The towns around Charlotte
Charlotte is 943,000 people inside 308 square miles and about 2.8 million in the metro around it, spread across ten counties and two states. These are 24 of those towns, each with its own hub and its own pair of calculators, and all of them measured the same way — because the interesting question here is not what any one of them costs but how they differ, and the biggest difference is the one nobody checks until closing.
All 24, sorted by distance from uptown
Home values and rents are Zillow's indexes for June 2026, computed the same way in every town. The tax column is the rate actually charged against a market price — the state's own effective rate in North Carolina, and the owner-occupied millage converted to a rate on value in South Carolina. Both derivations are explained below and on each town's page.
| Town | County | Miles | Typical home | Year on year | Two-bed rent | Property tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | Mecklenburg, NC | — | $440,000 | +2.3% | $1,781 | 0.70% |
| Pineville | Mecklenburg, NC | 10 | $407,276 | -0.7% | $1,948 | 0.70% |
| Matthews | Mecklenburg, NC | 11 | $508,498 | +0.7% | $1,870 | 0.69% |
| Mint Hill | Mecklenburg, NC | 11 | $519,729 | +0.7% | $1,995 | 0.64% |
| Belmont | Gaston, NC | 11 | $440,068 | +1.1% | $2,087 | 0.93% |
| Harrisburg | Cabarrus, NC | 12 | $502,403 | -1.3% | $2,555 | 0.93% |
| Huntersville | Mecklenburg, NC | 12 | $555,686 | +0.6% | $2,014 | 0.64% |
| Indian Trail | Union, NC | 15 | $422,533 | -2.3% | $2,153 | 0.60% |
| Indian Land · unincorporated | Lancaster, SC | 16 | $547,022 | -3.1% | $1,890 | 0.65% |
| Lake Wylie · unincorporated | York, SC | 16 | $420,470 | -0.5% | $2,174 | 0.55% |
| Tega Cay | York, SC | 16 | $608,245 | +0.2% | $2,769 | 0.96% |
| Fort Mill | York, SC | 16 | $530,830 | -1.7% | $1,921 | 0.95% |
| Concord | Cabarrus, NC | 16 | $387,218 | -0.9% | $1,923 | 0.94% |
| Cornelius | Mecklenburg, NC | 17 | $531,730 | +1.0% | $1,894 | 0.59% |
| Davidson | Mecklenburg, NC | 18 | $662,018 | +0.7% | $1,961 | 0.67% |
| Gastonia | Gaston, NC | 19 | $280,853 | +0.3% | $1,623 | 0.95% |
| Waxhaw | Union, NC | 21 | $721,701 | +0.1% | $2,597 | 0.72% |
| Kannapolis | Cabarrus, NC | 21 | $284,683 | +0.4% | $1,776 | 1.07% |
| Monroe | Union, NC | 22 | $361,535 | +0.2% | $2,060 | 0.87% |
| Rock Hill | York, SC | 22 | $329,229 | -1.4% | $1,591 | 0.86% |
| Mooresville | Iredell, NC | 25 | $486,446 | +0.1% | $1,727 | 0.89% |
| Lincolnton | Lincoln, NC | 28 | $302,243 | +2.3% | $1,390 | 0.88% |
| Salisbury | Rowan, NC | 36 | $285,761 | +1.3% | $1,285 | 1.07% |
| Statesville | Iredell, NC | 39 | $302,181 | +3.3% | $1,779 | 0.93% |
| Shelby | Cleveland, NC | 40 | $218,509 | -1.0% | $1,180 | 0.94% |
The two figures in the price column are not the same kind of number as Charlotte's. The city page quotes a Canopy MLS median sale price — what houses actually sold for. The towns quote Zillow's home value index, a quality-controlled estimate of what a mid-tier home is worth, which is what makes twenty-four towns comparable with each other but is not the same series as the median. Lake Wylie and Indian Land have no municipal boundary for either index to follow, so they are measured over ZIP 29710 and 29707. Rents are an index of asking rents across the whole rental stock, houses included, which is why they run above the apartment-only averages quoted on the Charlotte pages.
Two states, two completely different property taxes
The spread in that last column is the largest single variable in this metro, and it is wider than the spread in price. Lake Wylie charges 0.55% of market value and Kannapolis charges 1.07% — a factor of 2.0. On a $500,000 house that is $2,738 a year against $5,341, every year, which over a decade is more than most people negotiate over on the price.
North Carolina taxes at market value in principle and at the last county-wide reappraisal's value in practice. The counties here are on different cycles — Union and Cleveland reappraised in 2025, Cabarrus in 2024, the rest in 2023 — so a published rate means something different in each of them. The state settles this itself: the Department of Revenue measures each county's assessed values against actual sale prices and publishes an effective rate, which is the figure in the table. Mecklenburg's assessments run at 88.78% of sale price, Rowan's at 85.57%, Union's at 99.85%.
South Carolina does something with no counterpart anywhere else on this site. Tax is levied in mills against 4% of value for an owner-occupied legal residence and 6% for everything else, and an owner-occupied residence is exempt from the school district's operating millage — but not from its bond millage. That last exception is why Fort Mill, which has been building schools for twenty years, is taxed at nearly twice the rate of Lake Wylie nine miles away in the same county. Three warnings for anyone buying across the line. The 4% ratio is not automatic — you file for it with the county assessor, and until you do you are taxed at 6%. Buying the house resets its assessed value to market, so the seller's tax bill tells you nothing about yours. And an unincorporated address pays no municipal millage at all, which is most of why Lake Wylie and Indian Land are where they are on that table.
The price spread is worth naming too: Shelby at $218,509 and Waxhaw at $721,701 are both in this metro and both within 40 miles of uptown.
Eight counties, and the county is what taxes you
The town levies a rate; the county levies a larger one, runs the schools in every case except Mooresville's and Kannapolis's city districts, and sets the reappraisal cycle that decides what the rate is charged against. Four of these towns straddle a county line, and their pages say what that changes.
Mecklenburg County, NC
Pineville The closest incorporated town to uptown, with its own electric utility and the highest town rate in the county. · Matthews A railroad town swallowed by southeast Charlotte that kept its own downtown and its own police. · Mint Hill Twenty-five square miles of large lots on the eastern county line, and the cheapest town rate in Mecklenburg after Cornelius. · Huntersville The largest of the Lake Norman towns, and the one that reads as suburb rather than resort. · Cornelius Twelve square miles of Lake Norman shoreline, and the lowest town tax rate in Mecklenburg County. · Davidson A college town with a walkable main street and the highest typical home value in Mecklenburg County.
Cabarrus County, NC
Harrisburg The closest Cabarrus town to Charlotte, and effectively a school district with houses attached. · Concord The metro's second city — 112,000 people, a mill-town centre, a speedway and an outlet mall. · Kannapolis A company town that lost its company and bought its own downtown back — and the fastest-growing city in the metro.
Gaston County, NC
Belmont Eleven miles from uptown between two rivers, with the most successful small downtown in the metro. · Gastonia The metro's third city, the cheapest of the large ones, and the other name in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia.
Union County, NC
Indian Trail The lowest combined tax rate in North Carolina's half of this metro, on the county's freshest assessments. · Waxhaw The most expensive typical house in the metro — about $722,000 — on horse country twenty-one miles out. · Monroe The Union County seat, its own electric and gas utility, and 15.7% population growth since 2020.
Iredell County, NC
Mooresville Race City USA, the north end of Lake Norman, and Lowe's corporate home town. · Statesville Where I-40 meets I-77 — a logistics town thirty-nine miles out with the metro's fastest-rising values.
Lincoln County, NC
Lincolnton A county seat twenty-eight miles northwest, and the site of the South's first cotton mill.
Rowan County, NC
Salisbury Ten historic districts, Cheerwine, Food Lion, and the highest tax rate in the metro.
Cleveland County, NC
Shelby The cheapest housing in this guide — about $219,000 typical — forty miles west on US-74.
York County, SC
Lake Wylie Unincorporated, no town tax, and the lowest effective property tax rate in this guide. · Tega Cay Four and a half square miles on a Lake Wylie peninsula — the Good Life City, and the highest millage in York County. · Fort Mill Up 47.8% since 2020 — the fastest-growing town in the metro, and among the most heavily taxed places in South Carolina's half of it. · Rock Hill South Carolina's fifth-largest city, a university town, and the metro's biggest place across the state line.
Lancaster County, SC
Indian Land The Lancaster County panhandle — no town, no municipal tax, and the shortest South Carolina commute to uptown.
Sources
Every number above is published by someone else and dated. The forward-looking rates on the calculators — appreciation, rent growth, the return on invested savings — are assumptions rather than facts and are labelled as such on each page. Housing figures describe June 2026; Charlotte's own figures on this page are Canopy MLS for May 2026.
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, mid-tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted — city and ZIP files, June 2026 — Zillow Research, retrieved 2026-08-13
- Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), all homes, smoothed — city and ZIP files, June 2026 — Zillow Research, retrieved 2026-08-13
- County and Municipal Tax Rates and Effective Tax Rates, fiscal year 2025-2026 — North Carolina Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-08-13
- 2025 Millage Levies — York County, South Carolina, retrieved 2026-08-13
- 2025 South Carolina Property Tax Rates by County — South Carolina Association of Counties, retrieved 2026-08-13
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 — United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, retrieved 2026-08-13
- 2024 Census Gazetteer Files — places — United States Census Bureau, retrieved 2026-08-13
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 13 August 2026 — Freddie Mac, retrieved 2026-08-13
- Commissioner Causey negotiates settlement on Rate Bureau's homeowners' insurance request — North Carolina Department of Insurance, retrieved 2026-08-13
- Conforming loan limit values for 2026 — Federal Housing Finance Agency, retrieved 2026-08-13
Nothing here is a listing, a lender quote or financial advice. Millage, tax rates and reappraisal cycles all change, and two of the counties on this page reappraise in the next two years. Confirm anything you plan to act on. Read the research and sourcing methodology for how the line between a fact and an assumption is drawn on this site.