Compare a year of owning with a year of renting at the same address area: the 2026 property tax bill from the county rate sheets, the Georgia transfer tax, and the most a landlord can ask as a deposit.
Own
- Total rate
- Assessed value (40%)
- Tax before exemptions
- Cobb basic homestead
- Tax a year
One-time: Georgia transfer tax , paid by the seller unless the contract shifts it
Rent
- Rent a year
Most a landlord can ask as a deposit: , two months’ rent, back within 30 days of move-out
Figured from the monthly rent you enter; the home price does not change this side.
Atlanta-Area Property Taxes by County →Rent vs Buy in Metro Atlanta →The Georgia Homestead Exemption for Atlanta-Area Buyers →Renting in Georgia →
Estimates only. Rates are 2026 totals from the county rate sheets and leave out special district levies; exemptions other than Cobb’s basic one are not applied. Check the tax commissioner and your closing attorney before you sign.
How the check works
The tax line uses the 2026 total millage for the district you pick, from the DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett tax commissioners’ rate sheets. Georgia assesses homes at 40 percent of fair market value, so the bill before exemptions is the price times 0.4 times the millage, divided by 1,000. Community improvement district levies are not included.
The homestead line appears only where the county states the saving: Cobb’s basic $10,000 exemption saves $271.60 a year on county and school taxes in the districts that pay the Cobb school levy. Other counties’ exemptions depend on the city and on floating exemptions; see The Georgia Homestead Exemption for Atlanta-Area Buyers: Who Qualifies and How It Floats.
The transfer tax follows the Department of Revenue’s formula: $1 for the first $1,000 of the price and 10 cents for each additional $100 or part of $100. The seller is liable for it, though contracts often shift it to the buyer.
The deposit line is the most a Georgia landlord can require: two months’ rent, per the Department of Community Affairs’ Landlord-Tenant Handbook. The Census gap is the difference between the median monthly owner cost with a mortgage and the median gross rent in the 2020-2024 American Community Survey, for the place or county the district sits in.
Fulton County is not in the list because its 2026 bills are temporary, figured on 2025 rates under a court order; see Atlanta-Area Property Taxes by County: 2026 Rates for DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Fulton.