Georgia Homestead Exemption Property Tax Calculator

How this calculator works

Georgia's property-tax framework has three interlocking pieces that, taken together, determine the bill a Georgia homestead owner pays each fall. The first is the uniform 40% assessment ratio under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7: taxable assessed value equals 40% of the county appraiser's fair market value, and millage rates are applied to that 40%-of-FMV figure rather than to FMV itself. The second is the stacked homestead-exemption framework under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-44 (standard $2,000), § 48-5-47 (senior 65+ basic), and § 48-5-48 (disabled veteran), plus a county-by-county menu of additional exemptions that vary widely in amount and millage-component allocation. The third is the per-taxing-unit millage: school M&O, county general M&O, and any city or special-district levy.

The calculator computes the school M&O and non-school taxable bases separately because the county-level exemptions in Georgia are typically enacted against one component or the other — Fulton's $30,000 carve-off applies to school M&O; Cobb's $10,000 carve-off applies to county general M&O. Lumping them into a single "total exemption" number would obscure which component is doing the work.

The Georgia exemption stack

Three statewide exemptions form the floor:

1. Standard homestead — O.C.G.A. § 48-5-44. Every Georgia primary-residence owner gets a $2,000 reduction in assessed value (= $5,000 of fair market value at the 40% ratio). Modest in absolute dollars, but universal — no age, income, or veteran-status test. Applies to both school M&O and non-school millage. Filed once with the county tax commissioner by April 1; does not require annual renewal.

2. Senior 65+ basic — O.C.G.A. § 48-5-47. An additional $4,000 of assessed value for owners aged 65 or older with "limited income" at or below $10,000. The critical detail is what "limited income" means under the statute: it EXCLUDES Social Security retirement benefits up to the federal maximum, taxable retirement income up to the federal Civil Service pension maximum, and most VA disability compensation. Many retirees with $40,000–$50,000 of nominal household income still qualify because the bulk is excluded Social Security and pension income that does not count toward the $10,000 measure.

3. Disabled veteran — O.C.G.A. § 48-5-48. A substantial exemption indexed annually to the federal Survivors' Compensation COLA. For tax year 2025, the figure is $109,986 of assessed value (= $274,965 of fair market value at the 40% ratio). Applies to veterans with 100% service-connected disability, unremarried surviving spouses, and minor children of such veterans. For a Georgia homestead with a market value under roughly $275,000, this exemption can zero out the school M&O tax entirely.

On top of those statewide floors, each county enacts its own additional homestead exemption schedule. The largest of the major metro counties is Fulton (and the City of Atlanta school district), each of which carves $30,000 off school M&O taxable value. Cobb offers $10,000 off county general M&O. Gwinnett offers $14,000 off school M&O. DeKalb offers $12,500 off school M&O. Cherokee, Henry, and Forsyth offer smaller school M&O carve-offs of $6,000 to $10,000. Many counties additionally offer senior-income exemptions at ages 62, 65, or 70+ with higher income ceilings (often up to ~$65,000) — those local exemptions are not modeled in detail in this calculator, but every Georgia homeowner approaching 62 should pull the full schedule from the county tax commissioner's website and confirm what stacks on the statewide floor.

A worked example — Cobb County, owner under 65

A typical Atlanta-suburb homestead: fair market value $400,000, Cobb County, owner age 45, no senior or veteran status. School M&O 18 mills, combined non-school 10 mills.

• Assessed value: $400,000 × 40% = $160,000 (§ 48-5-7).
• Standard homestead: $2,000 (§ 48-5-44, both components).
• Cobb school M&O exemption: $0.
• Cobb general M&O exemption: $10,000.
• Senior basic: $0 (under 65).
• Disabled veteran: $0.
• Taxable for school: $160,000 − $2,000 = $158,000.
• Taxable for general: $160,000 − $2,000 − $10,000 = $148,000.
• School tax: $158,000 × 18 mills = $2,844.
• General tax: $148,000 × 10 mills = $1,480.
• Total estimated annual property tax: $4,324.

Without the homestead stack, the same property at 28 combined mills against the full $160,000 assessed would owe $4,480. The Georgia standard homestead and the Cobb general M&O exemption together save the owner roughly $156 per year. Modest in absolute dollars, and a fair illustration of why the Georgia statewide exemption alone is not a major cost-of-ownership driver — the meaningful savings show up when senior, veteran, or large county-specific exemptions stack on top.

Same home at age 70, limited income $8,000

Same property and millage, but the owner is now 70 with limited income (post-Social-Security exclusion) of $8,000. The senior basic exemption under § 48-5-47 stacks in:

• Standard homestead: $2,000.
• Senior 65+ basic: $4,000 (both components — owner is 65+ and limited income ≤ $10,000).
• Cobb general: $10,000.
• Taxable for school: $160,000 − $2,000 − $4,000 = $154,000.
• Taxable for general: $160,000 − $2,000 − $10,000 − $4,000 = $144,000.
• School tax: $154,000 × 18 mills = $2,772.
• General tax: $144,000 × 10 mills = $1,440.
• Total estimated annual property tax: $4,212.

The senior basic adds $112 of annual savings on top of the standard homestead — a small bump because the $4,000 of additional exempt assessed value is small relative to the $160,000 base. For most senior Georgia homeowners, the larger savings come from the county-specific senior-income exemptions (which scale up to ~$65,000 of income and often carve $20,000–$40,000 off school M&O), not the strict statewide § 48-5-47.

Same home, 100% service-connected disabled veteran

Now the owner is a 100% service-connected disabled veteran. The § 48-5-48 exemption stacks on top — and it is by far the largest single break in the Georgia framework.

• Standard homestead: $2,000.
• Cobb general: $10,000.
• Disabled veteran: $109,986 (2025 indexed figure, both components).
• Taxable for school: $160,000 − $2,000 − $109,986 = $48,014.
• Taxable for general: $160,000 − $2,000 − $10,000 − $109,986 = $38,014.
• School tax: $48,014 × 18 mills = $864.
• General tax: $38,014 × 10 mills = $380.
• Total estimated annual property tax: $1,244.

Annual savings versus the under-65 baseline: $3,080. Versus the no-exemption baseline (full $160,000 at 28 combined mills = $4,480): $3,236. The disabled-veteran exemption frequently saves a Georgia homeowner $3,000–$5,000 per year — substantially more on higher-value properties, where the FMV-equivalent ceiling of $274,965 still leaves a meaningful slice of the school M&O sheltered.

$500,000 City of Atlanta homestead

A higher-value urban homestead inside the City of Atlanta school district. Fair market value $500,000, owner age 45, no senior or veteran status. Same millage assumptions (school 18, general 10) for comparison — note that real Atlanta combined millage runs closer to 30 total.

• Assessed value: $500,000 × 40% = $200,000.
• Standard homestead: $2,000.
• Atlanta school district exemption: $30,000 (school M&O only).
• Atlanta general M&O exemption: $0.
• Taxable for school: $200,000 − $2,000 − $30,000 = $168,000.
• Taxable for general: $200,000 − $2,000 = $198,000.
• School tax: $168,000 × 18 mills = $3,024.
• General tax: $198,000 × 10 mills = $1,980.
• Total estimated annual property tax: $5,004.

The Atlanta school district carve-off is worth $30,000 × 18 mills = $540 of annual savings on the school component, on top of the standard homestead's $36 school-side benefit. That is the single largest county-level homestead exemption in the Atlanta metro and is a non-trivial part of the cost-of-ownership calculation for an in-city primary residence. Combined with the statewide $2,000, an Atlanta homestead shelters $32,000 of assessed value (= $80,000 of FMV) from school M&O millage — material on a property where the school millage is the largest single line item.

Why Georgia effective rates land mid-pack

Georgia's nominal combined millage looks "high" at 25–40 mills, but the 40% assessment ratio compresses the base, and effective rates (tax owed ÷ FMV) come out to roughly 0.9%–1.3% statewide. That places Georgia near the U.S. median — lower than Texas (~1.8%), Illinois (~2.0%), and New Jersey (~2.2%), but higher than Florida (~0.8% with homestead and Save Our Homes), California (~0.7% with Proposition 13), and most Mountain West states.

The structural reason is funding mix. Georgia has a 5.39% flat state income tax (after the 2024 tax reform that consolidated brackets) plus a 4% state sales tax with 3–4% local on top. State and local government in Georgia is funded by a balanced three-legged stool — income, sales, and property — which keeps property-tax pressure off the top. Texas, with no state income tax, leans much harder on property and sales taxes, which is why Texas effective property-tax rates run roughly twice Georgia's. Florida, with no state income tax but a much larger Save Our Homes capping mechanism and a constitutional double-exemption structure, holds effective rates below Georgia's despite a smaller state-side counterweight.

For a Georgia homeowner planning a long hold, the meaningful caveat is that Georgia has no annual assessed-value cap. Florida's Save Our Homes (Florida Constitution Art. VII § 4(d), F.S. § 193.155) caps annual increases in homestead assessed value at 3% or CPI. Texas Tax Code § 23.23 caps the increase at 10% on residence homesteads. Georgia has no such cap — long-tenured Georgia homesteads pay tax on the annual market-value reappraisal, which over a 15- to 20-year hold in a hot Atlanta-metro market can produce materially higher cumulative tax than the equivalent Florida or Texas homestead.

The April 1 deadline

O.C.G.A. § 48-5-45 sets the application deadline at April 1 of the tax year. The application is a one-time filing with the county tax commissioner (or the county board of tax assessors in a few counties) and does not require annual renewal so long as the property remains the owner's legal residence. New Georgia homeowners frequently miss the April 1 deadline in their first year because the closing happens mid-year and the owner does not realize the exemption must be affirmatively claimed. Most counties send a "first-time homestead" reminder when the deed records, but the responsibility is the owner's.

Georgia does not have the 2-year retroactive filing window that Texas allows under Tax Code § 11.43(c). Miss the April 1 deadline and the exemption is forfeit for that tax year — file by April 1 of the following year to begin claiming the exemption from the next tax year forward. For the senior 65+ basic and the disabled-veteran exemptions, additional documentation (income verification, VA letter) must accompany the application.

Common errors

Three errors come up repeatedly when Georgia homeowners try to compute their own bill:

1. Mixing up the $2,000 and $5,000 figures. O.C.G.A. § 48-5-44 reduces ASSESSED value by $2,000. Some county tax commissioner websites describe the exemption as "$5,000 off the home's value" — meaning fair market value, after the 40% ratio. Both figures describe the same statute; the math works on the $2,000 assessed-value reduction because that is what the millage rate is applied to.

2. Applying county exemptions to the wrong component. Cobb's $10,000 exemption applies to GENERAL M&O, not school M&O. Fulton's $30,000 applies to SCHOOL M&O, not general. Confusing the two will overstate or understate the savings by the difference between school and general millage rates — typically $80–$200 of annual error on a $300,000 home.

3. Assuming the senior basic income limit is gross household income. The § 48-5-47 $10,000 limit is the post-exclusion "limited income" measure, not gross income. Excluding Social Security and pension income from the calculation typically pushes most retiree households under the threshold, even when their gross income is $40,000–$50,000. If unsure, default the calculator's income input to $0 and ask the county tax commissioner to compute the limited-income figure from the most recent tax return.

What this calculator does not do

This is a planning and screening tool. It does not:

• Substitute for filing. Georgia exemptions are not automatic; the owner files with the county tax commissioner by April 1 (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-45) with proof of legal residence.
• Model every county-specific senior or low-income exemption. Many Georgia counties offer additional senior exemptions at ages 62, 65, or 70+ with income limits up to ~$65,000. The calculator surfaces the strict statewide § 48-5-47 and the most-common county general/school exemptions; owners should consult the county tax commissioner's exemption schedule for the full local menu.
• Handle Conservation Use Valuation (§ 48-5-7.4) or the Forest Land Protection Act (§ 48-5-7.7). Agricultural, timber, and environmentally sensitive land is valued at current-use rather than fair market value under a 10- or 15-year covenant. The mechanism is out of scope for this calculator; consult the county tax assessor.
• Verify income eligibility for any senior exemption. The calculator assumes the "limited income" input is the correctly-computed § 48-5-47 measure. The county tax commissioner will verify against the most recent tax return and 1099-SSA before granting the exemption.
• Account for indexed updates to the disabled-veteran figure. The § 48-5-48 exemption is indexed annually to the federal Survivors' Compensation COLA. The 2025 figure ($109,986 of assessed value) is hard-coded as a constant in the formula and should be refreshed each January when the federal figure publishes.

Where to find the inputs

Most Georgia county tax commissioners publish the relevant numbers on a public-record card for every parcel:

• Fair market value: the county appraiser's annual assessment notice, mailed in late spring or early summer. The figure is sometimes labeled "Just Value," "100% Appraised Value," or "Total Value."
• County-level homestead exemption schedule: published on the county tax commissioner's website. Counties update the schedule periodically; verify for the current tax year.
• School M&O and combined non-school millage: published on the county tax commissioner's website after the annual millage rate is set (typically July–August). The figures appear as line items on the property-tax bill mailed in the fall.

How this page is maintained

The Georgia homestead-exemption framework is largely stable, but two pieces move year-over-year: the § 48-5-48 disabled-veteran figure indexed to federal COLA, and the county-specific exemption schedules that individual counties revise periodically. We refresh the indexed disabled-veteran constant each January when the federal figure publishes, monitor each Georgia legislative session for changes to Chapter 48 Article 1 and Article 2, and refresh the county exemption table whenever a county tax commissioner publishes a revised schedule.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-15 against O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7, § 48-5-40 et seq., § 48-5-44, § 48-5-45, § 48-5-47, § 48-5-48, and Georgia Department of Revenue Local Government Services Division administrative guidance.