St. Johns County vs Duval County property taxes, with the real rates.

The county line at Julington Creek is a tax decision as much as a school or commute decision, and most answers to it are a millage table copied from a county website. I’m Krista Fracke. This page uses two numbers this site computes and nobody else does: the effective rate actually paid, from the state tax roll matched to MLS bills, and the live rate on every home currently for sale, plus the one asterisk that changes the St. Johns answer.

By Krista Fracke — Broker Associate, Christie's International Real Estate First Coast · 20+ years in Northeast Florida · 500+ closings · client reviews

The rate actually paid, from the tax roll

Each year this site imports the Florida Department of Revenue tax roll for the four counties and matches it to the tax bills reported on active MLS listings. The effective rate below is the median bill divided by the roll’s taxable value, so it captures millage and the non-ad-valorem lines together, on real homes.

County	Effective rate (2025 roll)	On a $500,000 assessment	Homes matched
St. Johns	1.60%	$7,984 / yr	1,595
Duval	1.96%	$9,797 / yr	3,305
Clay	1.84%	$9,195 / yr	792
Nassau	1.66%	$8,283 / yr	435

On a $500,000 home assessed at its purchase price, that is about $1,813 a year less in St. Johns County than in Duval, before any district assessment. The same arithmetic scales: at $800,000 the gap is about $2,901.

Rates from the 2025 roll, recomputed with each annual import. The estimated tax on every listing on this site uses these same county rates.

The live table: what current listings report

The second number is the median of what active listings report as their last annual tax bill, divided by their list price. It reads lower than the roll rate in every county, and the gap is the point: it is the seller’s bill under a Save Our Homes cap, not the bill a buyer inherits.

County	Median tax ÷ list price	Median list price	Listings
Duval	1.3%	$305,000	4,578
St. Johns	1.0%	$539,000	2,220
Clay	1.1%	$353,495	1,154
Nassau	1.0%	$499,000	505

Live from current MLS inventory, refreshed daily.

Why the two numbers differ, and which one is yours

Florida taxes a homesteaded home on an assessed value that can grow no more than 3% a year (Save Our Homes), with up to $50,000 of homestead exemption off the top, and the second $25,000 of that exemption does not apply to school millage. A family that bought in 2012 is paying on a 2012-plus-3%-a-year value. When they sell, the cap ends: the assessment resets to market on the January 1 after the sale, and the buyer’s first full November bill is computed on roughly what they paid. The live table is the sellers’ world; the roll table is closer to the buyer’s.

The mechanics are the same in both counties, so they do not change the comparison. The millage does: Duval is a consolidated city-county government with one set of city services on the bill, St. Johns a county with a separate school district and lower base rates. Non-homestead property (a second home, a rental) carries a 10% cap instead of 3%, in both counties.

The part nobody tells you

The St. Johns County rate wins on paper and then the CDD arrives on the same bill. Most of the county’s master-planned communities (Nocatee, Palencia, Shearwater, Julington Creek, RiverTown, Durbin Crossing, Beachwalk, Beacon Lake, TrailMark, Grand Oaks) carry a Community Development District assessment that financed their amenities, often a few thousand dollars a year, and the district line is not in the millage, not in most listings, and not in the rate above. Duval’s established neighborhoods mostly carry none. So a $500,000 Mandarin resale and a $500,000 Durbin Crossing home can land within a few hundred dollars of each other once the district is in; a $500,000 SilverLeaf or Julington Lakes home, the no-CDD exceptions, keeps the whole gap. The county line is a tax decision only after the district line is in the column. The county CDD map, with a live table →

This is the work I do every week. Weighing a home on each side of the county line? Give me the two addresses. I will pull each parcel’s millage, its district line if it has one, an insurance quote and the reset at your price, and put the two annual numbers side by side.

Work with Krista (904) 333-8595 Text

Broker Associate · Christie's International Real Estate First Coast · 20+ years · 500+ closings

Common questions

Are property taxes lower in St. Johns County than in Duval County?

Yes, by the two measures this site computes. From the 2025 tax roll, the median effective rate paid on a St. Johns County home runs about 1.6% of taxable value against about 2.0% in Duval. On current listings the gap holds. On a $500,000 purchase that difference is about $1,800 a year at full assessment. What St. Johns County adds back is the CDD: most of its master-planned communities carry a district assessment on the same bill, and Duval mostly does not.

Why does the listing’s tax figure look lower than these rates?

Because it is the seller’s bill. Florida’s Save Our Homes cap holds a homesteaded assessment to 3% growth a year, so a long-held home is taxed on a value far below its price. When you buy, the assessed value resets to market and your first November bill is computed on what you paid. The live table on this page shows the seller-side medians; the roll table is closer to what a new buyer pays.

Does the homestead exemption change the comparison?

Not between the counties. The exemption is statewide: up to $50,000 off assessed value for a primary residence (the second $25,000 does not apply to school millage), the 3% Save Our Homes cap, and portability of the accumulated cap benefit from one Florida homestead to the next. It lowers the bill in both counties by the same mechanism; the millage and the district assessments are what differ.

What about the CDD?

That is the St. Johns County asterisk. Nocatee, Palencia, Shearwater, Julington Creek, RiverTown, Durbin Crossing, Beachwalk, Beacon Lake, TrailMark and others carry a Community Development District assessment on the tax bill, often a few thousand dollars a year, that Duval’s established neighborhoods do not. SilverLeaf and Julington Lakes are the no-CDD exceptions. The county CDD page maps it with a live table; on any specific home I pull the parcel’s line.

Which county is cheaper to own in overall?

It depends on the home. A $500,000 Duval resale in Mandarin or the Southside with no district pays about $1,800 more in base tax than the same price in St. Johns County; a $500,000 St. Johns County home in a CDD community can give most of that back on the district line. Insurance tracks the home and the coast more than the county. I run the actual numbers, millage, district, insurance and the reset, for any two homes a client is weighing across the line.

St. Johns County CDD fees, the map →

Which communities carry a district, with a live tax-rate table by community.

Jacksonville CDD fees: the short list →

Mostly no-CDD country, and the exceptions that matter.

Moving to Florida: the actual tax math →

What goes away, what residency takes, what pushes the other way.

Julington Creek vs Mandarin →

The county-line decision on the ground, compared straight.

St. Johns County homes for sale →

Every listing, each with its estimated tax at your price.

Jacksonville homes for sale →

The Duval side, live.

Want the two annual numbers for two specific homes?

Tell me the addresses. I’ll pull each parcel’s millage, district line, insurance and the reset at your price, and show you the real difference, not the millage table.

Ask Krista

The St. Johns County communities

The county’s big master-planned communities — cross-shopped, compared, and costed the way buyers actually decide between them.

St. Johns County

The big communities

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