Moore County property taxes: what to know before you move
The county rate, town rates, fire district tax, and vehicle tax — and how to estimate your bill.
Author
Blake Altman · Realtor, Moore County resident
Reading time
7 min read
Last updated
Updated September 12, 2026
Category
Moore County property taxes
Editorial status: Facts requiring local verification are clearly marked and should not be used as market, school, tax, or travel-time advice.
Moore County adopted a rate of $0.29 per $100 of assessed value for FY2025-26. Here is how that stacks with town and fire district rates.
How the bill is built
A Moore County property tax bill is a stack, not a single rate. First is the county ad valorem rate: $0.29 per $100 of assessed value for fiscal year 2025-26, down from $0.295 the prior year and $0.31 before that. Second, if you live inside a municipality, is that town's rate. Third, most properties pay the county Rural Fire Protection Service Tax, and the county rate chart also shows a separate Advanced Life Support line. Everything is applied to the county's assessed value, not to what you paid. Multiply your combined rate by assessed value divided by 100 to get the annual figure.
Town rates make the difference
Municipal rates vary more than the county rate does, and they are the reason two similar houses ten minutes apart carry different bills. The Village of Pinehurst publishes a rate of $0.225 per $100 — the lowest municipal rate among Moore County towns. Southern Pines held at $0.29 per $100 for FY2025-26 per the town manager's budget summary. On the county rate chart, Aberdeen appears at $0.42, Carthage at $0.505, and Cameron at $0.575. Unincorporated addresses — much of West End and rural Moore County — pay no municipal rate at all, only county and fire district.
Fire district and vehicle taxes
Moore County funds rural fire protection through a countywide service tax rather than a patchwork of district rates, and the adopted figure in the county's recent fire and CIP fee schedule is $0.0875 per $100. Vehicles are handled separately through North Carolina's Tag and Tax Together program: your annual registration renewal and your county vehicle property tax arrive as one combined bill from the NCDMV, due before your tag renews. Budget for it as part of moving here, especially if you are registering two or three vehicles at once after a move.
Revaluation and what it means for your estimate
North Carolina counties reappraise on a cycle, and Moore County has been preparing for a 2027 revaluation. That matters in two ways. First, the assessed value on a listing may be stale relative to what you pay, so do not assume your bill will match the seller's. Second, a revaluation year usually resets values upward and the county then adopts a revenue-neutral or adjusted rate — the rate can fall while bills still rise. Ask what the current assessed value is, and treat a listing's tax figure as history rather than a forecast.
Verify before you budget
Rates are adopted annually and change. Confirm the current county rate and your municipal rate with the Moore County Tax Department, cross-check against the NC Department of Revenue's published county and municipal rate table, and pull the assessed value for the specific parcel rather than estimating from square footage. If you are comparing two towns, run both numbers on the same purchase price — the difference over a thirty-year hold is usually larger than buyers expect.
Blake Altman has lived in Moore County for seven years and works with buyers relocating from across the country. Broker with Keller Williams Pinehurst, NC License #326008.
