What is Allegheny County's 2026 Common Level Ratio and how do I use it?
What is Allegheny County's 2026 Common Level Ratio and how do I use it?
Allegheny County's 2026 Common Level Ratio is 50.14% (down from 54.5%), meaning a home worth $300,000 should be assessed near $150,000; if your 2012 base-year assessment implies a higher market value, you have grounds to appeal.
Allegheny County still taxes off a 2012 base year, and the only thing keeping those frozen values tied to today's market is the Common Level Ratio. For the 2026 tax year the CLR is 50.14%, down from 54.5% the prior year, as set by the State Tax Equalization Board. The lower ratio is good news for homeowners: it takes a smaller market-value gap to win a reduction.
The math. Under 53 Pa.C.S. §8842(b), the board determines your current market value and multiplies it by the CLR (because the CLR varies from the predetermined ratio by more than 15%). At a 50.14% CLR:
- A home worth $300,000 should be assessed at about $150,420 (300,000 × 0.5014).
- If your current 2012-base-year assessment is $180,000, that implies a market value of about $359,000 (180,000 ÷ 0.5014) — well above $300,000, so you are over-assessed.
Flip the formula to test yourself: divide your assessment by 0.5014. If the result is higher than what your home would actually sell for, file.
How to appeal. File an annual appeal with the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review (BPAAR) within the county's filing window — for the 2026 tax year the window ran July 1 through September 2, 2025, so confirm the current year's window at Allegheny County. Bring recent comparable sales or a current appraisal as your market-value evidence; the CLR supplies the rest.
If BPAAR denies you, you have 30 days to appeal to the Board of Viewers, which hears the case de novo, and from there to the Court of Common Pleas.