Our data: delinquent taxes

How many Florida properties are on county tax-delinquent lists?

A snapshot of 23 county lists as of Oct 27, 2026, with the roll year and the limits of each list.

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Updated Oct 27, 2026. Snapshot of county tax-collector lists as of Oct 27, 2026; collected by Howler Property Group.

The short answer

As of Oct 27, 2026, our database holds 136,947 real-estate tax accounts that a county tax collector lists as delinquent, across 23 Florida counties. Lee County has the most, at 19,664, followed by Charlotte (10,830), Hillsborough (10,827), Orange (9,267). This is a snapshot of each county's delinquent list as we collected it. It has no filing date, so it says how many accounts were on the list, not how many fell behind in a given month.

CountyAccounts on the listNewest account addedMost common latest roll year (share)More than one delinquent yearMailing address out of state
Lee19,664Oct 26, 20262025 (89%)33%21%
Charlotte10,830Sep 30, 20262021 (100%)0%30%
Hillsborough10,827Oct 24, 20262025 (97%)32%8%
Orange9,267Oct 26, 20262025 (94%)35%8%
Pasco9,265Oct 26, 20262025 (96%)38%9%
Duval8,960Oct 27, 20262025 (100%)0%5%
Broward8,513Oct 26, 20262025 (92%)0%7%
Hernando8,016Oct 9, 20262025 (52%)49%not enough mailing data
Brevard7,742Oct 10, 20262025 (97%)38%17%
Pinellas7,432Sep 14, 20262025 (94%)29%10%
Sarasota6,356Oct 20, 20262025 (94%)42%28%
Osceola4,143Sep 23, 20262025 (97%)36%15%
Lake3,646Oct 24, 20262025 (94%)36%14%
St. Lucie3,466Oct 9, 20262025 (96%)32%11%
Polk3,174Oct 8, 20262025 (99%)1%32%
Alachua3,050Oct 10, 20262025 (95%)50%6%
Collier2,342Oct 27, 20262025 (61%)13%20%
Martin2,265Oct 10, 20262025 (64%)24%19%
Seminole2,169Oct 8, 20262025 (94%)41%4%
Clay2,132Oct 8, 20262025 (96%)37%11%
Indian River1,557Oct 20, 20262025 (70%)20%not enough mailing data
Flagler1,155Oct 27, 20262025 (96%)37%31%
Highlands976Oct 8, 20262025 (88%)50%not enough mailing data
Method. Each row is one delinquent account on a county tax collector's published list, held in our database with duplicates excluded. Counted Oct 27, 2026. 'Newest account added' is the day our collector last added an account from that county's list; it is not the day the taxes became delinquent. The roll year is read from the collector's own 'delinquent roll year' text on each row. 'More than one delinquent year' counts accounts that list two or more roll years. 'Mailing address out of state' is read from the state on the owner's mailing address, over the rows that have a readable mailing address, and is shown only where at least 90% of rows do. A delinquent account may have been paid after we collected it. Check the tax collector for the current balance.

Where one list is not like the others

Charlotte County's list is the clearest case of why we show the roll year. 10,830 accounts are on it, but 10,829 of them carry a latest delinquent roll year of 2021, not the most recent roll. We read that as an older delinquency file, so the Charlotte figure should not be taken as a count of owners behind on this year's bill. Duval's list is the opposite: 8,960 of its 8,960 accounts carry a latest roll year of 2025 and only 4 list more than one year.

Broward is similar to Duval in having no multi-year accounts in our rows (0), while Hernando has 49% of its accounts listing more than one year and Alachua 50%. Lee County sits in the middle, with 6,550 of 19,664 accounts (33%) listing more than one year.

Owners who live somewhere else

Out-of-state owners are common on these lists. In Lee County, 3,976 of the 18,981 accounts with a readable mailing address (21%) are mailed to another state, and the biggest destinations are NY (701), NJ (347), CA (268). In Polk County the share is 32%, and in Sarasota it is 28%. A delinquent account can be harder to resolve from another state, which is one reason some owners choose to sell as-is.

Hillsborough's list is large (10,827 accounts); 818 of the 10,743 with a readable mailing address (8%) are mailed outside Florida.

What the law says happens to unpaid taxes

Chapter 197 of the Florida Statutes governs this. Unpaid real-estate taxes become delinquent after the tax year's deadline, the tax collector sells a tax certificate for the unpaid amount (section 197.432), and the owner can redeem the certificate by paying what is owed with interest (section 197.472). If the certificate is not redeemed, its holder can apply for a tax deed once the certificate has aged two years from April 1 of the year it was issued (section 197.502), and the property is then sold at public auction. The full sequence is in how a Florida tax deed auction works and the owner's options are in selling a house with back taxes in Florida.

This page is general information and a count of our own records, not legal or tax advice, and we are not a law firm. For your own deadlines and rights, talk to a Florida attorney.

Good Questions

Frequently asked

Which Florida county has the most tax-delinquent properties in your records?
As of Oct 27, 2026 it is Lee County, with 19,664 delinquent real-estate accounts on the list we collected, followed by Charlotte County with 10,830. These are our records of each county's published list, not official totals.
Does this list show who fell behind recently?
No. It is a snapshot of each county's delinquent list with the roll year the collector reports. It has no date for when an account became delinquent.
What happens if property taxes stay unpaid in Florida?
The tax collector sells a tax certificate for the unpaid amount under Chapter 197. If it is not redeemed, the certificate holder can apply for a tax deed after the certificate is two years old, and the property can be sold at public auction. A Florida attorney can explain the deadlines for a specific property.