Block Island, RI: One Island, One Town, One Tax Rate -- New Shoreham
Block Island's property tax situation is structurally simple in a way that a lot of other islands are not: the entire island is a single municipality, the Town of New Shoreham, Rhode Island. There is no split between a mainland county and an island district, no separate fire district or village government layered on top with its own assessment, and no patchwork of overlapping jurisdictions to sort through. One town government, one tax assessor's office, one tax rate applies to every parcel on the island. That said, this page will not hand you a current millage rate, an assessed value, or a "typical annual bill" for a Block Island property -- no specific rate was confirmed via full-text fetch this session, and a secondhand figure would be worse than no figure at all. What follows is the structural picture: how New Shoreham's single-town governance works, how Rhode Island's general property tax framework applies, and where to go for the actual current numbers.
Why "One Island, One Town" Matters for Buyers
On many islands, figuring out who taxes what is its own research project -- a parcel might sit in one county's unincorporated territory, or split across a town line, or fall under a special taxing district with its own separate levy on top of the county rate. Block Island removes that layer of complexity. The entire island -- every neighborhood, every road, the harbor areas, the bluffs, all of it -- is incorporated as the single Town of New Shoreham, Rhode Island. There is no other town, no county-level property tax layer competing with a municipal one, and no separate island district government to check in addition to the town.
Practically, that means whichever specific parcel you're looking at on Block Island, the same town assessor's office and the same town-wide tax rate apply. You don't need to figure out which of several jurisdictions a given address falls under -- there's only one. That doesn't mean the rate is low, high, or anything in particular; it just means the structure is easy to identify: New Shoreham town government is the relevant authority, full stop.
Rhode Island Property Tax: General Framework
Rhode Island, like most New England states, funds municipal government substantially through local property taxes, with rates set annually at the town level rather than by the state. Each of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns sets its own rate, and rates vary significantly from one municipality to the next depending on local budgets, the size and mix of the tax base, and how much of that town's revenue comes from property tax versus other sources. New Shoreham sets its own rate independently of every other Rhode Island municipality -- there is no reason to assume Block Island's rate resembles Newport's, Providence's, or any other Rhode Island town's rate, and this page does not attempt to state what New Shoreham's current rate is.
This is general context about how Rhode Island's local tax structure works, not a Block Island-specific figure from this site's research. Rates are typically expressed per $1,000 of assessed value in Rhode Island (the convention differs from, say, Virginia's per-$100 convention), and they're revisited annually as part of each town's budget process. Confirm the current rate directly with New Shoreham rather than relying on any number quoted secondhand, including on this page.
A Small, Seasonal, Ferry-Only Tax Base
New Shoreham's tax base has a particular character worth understanding even without a specific rate in hand: it's a small, ferry-only island with a year-round population much smaller than its seasonal population, a real estate stock that leans heavily toward vacation and seasonal-use properties, and a local government that has to fund year-round municipal services -- schools, a fire department, harbor and ferry-adjacent infrastructure, police, road maintenance -- largely from a tax base that swells and shrinks with the season. None of that tells you what the rate is, but it's useful context for why island tax rates, in general, don't always track mainland comparisons cleanly.
The island is also the subject of active, current (2026) coastal-erosion research led by the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography and Coastal Institute, examining over a century of coastal-change data to help the town decide what to protect. That research was still ongoing as of the reporting available this session, with no published conclusions or resulting town policy to reference yet. It's a reasonable thing to ask the town assessor's office about directly -- whether any erosion-related considerations currently factor into assessments for exposed parcels -- rather than assuming either way.
What This Means When You Budget a Purchase
Treat any property tax figure you see quoted for a Block Island property -- in a listing, a news piece, or a casual comparison to other Rhode Island or New England island markets -- as unverified until New Shoreham's own tax assessor's office confirms it for that specific parcel. Ask directly for the current assessed value, the current tax rate, how the assessment was derived, and whether any exemption, abatement, or relief program currently applies.
Because the entire island is one town, this is at least a simple ask: there's a single office to contact, not several jurisdictions to cross-check. Given the island's small, seasonal tax base and the ongoing coastal-erosion research, it's also reasonable to ask whether recent reassessments reflect any of that, rather than assuming the number on file is current. None of this is a substitute for a direct answer from the town's own assessor.
Ready to talk to a local Block Island agent?
Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. This page is built from a research pass on Block Island that did not confirm New Shoreham's current specific property tax rate, assessed values, or exemption program details via primary sourcing this session -- see this site's underlying research notes for the full list of what was and wasn't verified. That the entire island is incorporated as the single Town of New Shoreham, Rhode Island, is confirmed via the town's own official website. That Rhode Island funds municipal government substantially through locally-set property tax rates, revisited annually and varying town to town, reflects general, commonly available context about how Rhode Island's tax structure is organized -- not a Block Island-specific figure verified in this site's research. That the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography and Coastal Institute are running active, 2026-dated coastal-erosion research on Block Island is corroborated via multiple sources including URI's own news office, the Boston Globe, and the Block Island Times; that research's conclusions and any resulting town policy were not yet published as of this session and are not stated here. No specific tax rate, assessed value, or dollar tax figure for any Block Island property is stated as fact on this page. This page is independent research, not legal or tax advice; confirm all current figures and exemption questions directly with the New Shoreham Tax Assessor's office before budgeting for or completing a purchase.