Owning a listed property

State historic tax credits: the full table, 50 states

John HarrisonUpdated October 2026

Thirty-eight states had a historic rehabilitation tax credit as of January 2026, by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s count. Rates run from 5% to 50%, most programs are limited to income-producing buildings, and about fifteen also pay owner-occupants. The table below gives each state’s status as of October 2026, with a cell filled only where an official program page, statute or regulation confirmed it.

How to read the table

• Commercial means income-producing or depreciable property, the same category the 20% federal credit covers. Many state credits stack on it.
• Owner-occupied means a credit available for a private residence the owner lives in, which the federal credit never is.
• Annual cap is the statewide limit on credits awarded per year; “none stated” means the source names no cap. Per-project caps are in the notes.
• check SHPO means the figure could not be verified from an official page for this table. The 2023 National Trust resource guide is cited in those rows for orientation only; its figures are three years old and several have changed. The State Historic Preservation Office for each state is listed in the SHPO directory.
• Everything changes with each legislative session. Confirm with the SHPO before planning a project around a number here.

Patterns worth knowing

Homeowner credits are smaller and simpler. Where they exist they tend to be capped low: $10,000 in Indiana, $22,500 in North Carolina, $25,000 in New Mexico and California, $30,000 in Delaware, $50,000 in Maryland. Virginia and Mississippi are the outliers with an uncapped 25%. All of them require approval before work starts and compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.

Most commercial credits piggyback on the federal one. Montana and Oklahoma are literally a percentage of the federal credit; New York’s commercial credit requires it. Where a state credit stands alone (Texas, Kansas, New Mexico) nonprofits and owners without federal liability can often use or sell it.

Caps empty out. California, Georgia and Rhode Island show the pattern: a credit can be on the books and unavailable. Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Louisiana publish their annual caps, and several run allocation rounds with deadlines.

Listing is the entry ticket. Nearly every program requires National Register listing (individual or contributing in a district), sometimes with a state or local register as an alternative. Check an address with the address lookup first.

Examples from the database

• The Johnson-Hubbard House in Wilkesboro is the type of individually listed, owner-occupied house North Carolina’s 15% non-income-producing credit was written for.
• The Turner-LaRowe House in Charlottesville could use Virginia’s 25% owner-occupied credit if a rehabilitation spent at least 25% of its assessed value.
• The William J. Dickey House in Cohoes illustrates New York’s homeowner credit, which also depends on the house being in a qualifying census tract.
• The Joel Elliott House in Belton shows the other side: Texas’s 25% credit is for income-producing or nonprofit buildings, so a family home does not qualify.
• The Hotel Albert in Greenwich Village is a commercial building where New York’s 20% credit could stack on the federal 20%, subject to the census tract test.

Related: what listing means for homeowners and the federal credit worked example.

Left out

Transferability, refundability and carryforward terms are given only where a source stated them. Local property tax abatements and the District of Columbia are not covered. Where a state’s page could not be reached, no figure newer than the 2023 National Trust guide is given, and that guide is flagged as such.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Researched from the sources above and drafted with AI assistance; published under the editor's name, corrections welcome. See the editorial policy.