Local taxes › Emmet County

Emmet County

How property tax rates have changed, what’s taxed, what the county spends, and what the state sends it. Open a city for where its tax dollar goes.

Property tax rates over time

Typical combined rate per $1,000 of taxable value, and the county government’s own rural levy (part of the rural rate).

In citiesRuralCounty levy
0$10$20$30$40’20’22’24’26’27In citiesRuralCounty levy
0$10$20$30$40’20’21’22’23’24’25’26’27In citiesRuralCounty levy
Show the numbers
YearIn citiesRuralCounty’s rural levy
FY27$36.08$26.49$9.65
FY26$37.64$26.08$9.49
FY25$36.60$25.90$9.37
FY24$35.76$25.79$9.24
FY23$34.61$25.94$9.25
FY22$34.92$24.97$9.56
FY21$34.90$24.06$9.70
FY20$34.07$23.69$9.52

Cities, FY27

Typical combined rate in each city, per $1,000 of taxable value.

Show the numbers
CityTypical rateSince FY22
Armstrong$34.75+9.6%
Dolliver$35.62+11.4%
Estherville$39.04-2.7%
Gruver$31.66-1.1%
Ringsted$36.53-3.4%
Wallingford$34.52+7.8%

What’s taxed

$776.2M of taxable value in 2025 valuations, +23.2% since 2020. Who carries the load, by kind of property:

  • Farmland and farm buildings$374.0M47%
  • Homes$255.0M32%
  • Commercial$61.6M8%
  • Utilities, railroads and other$52.8M7%
  • Industrial$46.9M6%

Taxable value over time

FarmlandHomesBusiness
0$100.0M$200.0M$300.0M$400.0M20182020202220242025FarmlandHomesBusiness
0$100.0M$200.0M$300.0M$400.0M20182019202020212022202320242025FarmlandHomesBusiness
Show the numbers
Valuation yearHomesFarmlandCommercialIndustrialTotal
2025$255.0M$374.0M$61.6M$46.9M$776.2M
2024$241.6M$324.9M$55.7M$39.8M$700.2M
2023$234.9M$315.8M$54.8M$39.0M$684.7M
2022$218.2M$315.6M$42.4M$34.2M$652.8M
2021$204.2M$305.4M$54.1M$44.5M$649.3M
2020$205.4M$287.5M$54.4M$43.2M$630.2M
2019$199.6M$279.3M$54.0M$43.9M$616.2M
2018$189.8M$282.5M$54.3M$41.7M$605.5M

The county’s budget

Emmet County plans to spend $12.6M in FY27, from property taxes, state and federal money, fees and its reserves. It spent $12.1M in FY25.

  • Roads & transportation$5.0M39%
  • Public safety & legal services$3.2M25%
  • Administration$1.8M14%
  • Physical health & social services$1.0M8%
  • Services to residents (records, elections, licenses)$749,6696%
  • Parks, libraries, extension & environment$634,2275%
  • Other$200,0002%
  • Capital projects$41,0600%

Its property tax levies, FY27

Dollars per $1,000 of taxable value. Everyone in the county pays the countywide levies; people outside cities also pay the rural ones, which mostly pay for roads and rural services.

  • General Basic · countywide$3.66
  • General Supplemental · countywide$2.50
  • Countywide · countywide$6.16
  • Rural Basic · rural$3.29
  • Rural Supplemental · rural$0.20
  • Total Rural · rural$9.65

From county budgets and annual financial reports filed with the Department of Management.

Local option sales tax collected

The extra local sales tax voters here approved, collected by the state and paid back to the county and its cities.

$1.4M
’14’16’18’20’22’24
Show the numbers
YearCollected
FY24$1.4M
FY23$1.3M
FY22$1.3M
FY21$1.3M
FY20$1.2M
FY19$1.1M
FY18$1.0M
FY17$1.1M
FY16$1.0M
FY15$1.0M
FY14$1.1M

State payments to the county and its cities

Local option sales tax the state collected for them, and property tax credits it pays on residents’ behalf. The newest year may be partial.

$2.9M
$320,085
’20’21’22’23’24’25’26’27

Who received them, FY26

  • Emmet County$1.4M57%
  • City of Estherville$799,83834%
  • City of Armstrong$117,1915%
  • City of Ringsted$49,5662%
  • City of Wallingford$21,2001%
  • City of Dolliver$8,3840%
  • City of Gruver$8,1160%
Show the numbers
ProgramFY27FY26FY25FY24FY23FY22FY21FY20
Local option sales tax$102,147$1.5M$1.4M$1.4M$1.3M$1.5M$1.2M$1.1M
Homestead property tax credit–$557,681$537,700$535,203$522,458$523,851$522,400$512,639
Ag land and family farm tax credits$217,938$328,556$349,491$373,485$305,209$285,572$306,993$315,179
Business property tax credit––$562,986$563,879$564,000$560,605$576,031$570,782
Elderly and disabled property tax credit–$17,158$19,782$25,774$28,684$30,926$32,752$30,254
Military service property tax credit–––$5,431$5,782$6,320$6,718$7,109

Local elections

Most recent: November 3, 2026

County offices · 5

Local races from civicAPI for Emmet County. Results for local races can take weeks to appear; official results are on each county auditor’s site. Officials are worked out from election results: every member whose four-year term is still running, plus appointments and titles Funnel has been told about. A resignation may not show yet.

School districts

School districts that tax property in Emmet County.

Armstrong-RingstedEstherville Lincoln CentralGraettinger-Terril

Typical rates are medians across the county’s tax districts, leaving out TIF districts and farmland inside cities. Data from the Iowa Data Hub (Departments of Management and Revenue).