Taxes & Insurance in Amherst
Amherst carries a genuinely high property tax rate for Massachusetts, the state's standard flat income tax and uniform sales tax, and a real, disclosed, and honestly explained finding on tax-bill affordability relative to resident income.
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Learn moreA genuinely high property tax rate
Amherst's total FY2025-26 property tax mil rate ran $17.95 per $1,000 of assessed value -- the 14th-highest in Massachusetts -- producing a real average FY2026 single-family tax bill of $9,693, an effective rate of roughly 1.79% genuinely above the state's 1.00%-1.17% average.
Massachusetts's statewide income and sales tax structure
Massachusetts's real flat 5% state income tax rate applies to most Amherst residents' income, with a real, additional 4% surtax on taxable income above $1,107,750. Massachusetts's uniform 6.25% sales tax, with no local add-on, applies statewide.
The least-affordable-by-income finding, explained honestly
A 2025 Amherst Indy analysis found Amherst leads Massachusetts in average tax bill as a share of per-capita income -- a real, distinct affordability measure from the rate itself, substantially explained by Amherst's large student population depressing the town's per-capita-income denominator. This record discloses the mechanism rather than letting the headline finding stand unexplained.
No Amherst-specific homeowners-insurance premium figure identified this session
This research pass did not independently verify an Amherst-specific homeowners insurance premium figure -- disclosed as a real gap rather than filled with an invented estimate; see the state hub record for Massachusetts's real, disclosed statewide premium range.
Key takeaways
- Amherst's property tax rate ($17.95/$1,000) is the 14th-highest in Massachusetts, producing a $9,693 average FY2026 bill.
- Massachusetts's flat 5% income tax (plus the 4% surtax above $1,107,750) and uniform 6.25% sales tax apply statewide.
- Amherst's 'least affordable by income' finding is substantially explained by its large student population's effect on per-capita income, not an extreme rate alone.
- No Amherst-specific homeowners-insurance figure was independently verified this session.
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