Here's the answer up front: in 2026, Clark County homeowners pay between roughly $6.75 and $10.18 per $1,000 of assessed value in property taxes, depending on where exactly the home sits — an effective rate of about 0.7% to 1.0% of assessed value per year. On a $600,000 home, that's a spread from about $4,050 to $6,100 annually. The single biggest variable isn't which city you live in. It's which school district you live in, and most buyers never think to check.
Below: the actual 2026 rates by city, how a Washington tax bill gets built, the two different "1% rules" everyone conflates, and how to look up the exact rate for a specific house before you write an offer.
2026 levy rates by city
All rates come from the Clark County Treasurer's official 2026 tax rate tables and the 2026 Levy Rates by Tax Code Area report. Rates are per $1,000 of assessed value; the example bill assumes a $600,000 assessed value.
| Location | 2026 total levy rate | Tax on $600K home |
|---|---|---|
| Battle Ground (Battle Ground SD)¹ | ~$6.35 | ~$3,812 |
| Hockinson area, unincorporated (lowest TCA) | $6.74 | $4,044 |
| Yacolt¹ | ~$6.99 | ~$4,193 |
| Battle Ground (Hockinson SD edge) | $8.19 | $4,917 |
| Camas (Camas SD) | $8.94 | $5,361 |
| Washougal | $9.35 | $5,607 |
| La Center | $9.31 | $5,588 |
| Woodland (Clark County portion) | $9.41 | $5,646 |
| Camas (Evergreen SD) | $9.58 | $5,746 |
| Ridgefield¹ | ~$9.61 | ~$5,766 |
| Vancouver (Vancouver SD) | $9.69–$9.72 | $5,811–$5,831 |
| Vancouver (Evergreen SD) | $10.10–$10.13 | $6,058–$6,078 |
| Highest unincorporated TCA (Evergreen SD + Fire Dist. 6) | $10.18 | $6,108 |
¹ Computed from the Treasurer's published 2026 district rates (state, county, school, city, fire, library, and port components), since these tax code areas span multiple pages of the county report. Every component rate is official; the sum is ours. Verify any specific parcel using the lookup method at the end of this post.
Notice what jumps out: Battle Ground, one of the county's fastest-growing cities, has the lowest city-resident tax rate in Clark County — roughly a third less than Vancouver. And two Camas addresses can differ by $385 a year on the same home value depending on which side of the school district line they sit.
How a Washington property tax bill is actually built
Washington property tax isn't one tax. It's a stack of separate levies from every taxing district that serves your parcel, added together. A typical Clark County bill includes:
The state school levy ($2.22 in 2026) — identical everywhere in Washington. The county levy (about $0.74), also uniform countywide. Then the variables: your city (Vancouver levies $3.77 per $1,000 — the affordable housing levy and a lid lift included — while Ridgefield levies just $0.58), your school district (more on this below), your fire district (anywhere from $0 if your city runs its own fire department to nearly $1.89), plus smaller slices for the port district, the Fort Vancouver Regional Library ($0.50 — unless you're in Camas, which runs its own city library and skips the FVRL levy entirely), and in some areas a metropolitan parks district or cemetery district.
This is why "what's the property tax rate in Clark County?" has no single answer. The Assessor certifies a distinct combined rate for each of the county's tax code areas — the unique stack of districts serving that exact spot. Two houses a mile apart can sit in different stacks.
One mechanical note that surprises transplants: per the Treasurer, your 2026 bill is calculated on assessed value certified in the prior calendar year — values certified in one year set the next year's taxes. If the market moved after your purchase, your bill lags it.
The two "1% rules" (and why your bill still went up)
Washington has two separate limits that both get called "the 1% cap," and conflating them causes most of the confusion I hear from clients.
Rule one: the 1%-of-value ceiling. The state constitution and statute cap all regular (non-voter-approved) levies, combined, at 1% of a property's value — $10 per $1,000. That's why even the highest stacks in Clark County land just above or below $10: the regular levies are pinned under the ceiling, and anything above it had to be approved by voters.
Rule two: the 1% revenue growth limit. Separately, a taxing district that collected $100 last year may generally collect only $101 this year, plus an allowance for new construction — regardless of how much home values rose. This is the quiet reason rising values don't translate directly into rising taxes: when values jump, the rate typically falls, because the district's total take can only grow 1%.
So why did your bill go up more than 1%? Two reasons, per the Assessor's office: voter-approved levies and bonds sit outside both limits — and they make up roughly 25% to 35% of a typical Clark County bill — and if your home's value rose faster than your neighbors', a larger share of the district's levy shifts onto you even when the total pie barely grows. The cap protects the county's taxpayers in aggregate. It does not protect you specifically.
School districts move the needle more than city limits
Here's the number that should change how you read listings: in 2026, the Battle Ground School District levies $0.45 per $1,000. Evergreen School District levies $3.93. Same county, nine-fold difference.
That gap is mostly the residue of local elections — enrichment levies, technology levies, and construction bonds that voters approved (or didn't). Battle Ground's voters have a long history of rejecting school funding measures; Evergreen's, Vancouver's ($3.52), Washougal's ($3.55), Ridgefield's ($3.52), and Camas's ($3.27) voters have approved them. Whatever you make of that civically — and there's a real trade-off between a lower tax bill and what those levies fund — it's the dominant variable in your future tax bill, bigger than the city levy in most cases.
Practical implication: a "Vancouver" mailing address tells you almost nothing. Vancouver addresses span the Vancouver and Evergreen school districts, inside and outside city limits, across multiple fire districts — a roughly $1.9-per-$1,000 spread among this single mailing city. Check the parcel, not the postmark.
For the Portland transplant running the math
If you're comparing this against your Multnomah County tax bill, know that the two states' systems aren't directly comparable on sticker rate. Oregon taxes a capped assessed value that often sits far below your home's market value, at high nominal rates; Washington taxes something close to full market value, at lower rates and with the 1% growth discipline described above. The honest comparison requires holding a specific house and price constant — and folding in the income tax you'd stop paying and the excise tax you'd pay when selling. That full workup is a companion post we're publishing soon; until it's live, it's exactly what we walk through with relocating clients on a strategy call.
How to check the exact rate for a house you're considering
Before you write an offer, look up the actual parcel — it takes two minutes. Pull the property up in the county's Property Information Center, note its tax code area, and match it against the 2026 levy rate report. You'll see the full stack: every district, every rate, and the total. While you're there, check the current assessed value against the asking price; a big gap in either direction tells you something about where the bill is headed.
Two more things worth knowing. Washington has a meaningful property tax exemption program for seniors and people with disabilities — income thresholds were recently raised, and the savings are substantial because exempt households skip most voter-approved levies. And if a school bond or levy lid lift is on an upcoming ballot in your target district, your projected bill should account for it; the 1% caps won't shield you from measures that pass.
If you want a second set of eyes on the full carrying cost of a specific home — taxes, insurance, the works — that's exactly the kind of judgment call we do every day. Book a Strategy Call.