Everett, WA: Property Tax — The Framework and the Failed 2024 Vote
Washington has no state personal income tax, which means property tax carries more of the load for funding local government, schools, and emergency services than it would in a state that also taxes wages. Everett property owners sit inside Snohomish County's assessment and levy system -- and unlike some quieter markets on this site, Everett has a specific, current, and unresolved fiscal story: an August 2024 ballot measure to raise the city's own tax rate failed decisively, leaving a reported budget gap unaddressed. This page explains the framework honestly and names that story directly, rather than guessing at numbers this research couldn't verify.
Why Property Tax Carries More Weight in Washington
Washington's lack of a state personal income tax, confirmed via the Washington State Department of Revenue's own materials, shifts more of the state and local revenue burden onto property tax, retail sales tax, and business taxes than in an income-tax state. For anyone relocating from a state with an income tax, the useful reframe isn't that Washington is simply 'low tax' -- it's that the tax mix is different, and property tax specifically carries relatively more weight here. Everett's own 2024 budget fight, described below, is a direct real-world illustration of how much local government here depends on the property tax lever specifically.
This page won't attempt a cross-state total-tax-burden ranking, since that depends heavily on a specific household's income and spending pattern. The Washington Department of Revenue's own property tax pages are the right starting point for the state-level framework, and a licensed Washington tax professional is the right resource for a household-specific comparison.
The Statutory '1% Levy Limit' Framework
Washington property tax operates inside a statutory limit commonly called the '1% levy limit' -- per the Washington Department of Revenue's own published guidance, this constrains how much most taxing districts can increase their total regular property tax levy year over year, absent voter approval of a levy lid lift or a new voted levy. This framework traces back to a series of statewide ballot measures, including Referendum 47 in the 1990s. The mechanics of what counts toward the limit, how new construction and annexations are treated, and how voter-approved levies interact with it are genuinely technical, and this page follows the same conceptual-level treatment used across this site's other Washington markets rather than restating the statute in full.
The practical point for an Everett buyer: the 1% figure limits how much a taxing district's total levy amount can grow year over year -- it is not a 1% cap on your individual bill as a percentage of home value. Assessed values, voter-approved special levies (school bonds, fire district levies), and each taxing district's own budget decisions all still affect what an individual owner actually pays, and Everett's failed 2024 vote (below) is exactly the kind of local decision that sits outside the base 1% limit.
The Snohomish County Assessor: Where Everett Property Is Valued
Everett is the seat of Snohomish County, and the Snohomish County Assessor's office is physically located in the city, at 3000 Rockefeller Avenue. The Assessor's office annually updates assessed values for locally assessed real and personal property across the county, calculates levy rates certified by each overlapping taxing district, and administers exemption and deferral programs -- including a Senior Citizen and Disabled Persons Exemption and Deferral Program consistent with the framework the Washington State Department of Revenue authorizes statewide. Eligibility depends on age, disability status, income, and primary-residence status, and specifics should be confirmed directly with the Assessor's office for a given household and tax year.
As the county seat, Everett is also where the county-level taxing apparatus for the entire county is administered -- worth knowing for a buyer comparing an in-city Everett parcel against unincorporated Snohomish County property nearby, since the layers of taxing districts (city, county, school, fire, and others) can differ meaningfully between an incorporated city address and an unincorporated one.
A Real, Current, Unresolved Story: The Failed 2024 Levy Vote
In August 2024, Everett voters decided Proposition 1, a measure that would have raised the city's own property tax rate from $1.52 to $2.19 per $1,000 of assessed value -- a roughly 44% increase -- specifically to close a reported approximately $35 million budget gap the city cited. City officials estimated the increase would have cost the average Everett homeowner about $28 more per month. Per HeraldNet and KOMO News reporting, voters rejected the measure decisively, with roughly 60% voting no.
That outcome means two things worth understanding plainly. First, the city portion of the property tax bill has stayed at the lower $1.52-per-$1,000 rate rather than the proposed $2.19. Second, the budget gap that prompted the measure wasn't resolved by the vote -- meaning Everett's city government finances remain under real, reported pressure, and a future revenue measure, service reduction, or another approach to the gap is a live possibility rather than a settled question. A buyer evaluating Everett specifically for long-term tax stability should treat this as an open, current situation and check with the City of Everett directly for the latest status rather than assume the 2024 outcome is the final word.
The Combined Rate This Page Won't Guess
A secondhand aggregator source (propertytaxrecords.washingtonofficialrecords.com) put Everett's combined property tax rate -- summing city, county, school district, state, and any local improvement district levies -- at roughly $8.21 per $1,000 of assessed value. This page does not treat that as a confirmed, primary-source figure: it wasn't independently verified against the Snohomish County Assessor's own published levy-rate data during this research pass, and combined rates can vary meaningfully within Everett depending on which specific school and fire district a parcel falls into.
The correct place to get this year's actual figures is the Snohomish County Assessor's office directly, which can confirm the current combined rate and the assessed value on file for a specific parcel, broken down by taxing district.
What This Means When You Budget a Purchase
Don't anchor a purchase budget to a rate or annual-tax figure quoted on a third-party aggregator site or an old listing sheet -- confirm the specific parcel's current assessed value and current combined levy rate directly with the Snohomish County Assessor's office. If a household member may qualify by age, disability status, or income, ask the Assessor's office directly about the Senior Citizen and Disabled Persons Exemption and Deferral Program. And factor in that Everett's city government has a real, currently unresolved budget situation following the 2024 vote -- worth a direct conversation with a local agent or the city itself about whether another revenue measure might be on a future ballot.
None of this is legal or tax advice. Levy rates, exemption program rules, and taxing district boundaries are set by state law, county administration, and local ballot measures, and can change from what's described here. Confirm every current figure directly with the Snohomish County Assessor's Office, the Washington State Department of Revenue, the City of Everett, and a licensed Washington tax professional or CPA before making a purchase or relying on any number here for a financial decision.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Washington's lack of a state personal income tax is confirmed via the Washington State Department of Revenue's own tax pages. The statutory "1% property tax levy limit" framework and its roots in ballot measures including Referendum 47 (1997) are confirmed via the Department of Revenue's own published guidance and Ballotpedia's entry on that referendum; this page describes that framework at a conceptual level only. The Snohomish County Assessor's role and office location (3000 Rockefeller Ave, Everett) are confirmed via the Snohomish County Assessor's own website (snohomishcountywa.gov). Everett's August 2024 Proposition 1 ballot measure -- the proposed $1.52-to-$2.19 per $1,000 rate increase, the cited roughly $35 million budget gap, the estimated $28/month homeowner impact, and the roughly 60% "no" vote outcome -- is confirmed via the City of Everett's own website (everettwa.gov/3197/2024-revenue-ballot-measure) and reporting from HeraldNet and KOMO News. The roughly $8.21-per-$1,000 combined-rate figure comes from a secondhand aggregator source (propertytaxrecords.washingtonofficialrecords.com) and is explicitly flagged here as unverified against a primary Assessor source. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: the current, primary-source-verified combined property tax rate for a typical Everett parcel; how the city plans to address its unresolved budget gap following the 2024 vote; and current elderly/disabled exemption program income thresholds. Confirm the full current combined tax bill for a specific parcel directly with the Snohomish County Assessor's Office. Nothing on this page is legal or tax advice.