Allegheny County Property Tax Appeals
Are you over-assessed?

Check your Pittsburgh-area home's assessment against recent sales and Allegheny County's Common Level Ratio — free, no signup. If the county valued it too high, we show you what a fair assessment looks like and how to appeal by September 1.

Free · no signup · results in seconds

Allegheny County still taxes 2012 values — and the Common Level Ratio fell to about 48%
When the ratio drops, more homes end up over-assessed. Most owners can appeal — the window closes September 1.
Allegheny County properties
442,000+
Typical assessment
$100,000
Cost to check
Free

How to appeal your Allegheny County property taxes

  1. Check first (free). Enter your address — we compare the county's assessed value to recent comparable sales adjusted by the 48% Common Level Ratio.
  2. File by September 1. Submit an annual appeal to the Board of Property Assessment Appeals & Review (BPAAR). Miss the window and you wait a year.
  3. Bring the evidence. The board wants recent comparable sales and the CLR math. We assemble the comps exhibit and the fair-assessment calculation so you're ready.
  4. You sign and file. We're your tool, not your representative — you stay in control and keep 100% of your savings (flat fee, never a percentage).
See if your Allegheny County home is over-assessed →

How we calculate an Allegheny County estimate

Everything below is what produced the number you see — so you, or a hearing officer, can check it rather than take our word for it.

  1. Where the values come from. Allegheny County assesses at a 2012 base year, so an appeal argues current market value and the board applies the Common Level Ratio to it. Sales coded VALID are treated as arm's-length.
  2. How far back the evidence goes. Up to 36 months before the valuation date, plus sales up to 6 months after it. That window is our engineering choice, not a legal rule, so we state it rather than cite one.
  3. How comparables are chosen. We take the first rule below that yields enough sales, and the result tells you which one it used — a 12-month same-market-area match and a 36-month ZIP-wide one are not the same confidence:
    1. same market area, 12 months
    2. same market area, 24 months
    3. same market area, 36 months
    4. same ZIP code, matched lot and age
    5. same ZIP code, size only
  4. How each sale is adjusted. No cost-of-sale factor is applied — that is a Florida rule (DR-493) with no Pennsylvania equivalent.
  5. How a tax saving is worked out. We do not yet hold Allegheny County's district millage table, so tax savings use an approximate 2.2% combined rate. Every figure derived this way is labelled as approximate wherever it appears. The rate, its vintage and its source are printed beside every dollar figure.
  6. How far off we might be. The allowance is calibrated, not validated: we fit it on 249 Allegheny County sales held out of the fitting, and it comes to about an 8% spread between what we predicted and what those properties actually sold for. It is built into whether we tell you a case is worth filing — it is why we decline marginal cases rather than sell them. We do not claim a forward-looking accuracy rate, because we have not measured one we would stand behind.

What we cannot see. The roll records size, age, land and use — not condition. A gut-renovated house and a tired one of the same age and size look identical to us, and neither our estimate nor the comparables can account for the difference. Interior condition, recent work and anything a photograph would show are exactly the evidence you add, and are often what decides a hearing.

⚠ Recently bought in Allegheny County? Watch for a school-district appeal.

Pennsylvania school districts file tens of thousands of appeals a year to raise the assessments of recent buyers toward the price they paid. We cannot see an appeal at the moment it is filed — no public feed of board filings exists — but we re-check your assessment against the county roll every week, free, and email you as soon as the number moves. You hear it from us, not from your tax bill.

Common questions — Allegheny County

How do I appeal my Allegheny County property taxes?

File an annual appeal by September 1 with the Board of Property Assessment Appeals & Review (BPAAR). You argue your home's current market value; the board applies the county Common Level Ratio (about 48% for the latest year) to set a fair assessment. Check your assessment free above — we assemble the comparable-sales evidence and the CLR calculation if it's worth appealing.

Is my Allegheny County home over-assessed?

Allegheny County still assesses on frozen 2012 base-year values and applies a Common Level Ratio. If your assessment is higher than your home's value times the CLR (~48%), you're likely over-assessed. Enter your address above — free, in seconds — and we compare it to recent comparable sales.

I just bought my home — can they raise my taxes?

Yes. Pennsylvania school districts file appeals to raise the assessments of recently purchased homes toward the sale price — tens of thousands a year in Allegheny County. We can't see a filing at the board — nobody publishes those — but we re-check your assessment against the county roll every week, free, and email you as soon as the number moves, so you learn it from us rather than from a tax bill.

Pittsburgh & Allegheny County

More Pennsylvania counties are coming. Check your property →