranks the 15th lowest of the 50 states and DC, at or below the middle state's 0.8003%. At that rate each $100,000 of home value carries about $585 a year of tax, or $48.75 a month in the payment, and that rate is what the calculator above starts from.

District of Columbia has a single set of survey figures, so there is no district to choose in the calculator. Type the rate from a listing or a current tax bill if you have one, since a recently bought home can be taxed on a different value from the long-held homes in the survey.

The survey rate is what owners actually pay divided by what they say their homes are worth, with exemptions, caps and local levies folded in; it will not match any rate printed in the District of Columbia law. Ask for the seller's latest bill and the assessed value too, since a new owner's assessment can differ from the long-held homes behind the median.

District of Columbia property tax figures

District of Columbia is a single taxing area, so the survey gives one set of figures, shown below with the same columns the state pages use.

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Worked example: the median District of Columbia home

The median owner-occupied home in the District of Columbia is valued at $737,100 (ACS 5-year 2020-2024). Put $147,420 down, enough to keep the loan at 80% of the price so no PMI is charged, and borrow the rest over 30 years at 7.4%, the Freddie Mac average for the week of October 15, 2026. Insurance is the calculator's default of $1,500 a year, the same figure on every state page and 2.7% of this payment; real premiums vary widely from state to state and with a home's exposure to wind, flood and wildfire, so replace it with a premium for the District of Columbia home you are pricing.

Principal and interest dominate the bill; tax and insurance, usually collected through escrow, add $484.34 a month, 10.6% of the total. Over the full term the $589,680 loan costs $880,132 in interest.

With $73,710 down instead, the loan grows to $663,390 and PMI of $276.41 a month is added, for a first payment of $5,353.93. On the regular schedule the PMI stops after 10 years, with the payment in October 2036. A 15-year loan at the 6.71% average, with the larger down payment, raises the monthly figure to $5,689.41 but cuts the interest to $347,231.

What the median District of Columbia wage can buy

The median annual wage in the District of Columbia is $91,540 (BLS wage survey, May 2025). Paid every two weeks as a single filer, that leaves about $5,587 a month after federal and District of Columbia paycheck deductions. With $60,000 saved for a down payment and $400 a month of other debts, the home affordability calculator's default 28/36 rule gives this range at 7.4% and the District of Columbia property tax rate:

Here the housing payment itself is the limit: at 28% of gross pay it binds before total debts do. The target falls $423,945 short of the $737,100 median home value: the median home costs 8.1 times the median wage, so a typical District of Columbia purchase usually needs a second income, a larger down payment or a cheaper area.

Living costs add to the squeeze: everyday prices in the District of Columbia, rent included, run 9.9% above the national average, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parities for 2024 (figures to December 31, 2024). That shrinks the median wage to about $83,293 in national dollars.