For Pittsburgh property owners, there’s no escaping a triple tax whammy.
The city and school district are raising property taxes in 2026, piling on the pain of a 36% hike by Allegheny County that took effect this year.
With the three tax increases, a Pittsburgh resident with a property assessed at $100,000 will owe an extra $350 in property taxes.
Outgoing city Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, was among the most vocal opponents of the city’s added tax burden.
She worried a trio of hikes would be more than some residents could afford.
“It’s the collective impact,” Kail-Smith told TribLive on Monday. “It’s the increase in school, the increase in the county, the increase in the city. It’s also combined with higher grocery prices. Utility bills are really escalating significantly.”
All three taxing bodies have struggled in recent years to keep their budgets afloat. All three bumped up taxes to make ends meet.
The county this year boosted its property taxes by 36%, propelling its millage rate to 6.43 from 4.73.
A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
That means someone with a home assessed at $100,000 now pays $643 to the county each year, compared to $473 before the increase.
On Sunday, Pittsburgh voted for a 20% tax hike.
And Pittsburgh Public Schools last week approved a 2% tax increase.
County residents can breathe one sigh of relief. In its 2026 budget, County Executive Sara Innamorato managed to avoid another tax increase.
County officials looked to rein in spending through various tactics, including cutting 35 vacant positions, reducing staffing ratios at the Kane Community Living Centers and centralizing information technology systems.
With its vote to approve a $693 million budget, City Council increased its millage rate to 9.67 from 8.06.
The hike was a topic of significant debate among council members, who ultimately scaled back the initial proposal to raise taxes by 30%.
A majority of council members supported a tax increase, arguing they could not balance a budget without slashing core services — something many did not want to do — or bringing in additional tax revenue.
The city tax hike means a homeowner with a house assessed at $100,000 will pay $967 in property taxes to the city next year, up from $806.
Pittsburgh Public Schools’ new tax rate will increase the millage to 10.457 from 10.25.
That will swell property tax bills on a house assessed at $100,000 to about $1,045 from $1,025.
Even with that increase, district officials are projecting a $5.7 million operating deficit in 2026. The district had to raid its reserve fund in its 2025 budget.
The increases come as the taxing bodies are facing serious financial pressure.
Officials have blamed the lack of a countywide property reassessment, skyrocketing costs and the declining values of Downtown commercial properties that have seen less demand since the covid-19 pandemic popularized remote work.
Federal covid-19 relief dollars are also running out, and the city this year was stripped of about $4 million in annual revenue from a tax on out-of-town professional athletes and performers that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional.
Prior to the most recent increases, the county and city had both held their property tax rates steady for more than a decade. Pittsburgh Public Schools last raised taxes in 2022.
