How Does Danvers Compare to North Shore Neighbors on Property Taxes?

Selectmen just set the new tax rates in town Tuesday night. During their deliberations each year, board members often say Danvers has a good mix of residential and commercial properties and remains a well run, affordable town to live in on the North Shore.

So where does Danvers stand among its neighboring communities in terms of property taxes? Right about in the middle.

Not all cities and towns have set their new rates yet, so we'll take a glance at Fiscal 2013 figures, using data from state reports for each community. 

On the high end are Wenham, Topsfield and Middleton, which just use a single tax rate rather than split rates for residential and commercial. Middleton tends to have a lower tax rate than Danvers, but average home values are significantly higher.

The average assessed single-family home in Danvers was $349,742 last year for an average bill of $5,085, while Middleton was $476,123, which equaled an average tax bill of $6,471.

Beverly also had a lower residential rate than Danvers, but again the average home value was significantly higher -- $407,983 for an average tax bill of $5,565. Beverly also has a few more seaside estates than Danvers, which tends to skew that number.

Salem had higher rates for both residential and commercial, but far lower average single-family home values -- $284,846 for an average bill of $4,666. A Salem taxpayer with a $350,000 valued home, however, paid $5,733 in taxes (about $650 more than Danvers).

And at the bottom is Peabody, which does have a large commercial base and uses a split rate as well. Average home values remain lower than in Danvers and so does the residential rate. An average single-family home was valued at $307,144 last year with an average bill of $3,680.

The list below places each city and town by residential tax rate.

City/Town    Residential    CIP
Wenham           $18.48
Salem               $16.38        $31.69
Topsfield           $15.95
Danvers           $14.54      $20.23
Beverly             $13.64        $24.86
Middleton          $13.59
Peabody           $11.98        $23.57

Tax rates are per thousand dollars of valuation.