Lexington, KY · Updated Oct 2026

What a Lexington house pays

Property tax, water, trash and energy from public rates. Look up your address to make it yours, and see how to pay less.

Sent only to free public map services to find who serves it. Not stored unless you save your house.

Example · a Lexington house

$9,182a year · $765 a month

Starts at the typical market value, $293,500; your assessed value is often lower. Typical use.

Property tax$3,698
1.260% of $293,500
Electricity and gas$2,851
1097.1 kWh a month $1,755 · 53.51 therms $1,013 · Fayette County Schools 3% utility tax $83
Water and sewer$1,274
5.388 units (CCF) a month on Kentucky American Water: water $54, sewer $41, water quality management fee (stormwater, one eru for a single-family home) $6, landfill fee (homes with city waste pick-up) $5 a month
TrashIncluded
City pickup in Tax District 1, funded by the district's property tax
Home insurance$1,359
Typical premium $1,359

A Lexington house at the typical market value ($293,500) pays about $9,200 a year: $3,700 property tax and charges, $1,270 water and sewer, $2,850 electricity and gas, $1,360 home insurance; trash is paid through property tax. Estimated from public rates, not anyone's actual bill.

Rates checked Oct 22, 2026. Insurance: what you enter, or a typical premium until you do. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Ways to pay less

Nothing here applies to every house automatically. These are worth checking:

Seniors 65+ or totally disabled: homestead exemption$49,100 off assessed value
Owners who will be 65 or older during the year, or who are classified as totally disabled and receive disability payments, can take $49,100 (the 2026 amount) off the assessed value of the home they own and live in as their primary residence. Disabled applicants must keep the disability classification for the entire calendar year. Only one exemption is allowed per residence.
How: Send the one-page application with proof of age or disability to the Fayette County PVA by fax, email or mail (101 E. Vine Street, Suite 600); call (859) 246-2722 ext 238 for a mailed application.
Pay your property tax by November 1 for a 2% discount2% off the bill
Fayette County tax bills paid from October 1 through November 1, 2026 get a 2% discount; from November 2 the face amount is due.
How: Pay online, by mail to the Fayette County Sheriff (PO Box 34148, Lexington, KY 40588-4148), in person at the Sheriff's office, or at a Lexington Republic Bank lobby until January 31.
Help with sewer, water quality and landfill feesPays a portion of monthly LEXserv fees
Residents enrolled in the city's sewer and landfill user fee program may get financial aid toward their monthly sewer, water quality and landfill fees owed to LEXserv. Clients must be certified each year.
How: Call Community & Resident Services at (859) 300-5300 for information or an appointment.
Sewer fee adjustment for leaks, pool fills or irrigationAdjustment on the LEXserv bill
If your LEXserv bill is higher because of a leak, pool fill or irrigation, you may be eligible for a sewer user fee adjustment.
How: Ask LEXserv: (859) 280-8047 or 1 (888) 987-8111, info.lexserv@lexingtonky.gov.
Free bulky item pickupMattresses, furniture, appliances, up to 4 tires a week
Bulky item pickup is free for households with city waste collection. Most items, such as mattresses and box springs, go to the curb on your regular collection day; appliances and tires (up to four a week, off the rims) need a special pickup.
How: Schedule appliance or tire pickups through LexCall at 311 or (859) 425-2255, online, or with the LexCall app.
Free trash disposal daysOne pickup truckload free
Fayette County residents can drop off up to one pickup truckload of non-hazardous household waste free at the Bluegrass Regional Transfer Station, 1505 Old Frankfort Pike, on free trash disposal days, offered four times a year.
How: Check the city's waste collection page for the next date.

Adjust to match your bills

What you know

Value before exemptionsRates shown are for Tax District 1 (full urban services: waste collection, street lights and street cleaning), 1.2598 per $100 in 2026. Other districts pay less and get fewer services: District 5 (waste collection and street lights) 1.2508, District 3 (waste collection only) 1.2238, District 4 (street lights only, no city trash) 1.1138, District 2 (general services only) 1.0868. Homes in the Downtown Lexington Management District pay an extra $0.10 per $100.

Home insurance, a yearFrom your policy. We start at $1,359, Kentucky statewide average HO-3 homeowners premium for 2022 (NAIC data via Triple-I).

Your use

Water, units a month

On your water bill. 1 unit (CCF) is 748 gallons. A typical Lexington house uses about 5.388.

Electricity, kWh a month

On your Kentucky Utilities (KU) bill. An electric car adds about 300 kWh.

Gas, therms a month (yearly average)

Money dates

Oct 1 – Nov 1todayPay the property tax bill with a 2% discount.
Nov 2 – Dec 31in 10 daysPay the property tax bill at the face amount.
Jan 1 – Jan 31in 70 daysUnpaid property tax bills are paid with a 5% penalty.
Feb 1 – Apr 15in 101 daysUnpaid property tax bills carry a 10% penalty plus a 10% add-on; bills not paid by April 15, 2027 become delinquent with a 21% penalty and go to the Fayette County Clerk.

Who serves this house

Water: Kentucky American Water; Kentucky American Water residential rates approved by the Kentucky PSC from December 16, 2025: a $19.89 monthly service charge for a 5/8-inch meter plus $7.8656 per 1,000 gallons. A Kentucky River Authority fee of $0.0286 per 100 gallons, on the tariff sheet effective March 31, 2026, is also charged to customers supplied water from the Kentucky River
Property tax: 1.26% of value; 2026 tax year, Fayette County
Garbage: Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (city waste collection); Green trash, blue recycling and gray yard waste carts for homes with city waste collection; trash is picked up weekly
Sewer: Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (billed by LEXserv); Sanitary sewer fee based on water use: $9.56 for the first 100 cubic feet and $7.20 for each additional 100 cubic feet
Electricity: Kentucky Utilities (KU); Rate RS residential service: $0.58 basic service charge a day
Gas: Columbia Gas of Kentucky; Rate Schedule GSR residential: $21.25 customer charge per billing period
Schools: Fayette County Public Schools; School real property tax rate in the PVA's 2026 table: 0.797 per $100 of assessed value

Pay or manage your bills

Your water

Source: Kentucky American Water's service territory is supplied water from the Kentucky River.
Standards: Kentucky American Water says the drinking water it provides meets or surpasses both state and federal water quality standards.

Other KY cities

What a Louisville house pays What a Independence house pays What a Georgetown house pays What a Shelbyville house pays What a Bowling Green house pays What a Fort Thomas house pays What a Covington house pays What a Erlanger house pays What a Mount Washington house pays What a St. Matthews house pays What a Elizabethtown house pays What a Richmond house pays What a Versailles house pays What a Bardstown house pays What a Lyndon house pays What a Shepherdsville house pays What a Alexandria house pays

How these numbers are made

Lexington-Fayette is one urban county government, but the property tax rate depends on which urban services your street gets. We use Tax District 1 (full urban services: city waste collection, street lights and street cleaning), which held about 75% of the 101,590 residential parcels in the county's parcel map (LFUCG GIS, CLASS R, by TAX code) when we checked; District 5 (waste collection and street lights) held about 8%, and the other districts 6% or less each.
Property tax: the Fayette County PVA's 2026 rates for District 1, 1.2598 per $100 in all: state 10.3 cents, Fayette County Public Schools 79.7, LFUCG general services 7.5 and full urban services 17.3, Lextran 6.0, Health Department 2.43, Park Fund 2.25, Extension 0.4 and Soil & Water 0.1, on the value you enter. The starting value is the Census median value of owner-occupied homes in Lexington-Fayette, $293,500; your PVA assessment may differ. Kentucky's $49,100 homestead exemption is only for owners 65 and older or totally disabled, so it is listed as a tip, not taken off the typical bill.
Trash is part of the District 1 property tax, so it shows no separate price; the $4.50 monthly landfill fee that LEXserv bills homes with city waste pick-up is counted with the $6.18 monthly Water Quality Management Fee (one ERU for a single-family home).
Water: Kentucky American Water's rates from December 16, 2025 (PSC Case No. 2025-00122), the $19.89 monthly service charge for a 5/8-inch meter and $7.8656 per 1,000 gallons (about $5.88 per CCF), plus the Kentucky River Authority fee of $0.0286 per 100 gallons (tariff sheet effective March 31, 2026), with the Fayette County Schools 3% utility tax added to both. Kentucky American Water has asked the PSC for higher rates, which could take effect on an interim basis in December 2026; they are not included. Starting use is the 4,030 gallons a month of Kentucky American Water's typical residential customer (about 5.4 CCF). Sewer: LFUCG's fee from July 1, 2026, $9.56 for the first 100 cubic feet and $7.20 for each additional 100 cubic feet, applied to the water use you enter (in spring and summer LFUCG bills the lower of actual use and the previous fall/winter average, which is not modeled).
Electricity: KU Rate RS from August 14, 2026, $0.58 a day (about $17.64 a month) and $0.11234 per kWh, plus the August 2026 billing adjustments (fuel adjustment -$0.00188 and DSM $0.00154 per kWh; environmental cost recovery -0.11%, applied to the whole bill) and the $0.30 Home Energy Assistance charge, all increased by LFUCG's 4% franchise fee. These adjustments change every month; retired asset and pilot generation recovery factors were not on KU's published adjustment table and are not included. Starting use is KU's 2024 Kentucky residential average from EIA (about 1,097 kWh a month). A few rural parts of the county are served by Blue Grass Energy or Clark Energy instead.
Gas: Columbia Gas of Kentucky Rate GSR, $21.25 per billing period plus the $0.30 Energy Assistance Program surcharge and $0.07 energy efficiency charge, and $10.3372 per Mcf (delivery charge and the gas cost adjustment effective August 27, 2026) plus the SMRP rider ($1.3382) and research and development charge ($0.0125), converted to therms at 10.37 therms per Mcf, all increased by 3%, the franchise fee in LFUCG's 2013 gas franchise ordinance (it allows LFUCG to raise it to 5%; we did not find the current percentage). The gas cost adjustment changes during the year. Starting use is Kentucky's 2025 residential average from EIA (about 54 therms a month). Utility tax: Fayette County Public Schools levies the 3% utility gross receipts license tax (2025-26, the latest year in the state's table), added here to electricity and gas, and to water above. Kentucky sales tax on residential utilities does not apply at a primary residence. Insurance is the 2022 Kentucky statewide average HO-3 premium (NAIC data via Triple-I), about four years old; we did not find a newer NAIC figure for Kentucky, and other published averages differ, so treat it as a rough starting point and replace it with your own premium.
Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.

Sources

How Lexington compares

A typical Lexington house against the 11 Kentucky cities we cover, using the same default numbers as the total above.

Per year	Lexington	Median	Where it falls
Property tax rate	1.26%	1.32%	lower than 9 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover
Water	$652	$535	higher than 8 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover
Sewer and utility-bill fees	$622	$745	lower than 8 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover
Electricity and gas	$2,851	$2,751	higher than 6 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover
Home insurance	$1,359	$1,359	in the middle of 10 other Kentucky cities we cover
Total	$9,182	$8,812	higher than 7 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover

Cities bill differently (some put trash on the tax bill, some cover more services), so a higher number isn't necessarily worse. The property tax rate is compared instead of dollars because house values differ.

Questions to ask your candidates

Each one starts from a number above. Any candidate can answer them.

1. Property tax rate

The fact: Lexington's property tax rate is 1.26%, lower than 9 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover. The rate adds up every agency on the bill, not only the city.

Ask: "Property tax in Lexington is 1.26%, lower than 9 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover. What should that money pay for first, and would you change anything about how it is set?"

2. Water

The fact: Water here costs about $652 a year at typical use, higher than 8 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover.

Ask: "Water here costs about $652 a year at typical use, higher than 8 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"

3. Sewer and utility-bill fees

The fact: Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here come to about $622 a year, lower than 8 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover. Some cities bill sewer on the property tax bill instead, which is not counted here.

Ask: "Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here cost about $622 a year, lower than 8 of the other 10 Kentucky cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"

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Common questions about Lexington house costs

What is the property tax rate in Lexington?

About 1.26% of the value before exemptions a year (2026 tax year, Fayette County), plus flat charges on the same bill.

How much is property tax on a $500,000 house in Lexington?

About $6,299 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions.

How much is the water bill in Lexington?

About $106 a month for water and sewer at typical use (5.388 units, or 4,030 gallons a month) on Kentucky American Water.

How much does trash pickup cost in Lexington?

City pickup in Tax District 1, funded by the district's property tax

When is property tax due in Lexington?

Jan 1 – Jan 31: Unpaid property tax bills are paid with a 5% penalty. Feb 1 – Apr 15: Unpaid property tax bills carry a 10% penalty plus a 10% add-on; bills not paid by April 15, 2027 become delinquent with a 21% penalty and go to the Fayette County Clerk.

Can seniors lower their property tax or bills in Lexington?

Yes. Seniors 65+ or totally disabled: homestead exemption: Owners who will be 65 or older during the year, or who are classified as totally disabled and receive disability payments, can take $49,100 (the 2026 amount) off the assessed value of the home they own and live in as their primary residence. Disabled applicants must keep the disability classification for the entire calendar year. Only one exemption is allowed per residence.

How much does a house in Lexington cost to run each year?

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