How Louisiana property tax works
- Assessment: homes are assessed at 10% of fair market value. Millage is dollars per $1,000 of that assessed value.
- Homestead exemption: the first $7,500 of assessed value ($75,000 of market value) of your primary home is exempt from parish, school and most other taxes.
- The catch: under the state constitution, the homestead exemption doesn't apply to municipal taxes, except those levied for schools. New Orleans is the exception: there the exemption covers general city taxes, but not the special police and fire millages.
For a $250,000 homestead, assessed value is $25,000. Parish and school millage applies to $17,500 (after the exemption); city millage applies to the full $25,000.
Millage and what a $250,000 homestead pays
| City | Parish | Total mills | Parish/district + city | Tax on $250,000 homestead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shreveport | Caddo | 156.50 | 128.18 + 28.32 | $2,951 |
| Slidell | St. Tammany | 144.64 | 124.16 + 20.48 | $2,685 |
| New Orleans (East Bank) | Orleans | 131.99 | citywide 121.20 + levee 10.79 | $2,396 |
| Baton Rouge | East Baton Rouge | 122.59 | 104.65 + 17.94 | $2,280 |
| Metairie (unincorporated) | Jefferson | 126.21 | 126.21 + none | $2,209 |
| Kenner | Jefferson | 106.25 | 78.09 + 28.16 | $2,071 |
| Lake Charles | Calcasieu | 106.19 | 91.21 + 14.98 | $1,971 |
| Lafayette | Lafayette | 104.01 | 85.47 + 18.54 | $1,959 |
Look at Metairie and Kenner, next to each other in Jefferson Parish. Metairie has the higher total millage, but because it's unincorporated, all of it gets the homestead exemption. Kenner residents pay 28.16 city mills on their full assessed value. In New Orleans, 11.51 mills of police and fire taxes are charged without the exemption.
Rates vary within each parish by ward, fire district and special districts. Downtown development districts add about 9.5 mills in Baton Rouge and Shreveport. In Jefferson Parish, ward totals range from 100.64 in Harahan to 150.54 in Timberlane. Baton Rouge's figure is for 2025; the others are for 2025 or the 2026 assessment listings, and Lake Charles's is for one sample ward.
The senior and disability freeze
Homeowners 65 and older, certain disabled homeowners (including veterans rated 50% or more) and certain military survivors can lock in their assessed value (the "special assessment level"). Millage can still change, but the value it's applied to can't. You must have the homestead exemption, and household income was limited to $100,000 of federal adjusted gross income, now indexed to inflation from 2026. Apply with your parish assessor. See senior freezes by state.
Amendments on the November 3, 2026 ballot
All four amendments on the March 2025 ballot failed, so the rules above haven't changed. On November 3, 2026, Louisiana voters decide three more that affect property tax:
- Amendment 2 would remove the deadline for local governments to raise millage back up ("roll forward") to previously voter-approved maximums without a new election.
- Amendment 6 would let parishes and cities, with local voter approval, offer bigger homestead exemptions for homeowners 65+, scaling from $135,000 to $375,000 of value by age, from 2028 at the earliest.
- Amendment 9 would raise the senior freeze income limit from $100,000 to $150,000 starting in 2027.
We'll update this page with the results.
Deadlines and appeals
- Payments: taxes are due by December 31 in most parishes.
- Appeals: each parish's assessment list is open for public inspection for 15 days, between August 15 and September 15 (July 15 to August 15 in Orleans). Review your value with the assessor then, and file with the parish Board of Review if you disagree, then the Louisiana Tax Commission. See our appeal guide.
Where these numbers come from
Millage rates are from the City of New Orleans, the East Baton Rouge Parish Assessor's 2025 millage rates, the Caddo Parish Assessor's 2025 millage rates, the Lafayette Parish Assessor's estimator, the Calcasieu Parish Assessor, the Jefferson Parish Assessor's millages by ward, and the St. Tammany Parish Assessor's 2025 certified grand recap (Slidell's total is our sum of its components). The homestead rules are from Louisiana Constitution Article VII, § 20, the freeze from Article VII, § 18 and Act 220 of 2025, and appeal rules from R.S. 47:1992. Amendment details are from news coverage of the 2026 ballot. The $250,000 examples are our calculations. Our ZIP-level database doesn't yet include Louisiana.