What a Bay City home costs each year
Property tax, water, trash and energy from public rates. Look up your address to make it yours, and see how to pay less.
Suggestions as you type come from Google; the lookup uses free public map services to find who serves it. Not stored unless you save your house.
Starts at $48,800 of taxable value. Typical use.
- Property tax$2,280
6.473% of $48,800 taxable value, with the principal residence exemption
- Electricity and gas$1,915
575.9 kWh a month $960 · 68.74 therms $954
- Water and sewer$1,930
9 units (CCF) a month on City of Bay City: water $74, sewer $87 a month
- Trash$223
96-gallon trash cart with yard waste and recycling, $19 a month
- Home insurance$1,056
Typical premium $1,056
A typical Bay City house costs about $7,400 a year: $2,280 property tax and charges, $1,930 water and sewer, $220 trash, $1,910 electricity and gas, $1,060 home insurance. Estimated from public rates, not anyone's actual bill.
Rates checked Oct 28, 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:
Principal Residence Exemption
A principal residence exemption exempts an owner's principal residence from the local school operating millage, up to 18 mills.
How: File a Principal Residence Exemption Affidavit (Form 2368) with the assessor for the city where the property is located.
Lower incomes: Michigan Homestead Property Tax CreditUp to $1,900
Tax year 2025 limits: maximum taxable value $165,400, total household resources limit $71,500, phase-out above $62,500, credit limit $1,900.
How: See the Michigan Department of Treasury's Homestead Property Tax Credit information.
Money dates
- Feb 14in 102 daysWinter taxes are payable December 1 through February 14 without interest
- Jun 1File a Principal Residence Exemption Affidavit by June 1 to lower that year's taxes starting with the summer levy
Who serves this house
- Water
- City of Bay City
- City water rates: monthly customer charge for a 5/8 inch meter, a monthly service pipe lead abatement charge, a volume charge per CCF and a Purchased Water Cost Adjustment per CCF
- Property tax
- 6.47% of value
- 2025 total rates, Bay City / Bay City School District
- Garbage
- City of Bay City Sanitation
- Single family dwelling pick-up and disposal services, including yard waste and recycling, for a monthly fee
- Sewer
- City of Bay City
- Sewage rates: monthly customer charge by meter size plus a commodity charge per CCF
- Electricity
- Bay City Electric Light & Power
- Residential rate has inside-city and outside-city customer charges
- Gas
- Consumers Energy
- Bay City is listed in Consumers Energy gas territory
Other MI cities
Beverly Hills home costsMount Pleasant home costsWyoming home costsBattle Creek home costsGrand Rapids home costsSaginaw home costsMarquette home costsMidland home costsOwosso home costsWayne home costsAnn Arbor home costsLincoln Park home costsFlint home costsGarden City home costsWalker home costsJackson home costsNiles home costs
How these numbers are made
- Property tax: the State of Michigan 2025 total rate for Bay City with Bay City School District is 46.7281 mills for a principal residence and 64.7281 mills otherwise; the 18-mill difference is the school operating millage a Principal Residence Exemption removes. 2026 rates are not yet published by the State.
- Taxable value: we start at half the Census median value of owner-occupied housing units ($97,600), because Michigan taxable value is about half of market value. No assessor-published median was found. Enter your own taxable value from your bill. Census median value is ACS 5-year table B25077 (median value, owner-occupied housing units).
- Water and sewer: the city rate page, volume rates effective 2/1/2025 (the latest printed): water $5.48 per CCF plus the $0.08 per CCF Purchased Water Cost Adjustment, a $21.80 monthly customer charge (5/8 inch meter) plus the $2.00 lead service pipe charge; sewer $25.54 monthly (5/8 inch, inside city) plus $6.83 per CCF. No later increase was found published. The water use default is generic.
- Garbage: $18.55 per month per single family dwelling from the City Solid Waste Fee Schedule (10/1/23 rate). A $3 increase to $21.55 was only proposed in May 2026 news coverage and no adoption was found, so it is not used. The FY2026-27 budget was adopted June 15, 2026; no source found states whether the $3 sanitation increase was included, and the fee schedule PDF (View/409) could not be read past its index.
- Electricity: Bay City Electric Light & Power (city-owned) 4/1/2024 schedule, inside city, with winter and summer energy charges weighted 8 and 4 months plus the clean energy surcharge and low income adder. The Power Supply Cost Recovery adjustment (average purchased power cost above a $0.0659 per kWh base) changes monthly and is not included, so the bill can differ. Typical use is the EIA average for this utility (124,579 MWh over 18,028 customers). Gas: Consumers Energy per the MPSC September 1, 2026 comparison, converted at 1.037 therms per Ccf; gas use is the Michigan EIA average. BCELP is a municipal utility and is not on the MPSC PSCR factor list; no current monthly PSCR factor or post-2024 base rate change was found published.
- Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.
- City of Bay City water and sewer rates
- City of Bay City License and Fee Schedule (solid waste fees)
- Bay City Electric Light & Power rate schedule
- Michigan Treasury 2025 total property tax rates
- Census ACS median home value, Bay City
- Michigan Treasury: Principal Residence Exemption
- Michigan Treasury: partial PRE
- Consumers Energy gas rate book, territory
- EIA electric utility sales table
- City of Bay City tax bill payments
- Property-Assessment
- ng_cons_sum_dcu_SMI_a.htm
- ng_cons_num_dcu_SMI_a.htm
- gasrates.pdf
- facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance
- claim-requirement
- tax-year-2025-guidance
- City of Bay City trash collection
How Bay City compares
A typical Bay City house against the 18 Michigan cities we cover, using the same default numbers as the total above.
| Per year | Bay City | Median | Where it falls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property tax rate | 6.47% | 6.17% | higher than 10 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover |
| Water | $886 | $622 | higher than 15 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover |
| Sewer and utility-bill fees | $1,044 | $750 | higher than 13 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover |
| Trash | $223 | $227 | lower than 5 of the other 8 Michigan cities we cover |
| Electricity and gas | $1,915 | $2,762 | lower than 14 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover |
| Home insurance | $1,056 | $1,056 | in the middle of 16 other Michigan cities we cover |
| Total | $7,404 | $8,299 | lower than 13 of the other 17 Michigan 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. Water
The fact: Water here costs about $886 a year at typical use, higher than 15 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover.
Ask: "Water here costs about $886 a year at typical use, higher than 15 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"
2. Sewer and utility-bill fees
The fact: Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here come to about $1,044 a year, higher than 13 of the other 17 Michigan 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 $1,044 a year, higher than 13 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"
3. Electricity and gas
The fact: Electricity and gas for a typical house here cost about $1,915 a year, lower than 14 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover. Rates are set mostly by the utility and the state.
Ask: "Electricity and gas here cost about $1,915 a year for a typical house, lower than 14 of the other 17 Michigan cities we cover. Which parts of that can the city influence, and what would you do about them?"
Common questions about Bay City house costs
What is the property tax rate in Bay City?
About 4.67% of taxable value a year for an owner's principal residence, or 6.47% without the Principal Residence Exemption (2025 total rates, Bay City / Bay City School District).
How much is property tax on a $500,000 house in Bay City?
A house bought for $500,000 starts at about $250,000 of taxable value (50% of its value), so about $11,682 a year with the principal residence exemption. After that, taxable value rises by inflation or 5%, whichever is lower, until the house sells again.
How much is the water bill in Bay City?
About $161 a month for water and sewer at typical use (9 units, or 6,732 gallons a month) on City of Bay City.
How much does trash pickup cost in Bay City?
$19 a month for a house.
Can seniors lower their property tax or bills in Bay City?
Yes. Lower incomes: Michigan Homestead Property Tax Credit: Tax year 2025 limits: maximum taxable value $165,400, total household resources limit $71,500, phase-out above $62,500, credit limit $1,900.
How much does a house in Bay City cost to run each year?
A typical Bay City house costs about $7,400 a year: $2,280 property tax and charges, $1,930 water and sewer, $220 trash, $1,910 electricity and gas, $1,060 home insurance. Estimated from public rates, not anyone's actual bill.