National reference

Tax deed states

33 of the 51 states Tax Sale Atlas has mapped sell the property at a tax deed sale: 21 outright, 10 as redeemable deeds the owner can buy back, and 2 alongside a certificate sale. Each classification is read from the state's own statute, checked Oct 3, 2026.

In a tax deed state, the government that levied the tax (usually the county, in some states each city or town) sells the property itself to recover unpaid taxes, and you can walk away owning real estate. A redeemable deed state adds a redemption window, paid off with a penalty or interest, before the sale becomes final. Either way, a tax deed does not convey marketable title on its own, so most buyers budget for a quiet title action. It is the property play, as opposed to the yield play of a tax lien state.

States that sell tax deeds

This includes pure deed states and redeemable-deed states (where the owner can still redeem for a set time by paying a penalty or interest). Hybrid states like Florida run a tax deed sale after the lien-certificate stage, so they appear here and on the lien list. If the parcels you are after are raw acreage rather than houses, the state-by-state guide to buying land at a tax sale adds the auction platform each state’s counties use and what happens to parcels nobody bids on.

Every tax deed and redeemable deed state

The complete list of states that sell the property at the tax sale, split between straight deed states and redeemable deed states where the former owner can still buy it back by paying a statutory penalty or interest. Each entry is classified from its own statute or revenue authority. States we have mapped in full link through to their rules and counties.

US states by tax sale model, with the statutory rate or penalty where one exists
State	What it sells	Source
Alabama	12% max interest	Code of Alabama Section 40-10-180 (Purpose; Choice of Remedy by Tax Collecting Official) and Act 2018-577, as cited and quoted by Mobile County Revenue Commission
Alaska	Resale of tax-acquired land; redemption ends first	AS 29.45.460, Disposition and sale of foreclosed property (Alaska Statutes, akleg.gov)
Arkansas	Deed sale	Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, Rules (2023 Edition), Title 1 Subtitle H "Title Being Conveyed" (effective July 2023)
California	Deed sale	Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 3691 (Ch. 7, "Sale to Private Parties After Deed to State")
Connecticut	18% a year redemption interest	Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-157(c)-(f) "Method of selling real estate for taxes" (official Connecticut General Statutes, Title 12, Chapter 204)
Delaware	15% redemption penalty	Del. Code Ann. tit. 9, §§ 8721-8733 (Subch. II, Monition Method of Sale)
Florida	18% max interest	Fla. Stat. Ch. 197
Georgia	20% redemption penalty	O.C.G.A. Title 48, Ch. 4 (Tax Sales), Art. 1 Sales Under Tax Executions (§48-4-1 et seq.) and Art. 3 Redemption of Property Sold for Taxes (§§48-4-40 to 48-4-48). Official Code of Georgia Annotated, free public access hosted by LexisNexis, the state-designated official publisher for the Georgia Code Revision Commission; the portal has no per-section deep link, so the cited sections must be looked up by citation.
Hawaii	12% a year redemption interest	Maui County Real Property Tax Office – Tax Sale FAQ (citing Maui County Code §3.48.270 and §3.48.285); materially identical redemption/tax-deed provisions independently confirmed in Revised Ordinances of Honolulu §8-5.6, Kaua'i County Code §5A-5.6, and Hawai'i County Code ch.19 (Liens/Foreclosure)
Idaho	Deed sale, with redemption	Idaho Code §§ 63-1005–63-1007 (delinquency → tax deed to county); § 31-808 (public auction sale)
Kansas	Deed sale	K.S.A. 79-2801 et seq. (judicial in rem tax foreclosure), Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
Maine	Broker sale of town-owned property	36 M.R.S. §§942-943 (Tax lien certificate; procedure / Tax lien mortgage; redemption; discharge; foreclosure), Maine Legislature
Massachusetts	8% a year redemption interest	Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 60, § 43 (Conduct of Sale), see also § 54 (Instrument of Taking)
Michigan	Deed sale, with redemption	MCL 211.78m (Michigan General Property Tax Act, tax-foreclosure sale procedures)
Minnesota	Deed sale	Minn. Stat. § 282.01 (Tax-Forfeited Land Sales) & § 280.001 (judgment-sale certificates to private purchasers abolished)
Nevada	Deed sale	Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 361.570, 361.590, 361.595, 361.600 (Property Tax, Ch. 361), Nevada Legislature
New Hampshire	Resale of tax-acquired land; redemption ends first	N.H. RSA 80:63, 80:76, 80:80 (lien acquisition limited to municipalities; deed to the town)
New Mexico	Deed sale	NM Taxation & Revenue Dept., Property Tax Division, "Delinquent Property Tax Auctions" overview (citing NMSA 1978 §§ 7-38-65 to 7-38-70); confirmed by full text of PTD's "Terms of the Property Tax Division Public Auction Sales" (Rev. 11/16/2023), item 7: "the Property Tax Division shall execute and deliver a deed to the purchaser"
New York	Resale of tax-acquired land; redemption ends first	N.Y. RPTL Article 11 (in rem foreclosure); Dept. of Taxation and Finance RPTL 1104 opt-out list
North Carolina	Deed sale	N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 105-374 & 105-375 (NC General Assembly, official statutes)
North Dakota	Deed sale	N.D. Cent. Code ch. 57-28, "Rights of County When Lands Not Redeemed" (esp. 57-28-01, 57-28-09, 57-28-13 through 57-28-16)
Ohio	18% max interest	Ohio Rev. Code Chapter 5721, "Delinquent Lands" (secs. 5721.30-.49 tax certificates; secs. 5721.18-.19 foreclosure/sheriff sale) - codes.ohio.gov
Oklahoma	Deed sale	68 O.S. §§ 3105, 3131 & 3132 (Oklahoma Statutes, county treasurer's annual "tax resale"; resale deed "vests in the grantee an absolute and perfect title in fee simple")
Oregon	Resale of tax-acquired land; redemption ends first	ORS 312.100 (property "sold directly to the county") & ORS 312.200 ("Deed to county", all redemption rights terminate on execution of the deed to the county)
Pennsylvania	Deed sale	Real Estate Tax Sale Law, 72 P.S. § 5860.101 et seq. (Act of July 7, 1947, P.L. 1368, No. 542), Pennsylvania General Assembly
Rhode Island	Redemption penalty, no cap	R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-9-12 (Collector's deed, Rights conveyed to purchaser, Recording)
South Carolina	12% redemption penalty	S.C. Code Ann. Title 12, Ch. 51 ("Alternate Procedure for Collection of Property Taxes"), esp. Secs. 12-51-60, 12-51-90, 12-51-130
Tennessee	12% a year redemption interest	UT County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS), "The Tax Sale" (citing Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 67-5-2501, 67-5-2701)
Texas	50% redemption penalty	Tex. Tax Code § 34.21 (Right of Redemption), Chapter 34 "Tax Sales and Redemption"
Utah	Deed sale	Utah Code § 59-2-1351 (Sales by county -- Notice of tax sale) and § 59-2-1346 (Redemption -- Time allowed)
Vermont	12% a year redemption interest	32 V.S.A. § 5260 (Redemption) & § 5261 (Deed by collector)
Virginia	Deed sale	Code of Virginia Title 58.1, Ch. 39, Art. 4, "Bill in Equity for Sale of Delinquent Tax Lands" (§§ 58.1-3965 et seq.), Virginia Law / Legislative Information System
Washington	Deed sale	RCW 84.64.080, Wash. Rev. Code (foreclosure proceedings, sale, tax deed)
Wisconsin	Deed sale, with redemption	Wis. Stat. §§ 74.57(1)-(2), 75.001(2), 75.14 (tax certificate issued to the county itself, not sold to the public; "tax deed" defined; deed vests fee simple in the county)

Not sure which model your state uses?

A state can sell tax deeds in three ways: a straight deed auction, a redeemable deed sale with a post-sale buyback right, or a hybrid lien-to-deed system. If you are checking one specific state rather than browsing the deed list, the state-by-state classification answers name the model for all 50 states and DC in a sentence each. Georgia is a redeemable deed state, so start with how Georgia tax sales work rather than this national list.

Redeemable deed states are a separate subgroup

Redeemable deed states give the owner months to redeem at a penalty after the deed sale. If that is the structure you are comparing, use the dedicated redeemable deed table rather than this broader tax deed list.

Redemption periods by state Redeemable deed states Interest and penalty rates by state

A deed sale that draws no bid does not end there. The parcel is struck off to a taxing unit, a commission or a trust, and most states sell it later without an auction. The names change at every state line, so state-held and struck-off land by state maps each one to the same mechanism.

A deed also does not clear the same claims in every state. Some legislatures publish a closed list of what rides through, some publish nothing, and several answer differently depending on which sale route the county ran, so what survives a tax deed by state sets out six classes of lien against each state’s own statute.

Due diligence before you bidValue a parcel first Tax lien vs tax deedThe core distinction Quiet title actionClearing tax deed title

Florida runs both paths

Certificates first, then a tax deed sale after the redemption window. All 67 counties, sourced.

Florida tax deeds All states