SOUTH COAST Property taxes on residential property in the 19 South Coast cities and towns rose 16.8% in total from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2026, more than three times the 5.2% rise on business property, and the residential share of the tax grew in 14 of the 19, state Division of Local Services figures show.
In Fall River, residential property, from single-family homes to apartment buildings, paid 71.2% of the city's property tax in fiscal 2026, up from 68.2% three years earlier. The city already puts as much of the tax on commercial, industrial and personal property as state law allows, so the faster rise in residential values, 30.8% against 16.2% for business property, moved more of the tax onto residential owners. The tax on Fall River residential property grew 22.4% over those three years, while the tax on business property grew 6.4%.
Across the region, the residential share of the tax went from 74.9% to 76.8%. In dollars, residential property paid about $808.6 million of the $1.05 billion the 19 communities raised in fiscal 2026, up from $692.4 million in fiscal 2023. Some of each increase comes from new construction and other value added to the tax rolls, which the state certified as new growth in all 19 communities in each of those years.
How the split works
Under Mass. General Laws chapter 40, section 56, each year the city council and mayor, or the select board, holds a public hearing and adopts a residential factor, which decides how the levy is shared between residential property and commercial, industrial and personal property. A factor of 1 means one rate for everyone. A lower factor gives residential property a lower rate and business property a higher one.
State law limits how far that can go. Under chapter 58, section 1A, business property's share of the tax generally cannot exceed 150% of its share of the community's value, or 175% in communities that qualify for the higher limit. Fall River, Taunton, Fairhaven and Dighton were at the 175% limit in fiscal 2026, by our arithmetic from the state's values and rates.
The split is set as shares of value, so when residential values rise faster than business values, residential owners carry more of the tax. In New Bedford, residential values rose 50% from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2026 while business values rose 30%. Residential property went from 82.1% to 84.1% of the city's taxable value, and the city's business share eased from 1.75 times its share of value to 1.72. The tax on New Bedford residential property rose 15%, while the tax on business property fell 5.1%. Had the city kept the 1.75 share, the residential share would still have been about 72.2%, by our arithmetic, against 72.7% at 1.72.
What the split is worth to a homeowner
Eleven of the 19 communities tax residential property at a lower rate than business property. If each had used one rate for everything in fiscal 2026, raising the same total, the average single-family bill would have been about $1,390 higher in Seekonk, $1,380 higher in Freetown and $1,200 higher in Taunton, by our arithmetic. In Fall River it would have been about $810 higher than the $4,651 the state lists, and in New Bedford about $730 higher than $4,653.
Freetown moved the other way from most of the region. It raised business property's share from 1.6 times its share of value in fiscal 2023 to 1.73 times, and the residential share of the tax fell from 65.9% to 62.9%, the lowest in the region. Taunton was next at 66.4%, then Seekonk at 67.9%.
The other eight, Berkley, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, Rehoboth, Rochester, Wareham and Westport, use one rate for all property, so the residential share of the tax equals residential property's share of value. Berkley's is the highest in the region at 95.4%. Statewide, 112 of 351 communities taxed residential property at a lower rate than business property in fiscal 2026, and the median residential share of the tax was 87.7%.
Town by town
| Community | Residential rate | Commercial rate | Residential share 2026 | Share 2023 | One rate adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acushnet | $10.45 | $14.73 | 85.5% | 84.3% | $230 |
| Berkley | $12.35 | $12.35 | 95.4% | 95.3% | Already one rate |
| Dartmouth | $8.03 | $15.78 | 77.1% | 75.0% | $670 |
| Dighton | $12.45 | $24.21 | 79.4% | 79.8% | $740 |
| Fairhaven | $9.19 | $18.20 | 76.5% | 75.9% | $580 |
| Fall River | $11.48 | $23.58 | 71.2% | 68.2% | $810 |
| Freetown | $9.78 | $21.21 | 62.9% | 65.9% | $1,380 |
| Lakeville | $9.74 | $9.74 | 88.8% | 87.6% | Already one rate |
| Marion | $8.87 | $8.87 | 94.3% | 93.7% | Already one rate |
| Mattapoisett | $10.24 | $10.24 | 94.2% | 93.9% | Already one rate |
| New Bedford | $10.95 | $21.80 | 72.7% | 68.7% | $730 |
| Rehoboth | $10.85 | $10.85 | 91.0% | 92.5% | Already one rate |
| Rochester | $10.59 | $10.59 | 86.4% | 86.3% | Already one rate |
| Seekonk | $12.27 | $25.77 | 67.9% | 63.6% | $1,390 |
| Somerset | $12.93 | $25.24 | 75.6% | 74.0% | $850 |
| Swansea | $11.36 | $17.95 | 82.8% | 81.5% | $380 |
| Taunton | $11.14 | $23.73 | 66.4% | 63.1% | $1,200 |
| Wareham | $8.56 | $8.56 | 85.1% | 85.1% | Already one rate |
| Westport | $7.28 | $7.28 | 92.0% | 92.0% | Already one rate |
What comes next
Fiscal 2027 values are on the state's books for Fall River, Taunton, Somerset, Mattapoisett and Rochester, and in each of them residential property makes up a larger share of value than a year ago. In Fall River, it is 83.9% of fiscal 2027 value, up from 83.5%, and in Taunton 81.5%, up from 80.8%. Because both cities were already at the 175% limit, the law keeps the residential share of their fiscal 2027 tax at no less than about 71.7% in Fall River and 67.5% in Taunton, by our arithmetic.
Rochester is the only South Coast community with a fiscal 2027 rate on the state's books so far, at $10.62 per $1,000 for all property. The others have no approved fiscal 2027 rate yet. The state approves a rate only after a community holds its classification hearing, which is open to the public, and adopts its split.
Taunton's Municipal Council held its fiscal 2027 hearing Oct. 13 and voted 9-0 to tax homes and businesses at different rates, as South Coast 360 reported Oct. 28. Marion's Select Board and Board of Assessors hold that hearing Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. in the Town House conference room, 2 Spring St., as South Coast 360 reported earlier Saturday. Average bills and rates for all 19 communities are in our Oct. 28 tax bill story.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every figure comes from public records: the Division of Local Services reports Assessed Values by Class, Tax Rates by Class and Average Single Family Tax Bill, the first and third listed as current as of Oct. 31, the state's fiscal 2025 levies in its Community Comparison Report, its New Growth report, Mass. General Laws chapter 40, section 56 and chapter 58, section 1A, and Marion's Nov. 3 agenda. We read them on Oct. 31. The tax on each class is our arithmetic, value times rate. Checked against the state's own fiscal 2025 levies, it matches to the dollar in 17 of the 19 communities; in Dartmouth and Seekonk it comes out slightly above the state's commercial levy, which moves their residential share by 0.05 point or less. The shares, the changes, the regional totals, the statewide count and median, the one-rate bills and the fiscal 2027 floors are also our arithmetic from the state's numbers; the same method run on all 351 communities for fiscal 2025 gives the same statewide median as the state's own levies. Taunton's Oct. 13 hearing is from our Oct. 28 story. The one-rate figures divide each community's total tax by its total value and assume the same total levy. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (8)
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: Assessed Values by Class (Data current as of 10/31/2026)Department of Revenue, Data Analytics and Resources Bureau. Full 351-community Excel export, fiscal 2023 to 2027: residential, open space, commercial, industrial and personal property values, total, RO% and CIP% of total. Fiscal 2027 values listed for Fall River, Mattapoisett, Rochester, Somerset and Taunton among the 19. Read Oct. 31, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: Tax Rates by Class (read Oct. 31, 2026)Department of Revenue. Full 351-community Excel export, fiscal 2023 to 2027: residential, open space, commercial, industrial and personal property rates per $1,000. Rochester is the only one of the 19 with a fiscal 2027 rate ($10.62). Read Oct. 31, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: Average Single Family Tax Bill (Data current as of 10/31/2026)Department of Revenue. Full export, fiscal 2024 to 2027: average single-family value and bill for each community; fiscal 2026 Fall River $4,651 and New Bedford $4,653. Read Oct. 31, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: Community Comparison Report, Levies and Rates by Class tab (fiscal 2025)Department of Revenue. The state's own fiscal 2025 levies by class for all 351 communities, used to check our value times rate method: it matches to the dollar in 17 of the 19 South Coast communities (Acushnet $22,780,366 and Berkley $16,344,865, for example); in Dartmouth and Seekonk it runs above the state's commercial levy by about $51,000 and $24,000. Read Oct. 31, 2026.
- Massachusetts Division of Local Services: New Growth (fiscal 2024 to 2026)Department of Revenue. Residential and total new growth value certified for each of the 19 communities in fiscal 2024, 2025 and 2026; above zero for every community in every year. Read Oct. 31, 2026.
- Mass. General Laws c. 40, s. 56 (percentages of local tax levy by class)Massachusetts Legislature. The select board, town council or city council with the mayor's approval annually adopts a residential factor after a public hearing; the commissioner does not approve the tax rate until the hearing is held and the percentages adopted. Read Oct. 31, 2026.
- Mass. General Laws c. 58, s. 1A (minimum residential factor)Massachusetts Legislature. No class may bear more than 150% of its share of value, or 175% where the higher limit applies under the section's conditions. Read Oct. 31, 2026.
- Marion Select Board and Water/Sewer Commissioners meeting agenda, Tue. Nov. 3, 2026, 6 p.m. (received by the town clerk Oct. 30, 1:20 p.m.)Town of Marion. Public hearing by the Select Board and Board of Assessors at the Town House Conference Room, 2 Spring Street, for the purpose of determining the classification of real property. Read Oct. 31, 2026.