Lenoir's Tax Bill Already Caught Up With the Market. Hickory's Is Next

When you compare a listing in Lenoir with one in Hickory, how old is the assessed value behind each tax figure?

The answer is a little different on each side of the county line, and it changes how you should read the annual tax number on a listing sheet. Caldwell County reassessed every property for 2025. Catawba County and Burke County last reassessed in 2023, and both are scheduled to reassess again effective January 1, 2027, according to the North Carolina Department of Revenue's county rate table. That puts a Lenoir buyer's tax bill on current values and a Hickory or Morganton buyer's bill on values about to be replaced. The tax figure on a Lenoir listing has already been reset. In Hickory and Morganton, it will be reset soon after you buy.

What already happened in Caldwell County

The 2025 Caldwell revaluation surprised a lot of owners. Caldwell County Tax Administrator Josh Angle told the News-Topic that "many of the values have increased within a range of 50-70%," and pointed to state law: "per North Carolina General Statute 105-283, market value is the goal for each revaluation." In separate News-Topic coverage of Lenoir's budget, Angle put the average increase at 55%. A home valued at $100,000 might now be valued at $155,000.

The local governments then lowered their rates. The same News-Topic story reported that Lenoir's proposed FY 2025-26 budget cut the city rate from 57 cents to 46 cents per $100 of value. The revenue-neutral rate was 45 cents, and City Manager Scott Hildebran called 46 cents "the lowest tax rate in over 25 years." For FY 2026-27, the News-Topic reported that Council approved a budget keeping 46 cents. With the 0.85-cent Rescue Readiness levy, the city total is 46.85 cents.

The county followed a similar path. NCDOR lists Caldwell County at 63 cents in FY 2024-25 and 49.75 cents in FY 2025-26. WHKY reported that commissioners adopted 46.66 cents for FY 2026-27 on June 22, 2026, and that county officials described the rate as revenue-neutral.

So the Caldwell side of this comparison has already been through the whole cycle. Values went up, rates came down, and the tax bill on a Lenoir home now rests on an assessment set at 2025 market value.

Where Hickory and Morganton are on the same clock

Catawba County is about where Caldwell was two years ago. On October 5, 2026, Tax Administrator Brian S. Myers sent commissioners the proposed Schedule of Values for the 2027 revaluation. That schedule is the appraisal manual staff will use to value roughly 95,000 parcels at 100% of market value as of January 1, 2027. His memo lays out the next steps:

1. November 2, 2026: Public hearing on the proposed Schedule of Values, 7 p.m. in the Board of Commissioners meeting room.
2. November 16, 2026: Commissioners consider adopting the schedule.
3. January 1, 2027: New values take effect.

The county's revaluation page says owners get value notices by mail once the revaluation is complete, and that the next chance to appeal comes in January 2027.

Burke County is on a similar schedule for Morganton. A September 2026 summary of the tax administrator's update describes an in-house mass appraisal. Scheduled values were due to officials October 19, a public hearing was expected in November, and notices were expected around January 1. Neither county has published a projected percentage increase. For context only, WSOC reported that Burke's 2023 revaluation raised property values by at least 43%. That figure describes the last cycle and is not a forecast for this one.

The rates side by side, and what each one rests on

Here is how the three towns compare for FY 2026-27, along with the monthly garbage charge each city bills on top of property tax.

Sources for the table: Catawba County and Burke County adopted their county rates in June 2026. Hickory's July 2026 budget summary shows the 46-cent city rate and the $30 sanitation fee. Morganton's 50-cent city rate comes from its FY 2026-27 budget document, which describes the rate as proposed. Its $14 sanitation fee appears on the city's solid waste fees page. Lenoir's $10 monthly charge for weekly gray-cart service comes from the city's FAQ. Each extra cart adds $5 a month.

Added together, the Lenoir rates come to 93.51 cents per $100, and the Hickory rates in Catawba County come to 85.85 cents. Taken alone, that makes Hickory look cheaper per dollar of value. The difference is what each rate is multiplied by. Lenoir's rate applies to a 2025 market value. Hickory's applies to a 2023 value that Catawba County is replacing. A low rate on an old value doesn't tell you what the bill will be once the value is current.

The garbage fee shifts the comparison the other way. At $30 a month in Hickory and $10 in Lenoir, the gap is $240 a year. That doesn't show up in any tax rate, and it isn't tied to a revaluation.

Why a revenue-neutral rate won't tell you your own bill

A revenue-neutral rate is how a county avoids collecting more just because values went up. WHKY explained it in its Caldwell report. The rate is set to bring in the same total property tax revenue as the year before, but "individual property tax bills may still increase or decrease depending on how a property's assessed value changed compared to other properties across the county."

That sentence explains most of the 2027 risk in Hickory and Morganton. Even if Catawba or Burke sets a revenue-neutral rate afterward, an owner whose home gained more value than the county average will likely pay more, and an owner whose home gained less will likely pay less. Neither county has published those numbers, and a buyer under contract this fall won't know them before closing. A Lenoir buyer already knows them, because Caldwell's reassessment and rate changes are finished.

What the Lenoir market is doing in the meantime

Lenoir's prices rose through the reassessment. Canopy Realtor Association's September 2026 Local Market Update shows a Lenoir median sales price of $267,500 for January through September 2026, up 7.0% from the same period in 2025. Hickory's median for the same months was $308,000, up 2.7%. Lenoir is the less expensive market, but its median has been rising faster this year.

The pace has slowed, though. In the same report, homes in Lenoir averaged 58 days on market through September 2026, compared with 50 a year earlier. Sellers received 93.5% of their original list price on average. In September alone, Lenoir had 171 homes for sale, a 4.5-month supply, and the median was $255,000 across 35 closed sales. With that few sales, one month's median can move a lot. The year-to-date figures are the better read.

So a buyer in Lenoir this fall finds rising prices, a little more time to make a decision, and a tax bill that won't be reassessed until 2029.

Running the numbers on a specific house

Here is a rough example. A Lenoir home assessed at $255,000, about the September 2026 median sale price, would owe about $2,385 a year at the combined 93.51-cent city and county rate, plus $120 a year for garbage. Real assessments don't match sale prices, so check the parcel record for the actual figure. For a Hickory home, the same math gives you this year's bill. It doesn't give you the bill after the 2027 revaluation. For any listing on either side of the county line, find out which revaluation year the assessed value comes from. Then confirm which city, county and fire district rates apply to that parcel, because special districts vary by property.

This post is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Please confirm the figures for your own property with the county tax office or a qualified professional.

Quick answers

When do Catawba and Burke's new values first show up on a tax bill? Both revaluations take effect January 1, 2027. Neither county's published schedule says which fiscal year's bill will first use the new values, so ask the county tax office directly.

Did Lenoir's rate stay the same for FY 2026-27? Yes. The city rate stayed at 46 cents, or 46.85 cents with the Rescue Readiness levy. Caldwell County's rate went from 49.75 cents to 46.66 cents.

Can I appeal a new value in Catawba County? The county says the next appeal opportunity opens in January 2027, after notices go out. Check the county's revaluation page for the exact dates once they're posted.

If you're comparing a home in Lenoir with one in Hickory or Morganton, we can pull the assessment history on both and show you which tax bill is current and which is waiting on a revaluation. Baker Realty has worked on both sides of the Caldwell and Catawba county line since 1971, and we're glad to go through the numbers with you before you make an offer.