What a Brookings 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 the typical market value, $265,500; your assessed value is often lower. Typical use.
- Property tax$3,658
1.378% of $265,500
- Electricity and gas$1,534
807 kWh a month $1,111 · 31 therms $423
- Water and sewer$1,513
9 units (CCF) a month on Brookings Municipal Utilities: water $60, sewer $66 a month
- Trash$236
90-gallon cart (standard), $20 a month
- Home insuranceNot included
We don't have a typical premium for this city yet. Add yours with Adjust.
A Brookings house at the typical market value ($265,500) costs about $6,900 a year: $3,660 property tax and charges, $1,510 water and sewer, $240 trash, $1,530 electricity and gas; home insurance is not included (no typical premium yet). 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:
BMU residential energy rebates
BMU offers rebates for residential accounts.
How: See the residential rebate forms linked on the BMU rebates page.
Who serves this house
- Water
- Brookings Municipal Utilities
- BMU 2026 residential rate: $0.289 usage charge plus $3.850 bond surcharge, both per 100 cubic feet. Water used above the assigned allowance on June, July and August bills is billed at two times the usage and surcharge rates.
- Property tax
- 1.38% of value
- Taxes payable 2026 (2025 levies), Brookings County
Your water
- Source
- Twelve groundwater wells in the Big Sioux Aquifer
- Hardness
- About 11 to 15 grains after treatment
Other SD cities
How these numbers are made
- Property tax: the county's levy sheet (taxes payable 2026) gives per-$1,000 levies; each is multiplied by the 0.957 non-agricultural factor shown on the same sheet to get a rate on the home's value.
- The county levy sheet lists one county and one city levy for all property; the school levy used is the owner-occupied (OO) column.
- The starting value is the Census median value of owner-occupied homes, a market figure.
- Water is the $0.289 usage charge plus the $3.850 bond surcharge per 100 cubic feet; sewer is billed per 100 cubic feet of water used.
- Electricity is a year-round average: 9 months at $0.085 and 3 months at $0.100 per kWh, plus the $21.00 customer charge.
- Gas uses Rate 81: $0.40000 + $0.42102 purchased gas cost for the first 30 therms and $0.18290 + $0.42102 above.
- Sales tax: BMU says electric rates are before applicable taxes and the city garbage fee is $19.70 plus sales tax; the water, gas and electric figures here are before sales tax. SD state tax on gas, electricity and water is 4.2% (SDCL 10-45-6) and the DOR municipal guide lists Brookings at 2%; municipal tax must conform to the state base (SDCL 10-52-2). Sewer is not among the services listed in SDCL 10-45-6. No bill total here includes sales tax.
- Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.
How Brookings compares
A typical Brookings house against the 1000 cities we cover nationwide, using the same default numbers as the total above.
| Per year | Brookings | Median | Where it falls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property tax rate | 1.38% | 1.36% | higher than 503 of the other 982 cities we cover nationwide |
| Water | $717 | $681 | higher than 535 of the other 999 cities we cover nationwide |
| Sewer and utility-bill fees | $796 | $692 | higher than 544 of the other 882 cities we cover nationwide |
| Trash | $236 | $336 | lower than 638 of the other 819 cities we cover nationwide |
| Electricity and gas | $1,534 | $2,439 | lower than 961 of the other 999 cities we cover nationwide |
| Total | $6,941 | $10,827 | lower than 904 of the other 999 cities we cover nationwide |
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. Trash
The fact: Trash pickup here costs about $236 a year for the standard cart, lower than 638 of the other 819 cities we cover nationwide. Where trash is billed through the tax bill or a separate hauler, it is not counted here.
Ask: "Trash pickup here costs about $236 a year for the standard cart, lower than 638 of the other 819 cities we cover nationwide. What drives that cost, and would you change anything about the service or the price?"
2. Electricity and gas
The fact: Electricity and gas for a typical house here cost about $1,534 a year, lower than 961 of the other 999 cities we cover nationwide. Rates are set mostly by the utility and the state.
Ask: "Electricity and gas here cost about $1,534 a year for a typical house, lower than 961 of the other 999 cities we cover nationwide. Which parts of that can the city influence, and what would you do about them?"
Common questions about Brookings house costs
What is the property tax rate in Brookings?
About 1.38% of the value before exemptions a year (Taxes payable 2026 (2025 levies), Brookings County), plus flat charges on the same bill.
How much is property tax on a $500,000 house in Brookings?
About $6,888 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions.
How much is the water bill in Brookings?
About $126 a month for water and sewer at typical use (9 units, or 6,732 gallons a month) on Brookings Municipal Utilities.
How much does trash pickup cost in Brookings?
$20 a month for a house.
How much does a house in Brookings cost to run each year?
A Brookings house at the typical market value ($265,500) costs about $6,900 a year: $3,660 property tax and charges, $1,510 water and sewer, $240 trash, $1,530 electricity and gas; home insurance is not included (no typical premium yet). Estimated from public rates, not anyone's actual bill.