Why a Bucks tax rate looks alarming
Bucks County has not reassessed property since 1972. Every bill in the county still runs off a 1972 number, so a house that sells for $500,000 today might be assessed at $28,000, and the rate has to be huge to raise anything against it.
The state publishes a conversion factor for exactly this reason. For documents accepted between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027, the Bucks common level ratio factor is 17.86 (Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, July 2026). Multiply an assessment by 17.86 and you get roughly what the county’s own math says the house is worth: a $30,000 assessment implies about $536,000.
On top of the school rate, the county itself charges 29.65 mills for 2026, made up of 24.0035 general, 3.4764 debt, 1.1777 community college and 0.9924 parks (county millage sheet, printed February 4, 2026). Your township or borough adds a third rate on the same assessment.
What every district did for 2026–27
| District | 2026–27 change | Millage | The detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Bucks | +5.7% | not published | +$344 on a $40,000 assessment; sixth straight increase |
| Bensalem | +4.2% | 188.947 | |
| Bristol Borough | +7 mills | not printed by the district | First increase in 15 years; +$159.46 a year; rate was 154.00 for 2025–26 |
| Bristol Township | +4.6% | 237.1744 | Up from 226.742; about +$196 a year |
| Centennial | +3.5% | not published | +$225 on a roughly $40,000 assessment that was paying $6,407 |
| Council Rock | +3.5% | 149.9692 | Up from 144.8978 |
| Morrisville | +4.1% | 279.8613 | Up from 268.8389; highest rate in the county |
| Neshaminy | +4.1% | 198.0124 | Up from 190.2137 |
| Pennridge | +3.0% | 144.3949 | Up from 140.1892; homestead relief $339.04 |
| Pennsbury | +3.5% | not published |
Sources: Bucks County Herald and WFMZ for Central Bucks; Patch for Centennial; the Northampton and Lower Southampton tax collectors for Council Rock and Neshaminy; LevittownNow for both Bristols; the district’s own PDE budget filing for Morrisville; pennridge.org for Pennridge; Suburban Realtors Alliance briefs for Bensalem and Pennsbury.
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The two that hadn’t published
Two districts are missing from that table on purpose. Quakertown Community and New Hope-Solebury had not published a confirmed 2026–27 figure anywhere we could reach it by the time this page went up, and a school tax number is the wrong place to guess. Call the district business office, or ask the seller for last year’s bill and treat it as a floor.
What a mill costs, worked twice
A mill is a dollar per thousand dollars of assessed value. Stack all three rates and you get the real number.
In Bristol Township, the township charges 24.98 mills, the county 29.65, and the school district 237.1744 for 2026–27. That’s 291.80 mills. On a $20,000 assessment, roughly $5,836 a year, and the February bill adds a $400 refuse fee and a $30.25 streetlight fee on top (township 2026 budget). Call it an estimate; your parcel’s assessment is its own number.
In Northampton Township, where Richboro sits, it’s 35.25 township, 29.65 county and 149.9692 for Council Rock: 214.87 mills. On the township’s $40,000 median assessment, about $8,595 a year before any homestead exclusion, with a $575 refuse fee billed separately.
Same county, wildly different results, and the millage alone told you nothing until the assessment showed up.
The two calendars
Bucks bills you twice a year from two different offices, and the discount windows are worth knowing before your first tax season.
School bills mail July 1. In the districts that publish the schedule, there’s a 2% discount through August 31, the face amount from September 1 through October 31, and a 10% penalty starting November 1. County and municipal bills mail in February or March with a 2% discount through April 30, the face amount through June 30, and a penalty after that.
If your escrow account is running, the lender pays those bills and the discount question is theirs. In the first year it’s often yours, because a summer settlement can land days before or after the July school bill.
How the lender turns this into your payment
The lender adds the school, county and municipal taxes for the parcel, divides by twelve, and collects it monthly with the loan payment and the homeowner’s insurance, plus a small cushion the servicer is allowed to hold. That’s the escrow.
Two things move it in the first eighteen months. The homestead exclusion, once your application is approved, cuts the school portion and the escrow gets re-run. And a district that raises 4% or 5% moves the monthly number the following July, which is why an escrow shortage letter shows up in a lot of Bucks mailboxes in the fall.
Ask the listing agent for the actual bills, all three, before you write the offer. A house priced the same in two districts is not the same house at the closing table.