Provincetown Property Tax: A Real Jump, and a Rate That Needs Re-Checking
Provincetown's residential property tax rate is reported at $6.13 per $1,000 of assessed value for FY2026, up roughly 9.5% from FY2025's $5.60 - a real, notable jump after several years of flat-to-falling rates. Here's the honest part up front: the FY2025 figure is solidly confirmed by two independent sources, but the FY2026 figure is not. This guide walks through both numbers plainly, the town's distinctive residential exemption (which has a wrinkle no competitor site covers), how the rate has moved since 2022, and why "low tax rate" and "cheap taxes" are not the same claim in a town where the median home is worth nearly a million dollars.
FY2025: $5.60 Per $1,000, Confirmed by Two Independent Sources
Provincetown's FY2025 residential tax rate was $5.60 per $1,000 of assessed value, confirmed independently by both the Provincetown Independent (a Jan. 22, 2025 article, "Provincetown Ups Year-Round Rental Incentives") and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce's own 2025 property-tax-rate compilation. Two independent sources landing on the same figure is meaningfully stronger footing than a single compiled table, and it's the reason this page treats FY2025 as high-confidence.
The Provincetown Independent's reporting adds a useful wrinkle: the rate without the residential exemption applied would have been lower, $5.21, with the residential-exemption-driven increase on the base rate reported at 7.5%. That $5.60-above-$5.21 relationship is the direction you'd expect - a town's residential exemption shifts tax burden toward non-exempt and higher-value property to make up revenue lost from exempted parcels, so an RTE-adjusted rate typically runs higher than the non-exempt base rate, not lower. This mechanic is presented as reported; the exact base-vs.-exemption math is worth re-confirming directly with the town before leaning on it for a specific calculation.
FY2026: $6.13 Per $1,000, Single-Sourced and Not Yet Cross-Confirmed
Provincetown's FY2026 residential rate is reported at $6.13 per $1,000 of assessed value, per Peterson Realty's historical tax-rate compilation - a roughly 9.5% year-over-year jump from FY2025's $5.60. That's a real, worth-noting move, in contrast to neighboring towns where FY2026 rates barely budged.
But this figure carries a real caveat this page won't paper over: it comes from a single source - a real estate brokerage's own compiled table - and was not independently cross-confirmed against a second source or against the town's own FY2026 classification-hearing documentation. No FY2026 commercial or industrial rate was found at all in this research, which is itself a gap worth flagging rather than guessing at a number. Treat $6.13 as reported, not primary-confirmed, and verify it directly with Provincetown's Assessing Department before relying on it for a purchase decision, a rental pro forma, or a household budget.
The Residential Exemption: A Distinctive Local Wrinkle for Year-Round Rentals
Provincetown has run a residential exemption (RTE) program for multiple years, and its size has grown: FY2023's exemption was voted at 25% of the average assessed residential value (an exemption amount of $226,284 that year), while FY2025 news coverage describes the exemption at 35% of average assessed value - a meaningfully larger break for owner-occupants than two years prior.
What makes Provincetown's version genuinely distinctive - and something no competitor site surfaces - is a specific local wrinkle: the exemption was expanded to let year-round rental property owners claim it on up to four units per parcel. In a town dominated by short-term and seasonal use, that's an explicit policy lever aimed squarely at protecting the year-round rental housing stock, not just giving owner-occupants a break. Most generic tax-rate aggregators don't mention Provincetown has a residential exemption at all, let alone this shape of it. If you own or are considering buying multi-unit property intended for year-round rental, this exemption structure is worth discussing directly with the town's Assessing Department - the exact current-year percentage and per-unit mechanics should be confirmed before you build it into a pro forma.
The Trajectory: Rates Fell, Flattened, Then Jumped
Provincetown's rate history, per Peterson Realty's compilation, tells a real, tellable trend rather than a flat "low tax town" story: 2022 $6.66, 2023 $5.98, 2024 $5.58, 2025 $5.60, 2026 $6.13. Rates fell for three straight years, flattened between 2024 and 2025, then jumped roughly 9.5% into 2026.
That shape matters for anyone comparing Provincetown to its Outer Cape neighbors: a buyer looking only at the 2024-2025 numbers would have reasonably concluded the rate had stabilized in the mid-$5 range. The FY2026 figure - if it holds up to direct town confirmation - suggests that stabilization didn't continue, and it's worth checking where the rate lands for FY2027 before assuming the increase was a one-year event.
Low Rate, High Value: Why "Cheap Taxes" Is the Wrong Takeaway
Ownwell, a private property-tax-appeal service that compiles its own effective-rate data, cites an effective tax rate of roughly 0.56% for Provincetown against a median assessed home value of $941,600 - well below the Massachusetts state median effective rate of 1.15%. On its face, that sounds like a genuinely low-tax town.
The more accurate framing: Provincetown's nominal per-$1,000 rate is low relative to many Massachusetts towns, but that's set against a median home value pushing $1 million - among the highest on Cape Cod. A low rate multiplied by a high value can still produce a substantial annual tax bill. "Low rate, high value" is the honest story here, not "cheap taxes" - the actual dollar amount owed depends on your specific property's assessed value, not just the headline rate.
Proposition 2½: The Statewide Cap Behind the Rate
Like every Massachusetts municipality, Provincetown's levy operates under Proposition 2½, the 1980 statewide law that limits how quickly a town's total property tax collections can grow. It works through two related caps: a levy ceiling that keeps the total levy at or under 2.5% of the town's total assessed value, and a levy limit that restricts year-over-year levy growth to 2.5% regardless of how much individual property values rise. New construction falls outside that annual growth cap, so newly built homes and commercial space add tax revenue without counting against the limit, and a town can only exceed its regular growth cap through a voter-approved override or a debt exclusion tied to a specific borrowing purpose.
The cap slows the pace of levy growth, it doesn't freeze it - it's a statewide mechanic rather than anything Provincetown-specific, so it explains the gradual backdrop against which the town's rate moves year to year rather than why FY2026 landed at $6.13 specifically.
Confirming Current Figures Before You Rely on Them
Provincetown presents a genuinely mixed picture rather than one clean number: FY2025's $5.60 rate is solidly confirmed by two independent sources, but FY2026's $6.13 figure rests on a single compiled table and has not been cross-checked against the town's own classification-hearing documentation - and no FY2026 commercial/industrial rate could be found at all. The residential exemption's current-year percentage and its four-units-per-parcel treatment for year-round rentals are described here as reported in news coverage, not pulled directly from a current town document.
Tax rates and exemption policy change annually and are set independently by each town. Before relying on any figure here for a purchase decision, a rental pro forma, or a household budget, confirm the current rate, your property's specific assessed value, and the current residential exemption terms directly with the Town of Provincetown's Assessing Department or a licensed Massachusetts tax professional. This page reflects independent research current as of mid-2026, not tax, legal, or financial advice.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Provincetown's FY2025 residential tax rate of $5.60 per $1,000 of assessed value is confirmed independently by two sources: the Provincetown Independent (Jan. 22, 2025, "Provincetown Ups Year-Round Rental Incentives") and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce's 2025 property-tax-rate compilation. The same Provincetown Independent article reports the non-exempt base rate would be $5.21, with the residential-exemption-driven increase reported at 7.5%; this base-vs.-exemption relationship is presented as reported and worth re-confirming directly with the town. Provincetown's FY2026 residential rate of $6.13 per $1,000 - a roughly 9.5% year-over-year increase - comes from Peterson Realty's historical tax-rate compilation and was not independently cross-confirmed against a second source or the town's own FY2026 classification-hearing document in this research; no FY2026 commercial or industrial rate was found at all, an honest, disclosed gap. The historical trajectory (2022 $6.66, 2023 $5.98, 2024 $5.58, 2025 $5.60, 2026 $6.13) also comes from the Peterson Realty compilation. Provincetown's residential exemption was voted at 25% of average assessed residential value in FY2023 (an exemption amount of $226,284 that year) and is described in FY2025 news coverage as 35% of average assessed value, with a distinctive local expansion letting year-round rental property owners claim the exemption on up to four units per parcel - a policy lever aimed at protecting year-round rental housing stock that no competitor site was found to surface. Ownwell, a private property-tax-appeal service, cites an effective tax rate of approximately 0.56% against a median assessed home value of $941,600, both compared against the Massachusetts state median effective rate of 1.15% - directionally consistent with a low nominal rate set against a high median value, not evidence of low absolute tax bills. Massachusetts' Proposition 2½ mechanics are covered on this site's Cape Cod regional property-tax page and apply identically to Provincetown. Tax rates and exemption policy change annually and are set independently by each town - confirm all current figures directly with the Town of Provincetown's Assessing Department before making any purchase, rental, or financial decision. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice.