City Emmetsburg is a city in Iowa, in Palo Alto County.
The median owner-occupied home in Emmetsburg had a real-estate tax bill of $1,548 (± $220) a year, compared with $2,795 in Iowa and $2,969 nationwide. The median home value was $114,600 (± $10,352), compared with $195,900 in Iowa and $303,400 nationwide.
| Measure | Emmetsburg | Iowa | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,651 ± 51 | 3,195,937 | 332,387,540 |
| Median annual property tax bill (homeowners) | $1,548 ± $220 | $2,795 ± $14 | $2,969 ± $3 |
| Median home value | $114,600 ± $10,352 | $195,900 ± $929 | $303,400 ± $362 |
| Median household income | $57,353 ± $8,753 | $73,147 ± $438 | $78,538 ± $176 |
| Property tax as a share of home value (calculated) | 1.35% ± 0.23 points | 1.43% ± 0.01 points | 0.98% ± under 0.01 points |
| Homes lived in by their owners | 69.9% ± 5.6 points | 71.5% ± 0.3 points | 65.0% ± 0.3 points |
| Owner households headed by someone 65 or older | 40.8% ± 8.0 points | 31.1% ± 0.2 points | 32.6% ± 0.2 points |
| Owners spending 30% or more of income on housing costs | 11.8% ± 5.8 pointsrough guide only: the margin of error is 50% of the estimate | 16.8% ± 0.3 points | 22.2% ± 0.1 points |
How to read these numbers
- These are estimates from a survey, not a count. The American Community Survey asks a sample of households. The ± figure is the Census Bureau’s margin of error: the true value is very likely within that range of the estimate. Small places have large margins.
- “Too imprecise to report” means the margin of error is at least half of the estimate, so printing the number would suggest accuracy that does not exist. A “rough guide only” note means the margin is a quarter to a half of the estimate.
- Property tax bill and home value are medians for owner-occupied homes. Half of the homes are above the figure and half below. A median bill is not the rate set by a city or town; the bill combines taxes levied by every local government that serves the home, such as the school district and county.
- “Calculated” rows are worked out by Untax the Roof from the Census figures above them. They compare two medians, so they describe the place, not a particular household.
- Missing is not zero. Where the Census Bureau publishes no figure, this page says so.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2019–2023: tables B25103 (real estate taxes), B25077 (home value), B19013 (household income), B01003 (population), B25003 (owners and renters), B25007 (age of householder), B25091 (housing costs as a share of income); see the Census ACS data page.
If property taxes go unpaid in Iowa
How it works. County annual tax sale transfers delinquent-tax lien through certificate of purchase; unredeemed certificate may mature into treasurer deed
Excess sale money. Ordinary tax sale is a certificate/lien transaction rather than a property auction, so there is no simple auction-overbid surplus analogous to a sheriff deed sale in the cited chapters. No separate former-owner equity-payment rule was verified in Chapters 446-448; retain as an unresolved legal-research item rather than infer one
These rules are set by Iowa, not by Emmetsburg, so this section is the same for every place in the state. Last verified 2026-09-25. See the full Iowa entry with statute links.