Mapping the Property Tax Divide

Most U.S. municipalities rely on property taxes to fund public services. This means that the amount of taxable wealth within each city boundary can create stark inequalities - even between neighboring communities. 

Wealthy municipalities are able to raise far more revenue than places with lower-value property, allowing affluent enclaves to spend generously while less affluent communities - sometimes just a few miles away -struggle to fund basic services. The result is a fragmented landscape where access to well-funded schools, parks, libraries, and other essential services often depends less on need and more on which side of the tracks you happen to live.

Tax Base Fragmentation is a new interactive map that visualizes the uneven distribution of tax funds within every American town and city. The map colors each neighborhood by its Fiscal Capacity Ratio (FCR), which compares a place’s per capita tax base to the average for its metro area. Towns shaded in blue have more property wealth per person than their region as a whole, while those in red have less. 

You can search for any city or simply zoom to an area you know well. In the Los Angeles metro area, for example, wealthy coastal jurisdictions such as Malibu, Beverly Hills, and Newport Beach appear in dark blue, each with tax bases several times the regional average. Meanwhile nearby neighborhoods such as Inglewood and Compton appear in red, with far lower fiscal capacity.

Clicking on a municipality opens a popup with details including population, taxable value per capita, and its exact fiscal capacity ratio. A layer toggle also lets you switch from the normalized FCR view to raw taxable value per capita, which is useful for comparing different parts of the country.