Tax Delinquent Property Statistics 2026
LienSuite tracks 56.4M+ properties across 1017 counties in all 50 states. Within that, 1,719,575 are tax-delinquent across 340 counties in 32 states — the properties that owe back taxes or are multiple years delinquent. The stats below break those down.
County records last refreshed: 2026-09-30
Tax-Delinquent Properties by State
Every state where we hold tax-delinquent records — all 32 of them — with counts, average back taxes owed, and owner-status signals. Each state name opens that state's county-by-county breakdown.
| State | Counties | Delinquent Properties | Avg Taxes Owed | Deceased Signals | Heir Signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida (FL) | 37 | 570,454 | $4,295 | 7,915 | 5,572 |
| Texas (TX) | 55 | 375,063 | $4,066 | 11,846 | 9,524 |
| Arkansas (AR) | 61 | 196,210 | $602 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio (OH) | 10 | 99,580 | $5,266 | 352 | 395 |
| Illinois (IL) | 1 | 81,529 | $22,848 | 0 | 0 |
| Pennsylvania (PA) | 2 | 65,805 | $7,549 | 51 | 339 |
| North Carolina (NC) | 9 | 50,504 | $1,398 | 1,146 | 1,744 |
| Georgia (GA) | 13 | 43,751 | $3,421 | 728 | 606 |
| Alabama (AL) | 2 | 28,911 | $1,566 | 279 | 822 |
| California (CA) | 9 | 26,705 | $13,634 | 8 | 130 |
| Washington (WA) | 2 | 22,813 | $8,894 | 2 | 2 |
| Oklahoma (OK) | 2 | 19,549 | $1,820 | 137 | 203 |
| Tennessee (TN) | 1 | 17,822 | $1,144 | 322 | 32 |
| Nebraska (NE) | 48 | 16,388 | $1,442 | 4 | 1,363 |
| Wisconsin (WI) | 1 | 14,183 | $4,396 | 3 | 134 |
| Kentucky (KY) | 27 | 12,791 | $492 | 0 | 0 |
| Arizona (AZ) | 1 | 12,073 | $1,293 | 13 | 841 |
| Maryland (MD) | 1 | 11,369 | $37,213 | 92 | 118 |
| Colorado (CO) | 6 | 11,077 | $4,888 | 5 | 472 |
| Indiana (IN) | 2 | 9,015 | $4,157 | 109 | 3 |
| Virginia (VA) | 2 | 6,953 | $2,249 | 142 | 91 |
| Minnesota (MN) | 2 | 5,623 | $9,386 | 0 | 0 |
| Idaho (ID) | 1 | 5,184 | $2,743 | 13 | 0 |
| Connecticut (CT) | 15 | 4,829 | $14,585 | 0 | 0 |
| Iowa (IA) | 6 | 2,629 | $4,177 | 0 | 0 |
| Mississippi (MS) | 1 | 2,587 | $1,426 | 0 | 0 |
| New York (NY) | 2 | 1,648 | $3,432 | 0 | 0 |
| New Jersey (NJ) | 16 | 1,168 | $6,188 | 0 | 0 |
| Missouri (MO) | 1 | 934 | $18,584 | 14 | 77 |
| Kansas (KS) | 2 | 847 | $1,429 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina (SC) | 1 | 834 | $2,945 | 14 | 0 |
| Nevada (NV) | 1 | 747 | $862 | 0 | 0 |
Ranked by delinquent property count. "Counties" here means counties holding at least one tax-delinquent record (340 of them, in 32 states) — a delinquency-scoped figure, not the number of counties LienSuite covers overall. Blank average-owed cells are states whose county sources publish the delinquency but not the dollar amount.
Top 10 Counties by Delinquent Property Count
The counties with the most tax-delinquent properties in our data. Each links to that county's live page.
| Rank | County | State | Delinquent Properties | Avg Taxes Owed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Polk County | FL | 102,690 | $2,925 |
| 2 | Dallas County | TX | 85,591 | $3,564 |
| 3 | Cook County | IL | 81,529 | $22,848 |
| 4 | Philadelphia County | PA | 54,383 | $7,302 |
| 5 | Lee County | FL | 49,798 | $2,939 |
| 6 | Cuyahoga County | OH | 45,607 | $7,231 |
| 7 | Duval County | FL | 44,689 | $3,086 |
| 8 | Miami-Dade County | FL | 44,200 | $12,059 |
| 9 | Denton County | TX | 39,820 | $716 |
| 10 | Hamilton County | OH | 38,491 | $3,614 |
Key Findings
- As of 2026-09-30, 1,719,575 properties (1.72 million) are tax-delinquent across 340 counties in 32 states in LienSuite's data.
- The average tax-delinquent property owes $5,054 in back taxes — roughly $8.7B of unpaid property tax across the counties we cover.
- The combined estimated market value of delinquent properties with a known valuation (74% of them) is $322.3B, averaging $254K per property.
- Florida leads with 570,454 delinquent properties (33.2% of total) across 37 counties.
- Delinquency is concentrated: the 10 largest counties hold 34.1% of every delinquent record we track, and Florida, Texas, Arkansas together account for 66.4%.
- 23,195 delinquent records carry a deceased-owner signal and 22,468 carry an heir-property signal — the cases where the person who owes the taxes may no longer be the person who can sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tax-delinquent properties are there?
LienSuite tracks 1,719,575 tax-delinquent properties across 340 counties in 32 states as of 2026-09-30. A property counts as delinquent when it owes back taxes or is multiple years behind — the full parcel rolls we also track (properties with no unpaid taxes) are excluded from this number.
How much does the average tax-delinquent property owe?
The average tax-delinquent property owes $5,054 in back taxes. Across every delinquent record we track, that is roughly $8.7B of unpaid property tax in the counties we cover.
Which state has the most tax-delinquent properties?
Florida leads with 570,454 tax-delinquent properties across 37 counties — 33.2% of every delinquent record in our data.
Which county has the most tax-delinquent properties?
Polk County, FL has the most, with 102,690 tax-delinquent properties, averaging $2,925 owed per property.
How concentrated are tax-delinquent properties?
Very. The 10 largest counties hold 586,798 of the 1,719,575 tax-delinquent properties we track — 34.1% of the national total — and just three states (Florida, Texas, Arkansas) account for 66.4% of it. Delinquency is a big-county story, not an evenly spread one.
Methodology
LienSuite aggregates property data directly from county appraisal and tax-collector records. A property counts as tax-delinquent when it owes back taxes or is multiple years delinquent — the same definition used throughout the product. We deliberately exclude the rest of the appraisal/parcel roll (properties with no unpaid taxes), so the counts on this page reflect real delinquent inventory rather than every parcel in a county. The figures above are read from our per-county record caches every time this page rebuilds (at most hourly), so they move as new county records are imported — the date above is when those caches were last refreshed. Average taxes owed is weighted by each county's record count. Estimated-value figures cover only the 74% of delinquent properties with a known valuation, and are labelled as estimates everywhere they appear.
Full provenance — which county sources the records come from, how often they refresh, and what is checked before a number is published — is on the data methodology page.
Cite This Data
This data is free to reference. Please use the following citation format:
LienSuite. "Tax Delinquent Property Statistics 2026." LienSuite.com, 2026-09-30. https://liensuite.com/stats
Data sourced from county appraisal and tax-collector records. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Attribution required.
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