Germantown, TN · Updated Oct 2026

What a Germantown 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 Germantown house

$10,367a year · $864 a month

Starts at the typical market value, $470,800; your assessed value is often lower. Typical use.

A Germantown house at the typical market value ($470,800) pays about $10,400 a year: $5,280 property tax and charges, $530 water and sewer, $620 trash, $2,440 electricity and gas, $1,490 home insurance. Estimated from public rates, not anyone's actual bill.

Rates checked Oct 21, 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:

Disabled veterans or surviving spouses: state tax reliefUp to $1,182.30 on 2026 county taxes
Disabled veterans, widow(er)s of disabled veterans and spouses of soldiers killed in action can get a tax relief credit with no income limit; tax relief benefits are available for both city and county taxes. For 2026 the maximum credit on Shelby County property is $1,182.30.
How: Call Trustee Customer Service at 901-222-0200 for an application; the deadline to apply is April 5, 2027. The Trustee does not handle tax relief for Germantown city taxes, though relief may be available; to inquire, call the city (Germantown taxes: (901) 757-7218).
Pay water and sewer bills within the ten-day discount period
By ordinance, when water and sewer bills are not paid within the ten-day discount period, the gross amount of the bill becomes due. The City budgets this as forfeited discounts.
How: Pay by mail, online, by automatic draft or at the City Hall drop boxes before the discount period ends.
Weekly bulk item and yard waste pickup are included
The monthly sanitation fee includes weekly bulk item pickup (up to five cubic yards) and high-volume weekly yard waste collection (up to 10 cubic yards). An optional yard waste cart has a one-time $75 delivery fee and no monthly fee.
How: Check your collection day with the City's Waste Wizard, email CustomerService@Germantown-TN.gov or call (901) 757-7200.

Adjust to match your bills

What you knowTrash cartThe monthly fee covers weekly trash, recycling and yard waste collection and weekly bulk item pickup. Backdoor collection costs $74.70 a month.

Value before exemptionsThe starting value is a Census median: enter the appraised value from the Shelby County Assessor (values from the 2025 reappraisal).

Home insurance, a yearFrom your policy. We start at $1,492, Tennessee statewide average HO-3 homeowners premium for 2022 (NAIC data via Triple-I).

Your use

Water, thousands of gallons a month

On your water bill. A typical house uses 5,000–8,000 gallons.

Electricity, kWh a month

On your Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) bill. An electric car adds about 300 kWh.

Gas, therms a month (yearly average)

Money dates

Apr 5, 2027Deadline for 2026 Shelby County tax relief and tax freeze applications to the Shelby County Trustee (postmarked by April 5, 2027).
End of FebCity of Germantown property taxes are due December 1; state-mandated penalties are imposed if they are not paid by the last day of February of the following year.
End of FebShelby County property taxes are due the first Monday of October each year; the deadline to pay is the last day in February of the following calendar year, and 1.5% interest is added on March 1 and on the first day of each month after.

Who serves this house

Water: City of Germantown Water; City of Germantown residential water rate: $11.10 base rate, $1.44 per 1,000 gallons up to 10,000 gallons and $3.16 per 1,000 gallons thereafter; billed monthly
Property tax: 1.12% of value; 2026 tax year (FY 2027), City of Germantown and Shelby County
Garbage: Waste Pro, under contract to the City of Germantown; Weekly trash, recycling and yard debris collection; $51.85 a month for curbside service
Sewer: City of Germantown; Monthly sewer fee on the utility bill, based on water use; sewage treatment is provided by the City of Memphis
Electricity: Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW); MLGW provides electrical service; it is supplied with electricity by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Gas: Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW); The City points residents to Memphis Light, Gas and Water for natural gas and electrical service
Schools: Germantown Municipal School District; All Germantown residents are zoned for the district: a high school, one middle school and four elementary schools

Pay or manage your bills

Your water

Source: Ground water from the Memphis Sand Aquifer, treated at two water treatment plants.
Lead: In the most recent lead and copper testing, 1 of 30 household samples exceeded the action level; re-sampling the site showed levels well below the limit. The lead service line inventory found no lead service lines.
Fluoride: Fluoride averaged 0.73 ppm (range 0.63-0.81) in 2025, below the 4 ppm limit.
Testing: Tests for over 80 contaminants found eight; all were at safe levels, and the water meets all EPA health standards (2025 report).

How these numbers are made

Water and sewer are the City of Germantown residential rates in force in the FY 2027 budget (set in July 2024 and unchanged since). Water: $11.10 base rate (covers use up to 999 gallons), plus $1.44 per 1,000 gallons up to 10,000 gallons and $3.16 above. Sewer: $7.73 base plus $2.74 per 1,000 gallons; usage from 11,000 to 21,000 gallons is billed at $3.32, which the calculator prices at $2.74 (understating a 21,000-gallon bill by up to $6.38 a month), and it stops charging at 21,000 gallons as the City does. The calculator converts your water use in CCF to gallons and starts at the City's 4,000-gallon average residential use. A few southwest subdivisions (about 96 homes) get water from MLGW instead; we model the City's system.
These are net rates; if a bill is not paid within the ten-day discount period, the higher gross amount is due. The utility bill also carries the sanitation fee ($51.85 a month for curbside service from July 2026, $74.70 for backdoor) and the stormwater fee, which for a single-family parcel is $8.75, $9.00 or $9.25 a month by lot size; we use $9.00, the tier that contains the City's 0.34-acre average residential lot.
Property tax: Tennessee assesses a house at 25% of its appraised value and sets rates per $100 of that assessed value. 2026 rates: City of Germantown $1.7825 (the state-calculated recapture rate after the 2025 reappraisal, adopted with the FY 2027 budget) and Shelby County's outside-Memphis rate of $2.702382 (general fund $1.252382, debt service $0.29, schools $1.16). On appraised value that is 1.7825 / 100 x 25% = 0.446% for the city and 2.702382 / 100 x 25% = 0.676% for the county, 1.121% in all. The city and the county send separate bills. Germantown Municipal School District receives a share of the county's school tax (allocated by average daily attendance), so there is no separate school rate. Tennessee has no general homestead exemption; relief and freeze programs are listed as tips (the state's 2026 tax-freeze list names Shelby County but not the City of Germantown).
The starting home value is the Census median value of owner-occupied homes in Germantown ($470,800, 2020-2024), a market value; enter your appraised value from the Shelby County Assessor, whose values come from the January 1, 2025 countywide reappraisal (the next is scheduled for January 1, 2029).
Electricity: MLGW Schedule RS (January 2026), $16.64 service charge less the $1.54 hydro credit = $15.10 a month; per-kWh energy charges are the plain average of summer, winter and transition rates for the first 500 kWh and for additional kWh, plus the average of the 12 monthly TVA fuel cost adjustments from October 30, 2025 to October 2, 2026 (2.930 cents), giving 12.727 and 12.609 cents per kWh.
Gas: MLGW Schedule G-3 (outside Memphis), $10.42 a month plus $0.583 per ccf for the first 100 ccf and $0.490 above, plus the plain 12-month average of the purchased gas adjustment (October 30, 2025 to October 2, 2026, $0.134 per ccf), converted to therms at 1.037 therms per ccf; heating-season bills run above this average. Typical use: Tennessee residential averages from EIA (1,154 kWh and about 46 therms a month). Insurance: Tennessee's 2022 statewide average premium (NAIC via Triple-I).
Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.

Sources

How Germantown compares

A typical Germantown house against the 20 Tennessee cities we cover, using the same default numbers as the total above.

Per year	Germantown	Median	Where it falls
Property tax rate	1.12%	0.62%	higher than 19 of the other 19 Tennessee cities we cover
Water	$202	$492	lower than 18 of the other 19 Tennessee cities we cover
Sewer and utility-bill fees	$332	$776	lower than 19 of the other 19 Tennessee cities we cover
Trash	$622	$223	higher than 13 of the other 13 Tennessee cities we cover
Electricity and gas	$2,439	$2,466	lower than 10 of the other 19 Tennessee cities we cover
Home insurance	$1,492	$1,492	in the middle of 19 other Tennessee cities we cover
Total	$10,367	$7,240	higher than 17 of the other 19 Tennessee 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: Germantown's property tax rate is 1.12%, higher than 19 of the other 19 Tennessee cities we cover. The rate adds up every agency on the bill, not only the city.

Ask: "Property tax in Germantown is 1.12%, higher than 19 of the other 19 Tennessee 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 $202 a year at typical use, lower than 18 of the other 19 Tennessee cities we cover.

Ask: "Water here costs about $202 a year at typical use, lower than 18 of the other 19 Tennessee 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 $332 a year, lower than 19 of the other 19 Tennessee 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 $332 a year, lower than 19 of the other 19 Tennessee cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"

4. Trash

The fact: Trash pickup here costs about $622 a year for the standard cart, higher than 13 of the other 13 Tennessee cities we cover. Where trash is billed through the tax bill or a separate hauler, it is not counted here.

Ask: "Trash pickup here costs about $622 a year for the standard cart, higher than 13 of the other 13 Tennessee cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything about the service or the price?"

See who is running in your city →

Common questions about Germantown house costs

What is the property tax rate in Germantown?

About 1.12% of the value before exemptions a year (2026 tax year (FY 2027), City of Germantown and Shelby County), plus flat charges on the same bill.

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

About $5,606 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions.

How much is the water bill in Germantown?

About $45 a month for water and sewer at typical use (4,000 gallons a month) on City of Germantown Water.

How much does trash pickup cost in Germantown?

$52 to $75 a month, depending on the trash cart size (Curbside collection (96-gallon trash cart), Backdoor collection (64-gallon cart)).

When is property tax due in Germantown?

End of Feb: City of Germantown property taxes are due December 1; state-mandated penalties are imposed if they are not paid by the last day of February of the following year. End of Feb: Shelby County property taxes are due the first Monday of October each year; the deadline to pay is the last day in February of the following calendar year, and 1.5% interest is added on March 1 and on the first day of each month after.

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

All Tennessee cities All cities