Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2025
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by Hunter Oswald
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1 Comments
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No group stands to gain more from the growing movement to abolish property taxes than Gen-Z. As millions of young people face mounting financial anxieties, eliminating property taxes could be the boost needed to reverse declining homeownership rates – and perhaps even solve America’s baby bust.
Property taxes are one of the most significant hidden costs of homeownership. According to Bankrate, American homeowners pay an average of $4,316 in property taxes per year. That figure is even higher in states like California, New Jersey, and New York, where property tax bills for single-family homes can easily climb above $10,000 per year.
In states like Illinois, property tax revenue has increased exponentially faster than median household income over the past few decades, meaning that property taxes have stretched household budgets thinner and thinner. In New Jersey, which has the highest property taxes in the country, the average property tax bill skyrocketed from about $6,750 in 2007 to nearly $10,000 in 2023.
As property tax revenue has risen, so too has the income needed to purchase and maintain a home. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median monthly owner costs for U.S. homeowners with a mortgage increased to $2,035 in 2024 – up 26 percent from $1,609 as recently as 2019. Average monthly costs for homeowners without a mortgage rose even faster, at 31 percent, reflective of the burden of property taxes.
As a result, younger buyers are finding themselves priced out of homeownership entirely. As of this March, the average annual income needed to comfortably afford a typical home was $116,986. That’s nearly a 50 percent increase over just the past five years. Gen-Zers also pay, on average, about $526 per month in student loans and hold more consumer debt than any prior generation, meaning that hidden costs of homeownership like property taxes are especially burdensome.
Unsurprisingly, the median age of first-time homebuyers was 38 in 2024, up from 35 in 2023 and significantly up from 29 in 1980. By generation, 78 percent of Baby Boomers own their own home, compared to 69 percent of Gen X, 52 percent of millennials, and just 26.3 percent of Gen Z.
This trend of declining homeownership is directly tied to America’s baby bust. In 2024, the U.S. fertility rate was less than 1.6 births per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement rate. According to a 2024 study, on average, a 10 percent increase in house prices is associated with 0.01 to 0.03 fewer births per woman. Since 2020 alone, home prices have surged by nearly 50 percent, translating to 0.05 to 0.15 fewer births per woman. Extrapolated across the entire U.S. population, that represents millions fewer children.
Even more alarming is how many first-time buyers don’t have kids. Today, 73 percent of first-time buyers don’t have children under the age of 18 compared to 42 percent in 1985. This combination of young people waiting until they’ve purchased a home to start a family and waiting longer to purchase a home means many couples have shorter fertility windows or are unable to have children entirely.
Even aside from homeownership, increasing property taxes are also hampering Gen Zers’ ability to start businesses. As reported by the Tax Foundation, 60 percent of companies’ tax burden went to property taxes compared to other state and local taxes. Additionally, property taxes that companies pay extend beyond real property assets and include taxes on tangible personal property such as machines and vehicles.
Property taxes violate the fundamental private property rights of Americans. It’s simply common sense that someone should not have to continue paying taxes on something he or she owns. Even more outrageous, those taxes increase over time despite the homeowner not realizing any monetary gain for his property. In the long term, states, localities, and ultimately citizens can expand homeownership opportunities by taking a hard look at property taxes and moving toward abolishing them.
Critics will say that schools, parks, and emergency services cannot function without property taxes. But states like Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee have all advanced proposals to significantly reduce or entirely abolish property taxes. Just this week, the Ohio House of Representatives advanced a pair of legislative measures likely to reduce property taxes and limit future increases.
As is typically the case, the problem is not how much tax revenue the government is collecting, but how that money is being spent. Government services in high property tax states like New Jersey aren’t any better than those in states with low property taxes like Hawaii, Alabama, or Nevada.
Americans of all generations want to achieve and enjoy the fruits of homeownership, which at its very core fosters independence and self-sufficiency. Property taxes limit that independence. It’s time to abolish this egregious assault on liberty and create more opportunity for young people and families to inherit their slice of the American Dream.
Hunter Oswald is a Research Fellow for The American Spectator. He is an alum of Grove City College, where he graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science. You can follow him on X @HunterOswald8.
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