How Property Taxes Actually Work in Union, WA
Ask five Union property owners what their tax rate is and expect five different answers, because there isn't one flat "Union rate" to quote -- there's a stack of independently-governed levies applied to the same assessed value by the Mason County Assessor, and Washington law changes how fast that total can grow in a given year in ways worth understanding before you ever see a bill. This page walks through that machinery honestly, at the level of how it actually works rather than a single dollar figure, because no current combined rate for a specific Union parcel could be confirmed against a live, primary source in this research pass -- the Mason County Assessor's Office and its TaxSifter parcel-lookup tool are the places to get that number for real.
An Unincorporated Crossroads Town Pays County, Not City
Union's status as an unincorporated Mason County community -- a census-designated place with State Route 106 running through it, not its own city government -- has a direct, simplifying tax consequence: there's no separate municipal levy stacked on top of the county rate the way a buyer moving from an incorporated town would expect. A Union tax bill is instead built from the taxing districts that actually cover the parcel: Mason County's own general fund levy, the Hood Canal School District's levy and any voter-approved bonds, a fire protection district levy, and whatever library or other special-purpose district applies to that specific address.
That structure is common to unincorporated Hood Canal communities generally, not unique to Union, but it's worth stating plainly for anyone comparing Union against an incorporated market like Bainbridge Island, where a city levy layers on top of the same kind of county and district structure. Each Union-area taxing district still sets its own budget and can go to voters independently for a bond or levy lid lift, so the total is a composite that can move even when the county's own base rate holds steady.
Washington's Statutory Levy-Growth Cap, in Plain Terms
Washington caps how much most taxing districts can grow their total regular property tax levy year over year without going to voters -- a framework the state generally refers to as the "1% levy limit," codified in state law and traced back to a series of 1990s ballot measures including Referendum 47. It's a limit on a district's total levy growth, not a cap on an individual homeowner's tax rate or bill as a percentage of home value, and it doesn't touch voter-approved special levies like a school bond or a fire district's EMS levy -- those sit outside the growth cap entirely.
For a Union buyer, the practical takeaway is the same one that applies across every Washington market this site covers: a parcel's assessed value can move meaningfully between reassessment cycles even while the underlying levy-growth limit stays fixed, and a voter-approved bond or levy can add real dollars to a bill independent of that cap. Confirm the current mechanics for a specific tax year directly with the Washington Department of Revenue or the Mason County Assessor's Office.
The Mason County Assessor: Valuation and Where to Actually Check
The Mason County Assessor's Office, based in Shelton, values every parcel in Union under RCW 84.40's requirement that property be appraised at 100% of fair market value, and it applies whatever levy rates that parcel's overlapping taxing districts have certified. Assessed values reflect market conditions as of January 1 of the prior year based substantially on the prior year's sales data -- meaning a 2026 assessed value reflects the market as of January 1, 2025, informed largely by 2024 sales -- so a stale listing-sheet tax estimate from a year or two earlier can be meaningfully out of date in a market that's moved.
Mason County publishes an annual Levy Book and District Listing by Tax Code Area, and its TaxSifter online tool lets a buyer look up a specific parcel's current assessed value and levy breakdown directly rather than relying on a secondhand estimate. This page does not print a current combined rate here for exactly that reason -- rates shift every year as district budgets and voter measures change, and a number pulled from an aggregator site risks being wrong by the time it's read. Call the Assessor's Office or use TaxSifter for the current figure on a specific Union address.
Exemptions and the Hood Canal School District Layer
Washington runs statewide property tax exemption and deferral programs for seniors, people retired due to disability, and disabled veterans, administered locally by the county assessor under Department of Revenue rules. Eligibility turns on age, disability status, income, and primary-residence status, and only the Mason County Assessor's Office or the Department of Revenue can confirm current eligibility for a specific household -- this page does not guess at it.
Union sits within the Hood Canal School District (District #404), a small district running a single K-8 school with high schoolers attending Shelton School District instead -- a real, distinctive local fact covered in more depth on the Practical Living Guide, and one that means a Union tax bill's school-levy component funds a genuinely small, single-building elementary system plus its arrangement with Shelton for secondary education, rather than a large consolidated district's levy.
The Rate This Page Won't Guess
In the interest of not printing a number this page can't stand behind: no specific current combined levy rate, dollar-per-$1,000-of-value figure, or typical annual tax bill for a Union property is stated here. General aggregator estimates for Mason County property tax exist online, but none was verified against a fully-loaded primary source in this research pass, and repeating an unverified snippet would be worse than simply pointing to the real source.
The Mason County Assessor's Office and its TaxSifter parcel-search tool are the correct places to get a current, address-specific figure -- including which fire district and any special-purpose district apply to a given Union parcel, since Hood Canal-area properties don't all sit in identical taxing-district combinations even within the same small community.
Budgeting a Purchase Around What's Actually Confirmed
None of this is legal or tax advice. Washington's levy-limit statutes, exemption program rules, and each taxing district's certified rates are set by state law, county administration, and local ballot outcomes, and they change from year to year -- a rate quoted by a listing agent or a prior owner's old tax bill is not a substitute for the Assessor's current figure.
Confirm every current number directly with the Mason County Assessor's Office, the Washington State Department of Revenue, and a licensed Washington tax professional before treating any property tax estimate as settled for a specific Union purchase.
Ready to talk to a local Union, WA agent?
Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Washington funds state and local government without a personal income tax, leaning on property, sales, and business taxes instead -- documented on the Washington State Department of Revenue's own site. The state's "1% property tax levy limit," with roots in 1990s ballot measures including Referendum 47 (1997), is described in the Department's own published guidance and Ballotpedia's entry on that measure; this page treats it only at the conceptual level, the same approach used on this site's other Washington market pages. Union's unincorporated status is confirmed via Wikipedia's "Union, Washington" entry and general Mason County government geography. The Mason County Assessor's role in valuing property, its Levy Book and District Listing by Tax Code Area, its TaxSifter parcel-search tool, and RCW 84.40's 100%-of-fair-market-value appraisal standard are sourced to the Mason County Assessor's own website (masoncountywa.gov/assessor) and the Washington Department of Revenue's own Mason County property tax page (dor.wa.gov). Statewide senior/disabled-persons/veteran exemption and deferral programs are sourced to the Washington State Department of Revenue's own published materials. The Hood Canal School District's structure (a single K-8 school, with high schoolers attending Shelton School District) is sourced to SchoolDigger, Ballotpedia's "Hood Canal School District, Washington" entry, and the district's own website (hoodcanal.wednet.edu). This page does not state a specific current combined levy rate, per-$1,000 tax rate, or typical annual tax bill for a Union parcel -- none was verified against a fully-loaded primary source during this research pass, and this page discloses that as an open gap rather than filling it with an unconfirmed number. The Mason County Assessor's Office is the correct source for current rates and a specific parcel's assessed value and levy breakdown. Every figure above traces back to state statute, Mason County's own administration, and whatever a local ballot measure most recently decided -- none of it is fixed permanently. This page is independent research, not legal or tax advice; confirm all current figures directly with the Mason County Assessor's Office, the Washington State Department of Revenue, and a licensed Washington tax professional or CPA before making a purchase or relying on any number here for a financial decision.