Housing costs are climbing across the nation—even when homeowners’ interest rates are the same and they haven’t refinanced or borrowed more.
That’s because property taxes and homeowners insurance—usually bundled into monthly payments through an escrow account—have risen in many places.
In some markets, those increases have been substantial, driving up overall housing costs.
Median monthly homeowner costs nationwide increased 27% from 2019 to 2024, going from $1,630 to $2,074, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
During that same time frame, escrow expenses also climbed, though at a slower pace. Total monthly escrow payments—which cover property taxes and homeowners insurance—rose from $334 to $419, marking a 25% increase.
A closer look at the numbers shows that homeowners’ insurance jumped from $91 to $128 per month—a roughly 41% increase.
Meanwhile, property taxes rose from roughly $243 to $291 per month, a gain of nearly 20%.
Here’s the surprising part: Even though escrow costs went up, they made up a slightly smaller share of the typical monthly payment—dipping from 20.5% in 2019 to 20.2% in 2024.
That’s because other costs, especially principal and interest for newer buyers, rose even faster. Higher mortgage rates and home prices pushed loan payments up more than taxes and insurance did. So while escrow costs increased in dollars, they didn’t take up a bigger slice of the overall payment.
At the local level, though, the story varies. In about two-thirds of metro areas, escrow made up a larger share of monthly costs. The typical metro saw escrow’s share rise from 19.6% to 20.4%, often due to sharp increases in property taxes or homeowners insurance.
NAR found the primary driver for that is homeowners insurance, which more than doubled over the five-year period.
“In high-risk coastal areas especially, homeowners insurance premiums have increased substantially, taking up more of the housing budget,” NAR senior economist Nadia Evangelou tells Realtor.com®.
The markets seeing the sharpest rise in escrow’s share
According to NAR, Port St. Lucie, FL, experienced one of the largest increases in escrow share over the five-year period. Monthly escrow increased from $322 in 2019 to about $600 in 2024.
In Port St. Lucie, where the median listing price is $429,000, escrow costs didn’t just rise in dollar amounts—they also took up a bigger portion of the monthly payment, making the increase more apparent to homeowners.
Escrow’s share of total monthly owner costs climbed from about 21% to 27%.
“In Florida, home insurance has become a huge problem,” real estate agent and investor Ron Myers, of Ron Buys Florida Homes, tells Realtor.com. “After hurricanes and big storms, rates are skyrocketing, and even people with no claims are seeing massive jumps in their escrow. That extra cost pushes some homeowners over the edge.”
New Orleans–Metairie, LA, where the median listing price is $299,000, tells a similar story.
There, monthly escrow payments jumped by nearly $210 from 2019 to 2024. At the same time, escrow’s share of the typical monthly housing bill rose by 5.4 percentage points—meaning it’s taking up a noticeably bigger slice of homeowners’ payments.
The main reason? A sharp rise in homeowners’ insurance premiums.
“Insurance is a major factor, particularly in hurricane-exposed markets,” says Evangelou.
Real estate agent Leslie Heindel, of Be New Orleans agency, says the New Orleans metro has experienced huge insurance increases since Hurricane Ida hit the area in August 2021.
“That raised the cost of flood insurance to rates that most people can’t pay,” she tells Realtor.com. “It’s absolutely shifted some people’s ability to even purchase homes here, except in the luxury market.”
Evangelou notes that rising home values have also driven property taxes higher. Because property taxes are typically collected through escrow, increases in those taxes mean a larger portion of monthly payments goes toward escrow, as well.
The markets where escrow increased, yet its share stayed steady
In some metros, escrow costs rose sharply—but they didn’t take up a bigger share of the monthly payment because overall housing costs were climbing even faster.
“Escrow went up, but it didn’t grow faster than everything else,” explains Evangelou. “When mortgage payments for recent buyers are rising at the same time due to higher borrowing costs, escrow can stay about the same share of the total monthly bill—even though homeowners are paying more in actual dollars.”
Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN—where the median listing price is $404,950—is a good example. Monthly escrow payments increased by about $120 over five years. But escrow’s share of the typical monthly cost stayed roughly the same, hovering around 22% to 23%. Higher property taxes and insurance were largely balanced out by rising total housing costs.
Bozeman, MT, shows a similar pattern. The median listing price is a steep $896,250. Annual property taxes jumped from around $2,600 in 2019 to about $4,500 in 2024—an increase of more than 70%. Monthly escrow payments rose by a similar margin. Even so, escrow’s share of total monthly costs stayed fairly steady, near 18% to 19%, because home prices and borrowing costs surged at the same time.
“That will nearly always be the case,” Andrew Hurlburt, the founder of Bozeman Real Estate Group, tells Realtor.com. “Both taxes and insurance are a function of property value, and will rise and fall proportionately with that value.”
