Home › Closing Costs Calculator › Closing Costs by State: Transfer Taxes Compared
Closing Costs by State: Transfer Taxes Compared
Oregon: $6,179. Delaware: $29,048. Same $450,000 house, $22,869 apart. The buyer-share transfer-tax table for twelve states, the traps inside it, and why this is the one closing-cost line set by politics instead of markets.
Filed October 21, 2026 · figures checked against 2026 sources
The short answer
Where you buy changes what you pay at the table more than any fee you can negotiate. LendingTree's 2026 guide puts the contrast in one line: a homebuyer purchasing a $450,000 home in Oregon pays about $6,179 in closing costs, while the same buyer in Delaware pays $29,048 — a $22,869 gap, or 129.8 percent, for the identical house. The driver is transfer taxes: a handful of state and local taxes and fees that exist in some states, vanish in others, and are set by legislatures, not lenders.
The Oregon-to-Delaware closing-cost gap on a $450,000 home (LendingTree 2026). Same house, same loan — $22,869 apart, almost entirely transfer tax.
The buyer's share, state by state
Transfer-tax rates are quoted in odd units — dollars per $500, per $1,000 — so here they are as buyer-share percentages applied to the same $450,000 home (rates from TransferTaxByState and Clever's 2025–2026 tables):
| State | Buyer-share rate | On $450,000 | Who pays by custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas (and 12 more) | 0% | $0 | No state transfer tax at all |
| Florida | 0% | $0 | 0.70% seller-paid |
| New York | 0% | $0 | 0.40% state seller-paid* |
| Washington | 0% | $0 | 1.10% REET seller-paid |
| California | 0.06% | $270 | 0.11% county doc tax, split by custom |
| Virginia | 0.13% | $585 | Recordation tax split |
| Maine | 0.22% | $990 | 0.44% split equally |
| Maryland | 0.25% | $1,125 | 0.50% split equally |
| Tennessee | 0.37% | $1,665 | Buyer pays |
| New Hampshire | 0.75% | $3,375 | 1.50% split equally |
| Washington DC | 1.10% | $4,950 | Buyer pays |
| Vermont | 1.20% | $5,400 | Buyer pays |
*New York adds a 1 percent mansion tax paid by the buyer on homes at $1 million and above — $10,000 on a $1,000,000 purchase, due at closing on top of everything else. It is the rare transfer tax aimed squarely at the buyer.
Thirteen states impose no transfer tax at all: Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming (TransferTaxByState). Buyers there still pay recording fees, but the transfer-tax line is zero by law.
Why Delaware and Oregon are so far apart
Delaware's transfer tax is among the heaviest in the country and customarily split between buyer and seller — so the buyer still carries a large share. Oregon has effectively no state transfer tax (only Washington County imposes one). The rest of the gap is the compounding of small differences: recording fees, title customs, and local add-ons that each add a few hundred dollars. The lesson is not "move to Oregon." It is that the transfer-tax line — the one line buyers never think to check — can be the single biggest line on the page.
The traps inside the table
Three things the table hides. Graduated rates: New York, Washington DC, and Connecticut raise the rate above price thresholds, so a $1.2 million home pays a higher effective rate than a $400,000 one. Local add-ons: counties and cities layer their own taxes on top of the state rate — California's county documentary tax is a uniform 0.11 percent statewide, but San Francisco's city transfer tax climbs to 6 percent on sales over $25 million, and Los Angeles' Measure ULA adds 4 to 5.5 percent over $5 million (Taxo's 2026 California guide). Custom is not law: the "who pays" column is custom, and the purchase contract can reassign any of it. In a buyer's market, sellers absorb the buyer's share.
What to do with this information
First, set the transfer-tax preset in the calculator to your state before trusting any total — the national average (0.25%) understates Vermont by $4,275 and overstates Texas by $1,125 on the $450,000 example. Second, if you are buying near a state line (Kansas City, the DC metro, the Portland-Vancouver corridor), price both sides: the tax difference can exceed the price difference between comparable homes. Third, check the county, not just the state — local add-ons are where the surprises live. Fannie Mae's own closing-costs calculator uses state and county data for exactly this reason.
The transfer tax is the only closing-cost line set by politics instead of markets. Lenders compete, title companies compete, but the legislature's rate is the rate — which is why the Oregon-Delaware gap ($22,869) dwarfs anything shopping three lenders can save you. When people say "closing costs are negotiable," they mean every line except this one.
Sources: LendingTree 2026 guide, Oregon $6,179 vs Delaware $29,048 on a $450,000 home (https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/understanding-mortgage-closing-costs/); TransferTaxByState 2025 rate tables (https://www.transfertaxbystate.com/); Clever transfer-tax guide (https://listwithclever.com/transfer-taxes/); Taxo 2026 California transfer-tax guide (https://taxo.com/transfer-tax-california-2026/); Fannie Mae closing-costs calculator (yourhome.fanniemae.com).
Questions about state differences
- Which state has the highest closing costs?
- By LendingTree's 2026 figures, Delaware is the extreme example: $29,048 on a $450,000 home versus $6,179 in Oregon. High transfer-tax states in general — New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware — run the heaviest.
- Which states have no transfer tax?
- Thirteen: Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Recording fees still apply.
- Do I pay transfer tax as the buyer?
- It depends on the state: buyers pay in Tennessee, Vermont, and DC; sellers pay in Florida, Washington, and New York; many states split it. The contract can reassign it regardless of custom.
- What is the mansion tax?
- New York's 1 percent buyer-paid tax on homes at $1 million and above — $10,000 on a $1,000,000 purchase, due at closing on top of all other costs.
- Can transfer taxes change my total a lot?
- Yes. Vermont's 1.20 percent buyer share is $5,400 on a $450,000 home; Texas is $0. The $5,400 swing is larger than the origination fee, the appraisal, and the credit report combined.
Keep reading
- How much are closing costs in 2026?The 2-to-5% rule, a worked $450,000 example, and what each dollar buys.
- Who pays closing costs: buyer vs sellerThe full split, and how much of the buyer’s costs the seller can legally cover.
- Mortgage CalculatorPriced the closing? Now price the thirty years of payments after it.
- Closing Costs CalculatorPrice your own closing: every fee, your state, your cash to close.