Weekly Fiscal Facts are provided to Wisconsin NewsMedia Association members by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. The Wisconsin Policy Forum logo can be downloaded here.
Gross property tax levies across Wisconsin collectively grew by 5.8% on December 2025 tax bills, easily outpacing inflation as the largest increase in nearly two decades.
This gross figure includes all levies imposed by all local governments and school districts in Wisconsin, before any state tax credits are applied to lower net bills for homeowners. Some areas saw much larger increases: gross levies for all taxing authorities in the city of Madison increased 11.9%, the most since 1985.
Meanwhile, equalized property values as of Jan. 1, 2026, increased by 7.6% statewide over the prior year. While a robust rate of growth, this still represented the smallest increase since 2021. But it was sufficient to push Wisconsin past a major milestone, as total statewide equalized property values surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in January.
The statewide gross property tax rate fell by 2.3% on December 2025 tax bills, marking the 12th
straight year of decline. This is possible due to the continued brisk growth in property values.
These are among the statewide findings from the Forum’s 2026 Property Values and Taxes DataTool, which features interactive data for all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties and more than 1,840 cities, villages, and towns. It is the latest in a series of Forum interactive tools meant to provide all Wisconsinites with essential data about their schools, local governments, and state and regional economy.
The increase in property tax levies primarily is due to school district tax levies. Key factors include voters in a large number of districts passing referenda to increase their tax levies, an increase to district revenue limits this year as a result of a partial veto by Gov. Tony Evers in the 2023-25 state budget, and a freeze in state general school aids by lawmakers and Evers in the 2025-27 state budget.
Other findings from the tool include that in 2026, statewide residential property values grew by 7.1%, a significant increase but the smallest since 2020. Commercial property values increased 9.1% in 2026.
The total gross tax levy for the region rose by 5.5% on December 2025 tax bills for all local governments in southeast Wisconsin. While less than the statewide average, this was the largest increase since at least 2008. Among the seven counties in the southeast Wisconsin region, Racine County (10.9%) had the largest increase in gross tax levies for all local governments, while Waukesha County (3.3%) saw the smallest.
Equalized property values in southeast Wisconsin grew 7.6%, rising slightly faster than last year and matching the statewide average.
Meanwhile in Dane County, the gross tax levy for all local governments increased by 9.9% on December 2025 tax bills, the most since 1992. Equalized property values increased in Dane County in 2026 by 5.9%, the least since 2021.This information is a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org
