Property Tax Calculator for Cary, Morrisville & Wake County
Wake County levies 53.71¢ per $100 of assessed value for FY2027. Cary adds 36.75¢ and Morrisville adds 35¢ on parcels inside their town limits. A parcel in unincorporated Wake County pays the county rate only.
Enter an assessed value below. The calculator separates the county portion from the municipal one, because the two are set by different bodies on different schedules and only one of them changes when you move across a town line.
A home assessed at $650,000 in Cary owes about $5,879.90 a year in property tax — about $489.99 a month set aside in escrow.
| Component | Rate per $100 | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Wake County | 53.71¢ | $3,491.15 |
| Cary | 36.75¢ | $2,388.75 |
| Combined | 90.46¢ | $5,879.90 |
Rates are FY2027, per $100 of assessed value. Source: Wake County and municipal adopted budgets, FY2027. This is the county and municipal levy only — it excludes special districts, fire district and any municipal service district that may apply to a specific parcel. Verify the parcel before relying on the figure.
How is a property tax bill calculated in Wake County?
Rates are expressed in cents per $100 of assessed value. Divide the assessed value by 100, multiply by the rate, and add the county and municipal figures together. A $650,000 assessment in Cary carries the Wake County rate plus the Cary rate — two separate levies on one bill, not a single blended number.
Is assessed value the same as what I paid for the house?
No, and the gap is the most common reason an estimate comes out wrong. Assessed value is the county's valuation as of the most recent revaluation, not your purchase price and not a current market estimate. A house that sold above its assessment is still taxed on the assessment until the county revalues. Look up the parcel record for the actual figure rather than using your contract price.
Why might my actual bill be higher than this?
This calculator covers the county and municipal levies only. A specific parcel can also carry a fire district tax, a special or municipal service district, a solid waste fee, or a stormwater charge. None of those are uniform across a town, which is why they cannot be built into a general calculator. Check the parcel record before relying on the figure for a purchase decision.
Does moving from Cary to Morrisville lower the bill?
On rate alone, marginally — the municipal rates differ by less than two cents per $100. On the same assessed value that is a small annual difference, and it is almost always swamped by the difference in what the two towns' housing stock actually assesses at. Compare total bills on comparable houses, not rates. Cary vs. Morrisville covers the rest of the comparison.
Where the escrow figure comes from
The monthly number is simply the annual bill divided by twelve. If you escrow with a lender, that is roughly what is collected each month toward the tax portion, though lenders hold a cushion and adjust after each revaluation. Property tax is one line in the wider picture — closing costs in North Carolina covers what else is collected at the table.