Clay County property tax: millage rates, homestead exemption and a worked bill

At a glance

How Clay County property tax is calculated

Your bill is your taxable value multiplied by the millage rate for your district, divided by 1,000. One mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of taxable value. The Property Appraiser sets the value as of January 1 and the Tax Collector sends the bill.

Levies every parcel pays

According to the Tax Collector's 2025 tax roll millage chart, every district in Clay pays four groups of levies: county services at 5.5471 mills, the conservation lands program at 0.2, the School Board at 6.272 in total, and the St. Johns River Water Management District at 0.1793. The school figure is made up of 3.024 for the state-required local effort, 1.748 of discretionary levies and 1.5 for capital outlay.

Levies that depend on where you are

The rest of the bill depends on your district. Unincorporated parcels pay the county's law enforcement levy (2.4014), fire control levy (0.5048) and unincorporated services levy (0.1477). Parcels inside a city pay that city's own rate instead of some of those county levies. Your district code, on the TRIM notice and the tax bill, tells you which set applies.

Clay County millage rates by city, 2025

Clay has four municipalities: Green Cove Springs, Keystone Heights, Orange Park and Penney Farms. Every other address, including Fleming Island, Middleburg, Oakleaf and Lake Asbury, is unincorporated and pays the county district rate. These are the final 2025 totals from the Tax Collector, which apply to the bills mailed in November 2025.

Why Penney Farms and Keystone Heights run highest

Both towns keep the county law enforcement and fire levies on top of their own rate, so a parcel there pays 2.9062 mills of county public safety levies plus the town's millage. Green Cove Springs drops the county law enforcement levy but keeps fire. Orange Park drops both, which is why its total sits below Keystone Heights even though its town rate is the highest in the county.

How the 2025 rates compare with 2024

The Florida Department of Revenue's Table 1 for Clay shows the county kept its county services rate at 5.5471, which is 5.3% above the rolled-back rate that would have raised the same money as the year before. Orange Park raised its rate from 5.7 to 5.95 mills. Keystone Heights cut from 3.8847 to 3.6073. Green Cove Springs (5.3) and Penney Farms (4.4535) held steady.

Worked example: property tax on a $340,000 Clay County home

Zillow's typical home value for Clay County was $336,192 in August 2026, so this example uses a home assessed at $340,000 in unincorporated Clay at the 2025 rate of 15.2523. That total splits into 6.272 school mills and 8.9803 non-school mills. The homestead exemption for 2025 was $25,000 off school taxes and $50,722 off everything else.

With the homestead exemption

• School taxable value: $340,000 minus $25,000 = $315,000. Tax: $315,000 x 6.272 / 1,000 = $1,975.68.
• Non-school taxable value: $340,000 minus $50,722 = $289,278. Tax: $289,278 x 8.9803 / 1,000 = $2,597.80.
• Total ad valorem tax: about $4,573. Paid in November with the 4% discount: about $4,391.

Without the homestead exemption

A rental, a second home or a home bought after January 1 is taxed on the full value until the exemption starts: $340,000 x 15.2523 / 1,000 = $5,185.78, or about $4,978 with the November discount. The homestead is worth about $612 in the first year, and more over time as the Save Our Homes cap keeps your assessed value below market.

The same home inside each city

Figures are before the early-payment discount and before any flat assessments.

What the example leaves out

Non-ad valorem assessments such as solid waste, a subdivision road MSBU or a CDD are added as flat amounts and vary by parcel. The seller's bill reflects their exemptions and capped value, which reset after a sale, so budget from your purchase price and check the Florida closing costs guide for how the current year's tax is split at closing.

Clay County homestead exemption and other exemptions

You apply for exemptions with the Clay County Property Appraiser, not the Tax Collector. The deadline is March 1 of the first year you want the exemption, and you must own the home and live in it as your permanent residence on January 1 of that year.

Homestead exemption

The first $25,000 of assessed value is exempt from all taxes, school included. A second exemption covers assessed value from $50,000 to $75,000 on non-school levies only. That second part is now adjusted for inflation each year, so the total non-school exemption was $50,722 for 2025 and is $51,411 for 2026. Our Florida homestead exemption guide covers who qualifies and the documents to bring.

Senior exemption for owners 65 and older

Florida lets each county and city grant an extra exemption of up to $50,000 to homesteaded owners who are at least 65 on January 1 and whose household adjusted gross income for the prior year is within the state limit, $38,686 for 2026. It only applies to the levies of governments that have adopted it, and you file proof of income by March 1. We could not confirm from an official source which Clay governments currently offer it, so ask the Property Appraiser which levies at your parcel include it before you count on the saving.

Other exemptions to ask about

Florida also has exemptions for widows and widowers, blind or totally and permanently disabled owners, and veterans with a service-connected disability.

Save Our Homes cap and portability

Once your homestead is in place, your assessed value can rise by no more than 3% a year or the change in the CPI, whichever is lower. The Department of Revenue set that cap at 2.9% for 2025 and 2.7% for 2026. The cap ends when the home sells, and the buyer is reassessed at market value on the next January 1. If you are moving from another Florida homestead, portability lets you bring up to $500,000 of your old cap benefit when you file for the new homestead by March 1. Property without a homestead has a separate 10% yearly cap on non-school levies. The statewide picture is in our Florida property tax guide.

Clay County property tax due dates, discounts and installments

The Clay County Tax Collector mails bills by November 1. Taxes are assessed as of January 1 but become payable on November 1, and you have until March 31 to pay the full amount.

Discount schedule

Mailed payments are judged by postmark. Unpaid taxes become delinquent April 1 with a 3% penalty, more fees are due from May 1, and a tax certificate sale is held on or before June 1.

How to pay

Pay online through the Tax Collector's county-taxes.net portal, by mail or at a branch. An e-check online is free, and card payments carry a 2.50% fee.

Installment payment plan

If your estimated taxes are over $100, you can pay quarterly. Apply to the Tax Collector by April 30. Each of the first two payments is a quarter of the prior year's tax, and the last two pick up any change in value or exemptions.

Miss the first payment by July 31 and you are dropped from the plan for that year. Once enrolled, you are re-enrolled automatically.

Partial payment plan

You can also pay the current year's bill in pieces between November 1 and March 31 by filing a partial payment application by mail or in person. Online partial payments are not accepted, and you give up the early-payment discount, so the full March amount is due.

Non-ad valorem charges on a Clay bill

Flat assessments appear below the millage section of your bill. The Tax Collector's 2025 chart lists county solid waste collection and disposal, subdivision road MSBUs in neighborhoods such as Eagle Landing, Double Branch and Royal Pointe, the Black Creek Hills water service MSBU, and Green Cove Springs stormwater and property abatement charges. It also lists more than 20 community development districts, such as Fleming Island Plantation and Two Creeks, plus PACE liens. Amounts differ by parcel, so read them off the current bill before you buy. Our Florida CDD fees guide explains how CDD debt works.

Your TRIM notice and how to appeal

In August the Property Appraiser mails a Truth in Millage (TRIM) notice. It is not a bill. It shows your values, exemptions, each authority's proposed rate and the dates of the September budget hearings where you can comment.

What to check on the notice

Make sure the homestead and any other exemptions are shown, the market value fits the home's condition on January 1, and the district code matches your address. A mailing address is not the same as city limits, so the code matters more than the city name.

Talk to the appraiser, then petition

Most value questions are settled by calling the Property Appraiser. If you still disagree, file a petition with the Clay County Value Adjustment Board within 25 days of the TRIM mailing date. That clock runs from August, not from November when the bill arrives.

How to look up property taxes in Clay County

Search your bill by owner name, address or parcel number on the Tax Collector's county-taxes.net portal. For values, exemptions and the parcel's district, use the Property Appraiser's property search at ccpao.com. To estimate a bill at a new purchase price, use the appraiser's estimate tools or apply the rates on this page to your price, as in the worked example above. For a neighboring county, see our Duval County and St. Johns County guides.

Amendment 3 on the November 2026 ballot

Florida voters decide Amendment 3 on November 3, 2026. As proposed, it would raise the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and cut the yearly assessment cap on non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. In unincorporated Clay, the extra $98,589 of exemption in 2027 would be worth about $885 a year at the 2025 non-school rate of 8.9803. Rates could change in response, so treat that as a rough figure. School taxes would not change under the measure.

Common questions

Sources

• Clay County Tax Collector: Millage rates and taxing authorities
• Clay County Tax Collector: 2025 tax roll millages (spreadsheet)
• Clay County Tax Collector: Due dates and discounts
• Clay County Tax Collector: Payment plans
• Clay County Tax Collector: Online property tax search and payment (link only)
• Clay County Property Appraiser: property search and tax estimator (link only)
• Florida Department of Revenue: Table 1, comparison of taxes levied, Clay, 2024-25 and 2025-26
• Florida Department of Revenue: Additional Homestead Exemption Adjustment (revised January 2026)
• Florida Department of Revenue: Save Our Homes annual increase table (revised January 2026)
• Florida Department of Revenue: Property Tax Information for Homestead Exemption (PT-113)
• Florida Department of Revenue: Property Tax Benefits for Persons 65 or Older (PT-110)
• Florida Department of Revenue: TRIM and Value Adjustment Board petitions (PT-101)
• Florida Statutes: section 197.162, discounts for early payment
• Florida Department of State: Proposed Constitutional Amendments, November 3, 2026