Franklin County, Virginia Tax Rates

Franklin County Tax Rates - At a Glance

Franklin County Current Tax Rates Summary (TY2025)

Tax Type	County Rate (per $100)	Notes
Real Estate	$0.430	Plus town levy if inside Rocky Mount or Boones Mill town limits (see overlay table below).
General Personal Property	$2.410	Personal use vehicle rate may differ - confirm with the Commissioner of the Revenue
Machinery and Tools	$0.700	Business tangible personal property classification
Merchants' Capital	$1.080	Non-zero rate - Franklin County is one of few VA counties that still levies this tax
Sales Tax	5.3% (4.3% state + 1.0% local; not in a regional transportation district; qualifying groceries 1.0%)

All rates from Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey TY2025 (Tables 1 and 3). Verify current adopted rates with Franklin County and the relevant town.

Real Estate Tax

Rate and Assessment

Franklin County's real estate tax rate was $0.430 per $100 of assessed value countywide for tax year 2025, as reported in the Virginia Department of Taxation Local Tax Rates Survey Table 1 (County Levies). The rate is set annually by the Franklin County Board of Supervisors. Franklin County uses fair-market-value assessment under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3201.

Properties inside the Town of Rocky Mount or the Town of Boones Mill are subject to an additional town real estate levy on top of the county rate (Virginia DOT TY2025 Table 3 - Town Tax Rates). Properties outside any incorporated town pay only the $0.430 county rate. Franklin County does not appear in DOT Table 4 (County District Levies), so there are no countywide sanitary, transportation, or special-service district levies.

Verification note: Rates are from the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey (tax year 2025). Verify the current adopted county rate at franklincountyva.gov or by contacting the Franklin County Commissioner of the Revenue.

Incorporated Town Overlays

Two incorporated towns are inside Franklin County per the Virginia DOT TY2025 Local Tax Rates Survey Table 3 (Town Tax Rates). Both levy a non-zero real estate tax in TY2025, and Boones Mill also carries a Merchants' Capital town levy.

Franklin County Town Tax Overlays (TY2025 per DOT Table 3, per $100 assessed value)

Town	Real Estate	Tangible Personal Property	Machinery & Tools	Merchants' Capital
Rocky Mount (county seat)	$0.130	$0.510	$0.170	$0.000
Boones Mill	$0.120	$0.400	$0.400	$0.400

Total inside Rocky Mount town limits equals the county rate ($0.430 RE / $2.410 TPP / $0.700 M&T / $1.080 MC) plus the Rocky Mount town rate above. Total inside Boones Mill town limits equals the county rate plus the Boones Mill town rate (Boones Mill is the only Franklin County town with a non-zero Merchants' Capital town levy, taking the inside-town MC rate to $1.480/$100). Verify current town rates with each town government before making financial decisions.

Exemptions and Relief Programs

Franklin County offers tax relief programs for qualifying senior citizens and disabled residents. Disabled veterans who are 100% service-connected disabled may qualify for a full real estate tax exemption on their primary residence under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3219.5. Contact the Franklin County Commissioner of the Revenue for current eligibility thresholds and procedures.

Source: Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey TY2025 (pdfplumber extraction, direct from source).

Vehicle Personal Property Tax

Rate and Assessment Method

Franklin County's general personal property tax rate was $2.410 per $100 of assessed value countywide for tax year 2025, as reported in the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey. Properties inside the Town of Rocky Mount or the Town of Boones Mill are subject to an additional town personal property levy (see town overlay table above). Under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3503, localities assess vehicles using a recognized pricing guide as of January 1 of the tax year.

Important note on rate classification: The Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey reports the general tangible personal property rate. The DOT survey explicitly states that "certain items of property, including vehicles, may be considered separate classifications and may be taxed at a different tax rate." The current personal use vehicle rate in Franklin County may differ from the $2.410 general rate. Contact the Franklin County Commissioner of the Revenue to confirm the rate that applies to your vehicle.

PPTRA Relief

Virginia's Personal Property Tax Relief Act (PPTRA), Code of Virginia § 58.1-3524, provides partial state-funded relief on the first $20,000 of assessed value for qualifying personal use vehicles. Virginia distributes a fixed annual block grant of $950 million among all localities. Franklin County calculates its annual PPTRA relief percentage based on its share of that grant and the total qualifying vehicle assessed value in the county. This percentage changes each year. For a deeper explanation of how PPTRA works, see our Virginia PPTRA explained guide.

PPTRA percentage pending official confirmation. Contact the Franklin County Commissioner of the Revenue or visit franklincountyva.gov to confirm the current-year vehicle personal property tax rate and PPTRA relief percentage.

Rate source: Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey TY2025 (pdfplumber extraction, direct from source).

Sales Tax

Rate and Composition

The combined sales tax rate in Franklin County is 5.3%. Franklin County is not within the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, or Central Virginia regional transportation districts, so no 0.7% regional levy applies. The standard Virginia statewide rate applies countywide. Towns do not add their own sales tax in Virginia.

Franklin County Sales Tax Rate Breakdown

Component	Rate
Virginia state rate	4.3%
Local rate	1.0%
Combined rate	5.3%

Qualifying food and grocery items are subject to Virginia's reduced 1.0% state rate. Adjacent live county pages at the same 5.3% rate: Bedford County (also at 5.3%; north - shares Smith Mountain Lake with Franklin), Botetourt County (also at 5.3%; northwest), Roanoke County (also at 5.3%; west), and City of Roanoke (also at 5.3%; inside Roanoke County boundary).

Source: Virginia Department of Taxation - Retail Sales and Use Tax (tax.virginia.gov)

Franklin County vs Franklin City Disambiguation

Franklin County and Franklin City are different jurisdictions. Franklin County is a county in southwestern Virginia, on the southern edge of the Roanoke MSA in the Blue Ridge foothills, with Rocky Mount as its county seat. Franklin City is a Virginia independent city located in Western Tidewater near Suffolk, Southampton County, and Isle of Wight County - approximately 220 miles east of Franklin County. They share only the name "Franklin." A resident of Franklin City pays Franklin City tax rates and does not pay any Franklin County tax. Likewise, a Franklin County resident pays only Franklin County rates.

The DOT TY2025 Local Tax Rates Survey confirms this distinction clearly: Table 1 (County Levies) lists Franklin County with RE $0.430, TPP $2.410, M&T $0.700, MC $1.080; Table 2 (Cities) lists Franklin City separately with RE $1.030, TPP $4.500, M&T $2.000, MC $0.000. The two jurisdictions use entirely different rate schedules. Franklin City also publishes a Downtown District levy of +$1.270/$100 RE per DOT Table 5 (applies to Franklin City's downtown only - has no bearing on Franklin County).

Smith Mountain Lake (Franklin / Bedford County Boundary)

Smith Mountain Lake is the largest lake wholly within Virginia (approximately 32 square miles of surface area; 500 miles of shoreline). The lake was created in 1963 by impoundment of the Roanoke River by Appalachian Power's Smith Mountain Dam. The Franklin-Bedford county line follows the original watercourses prior to lake creation, so the lake bisects two counties. Most of the lake's southern and southwestern shoreline lies in Franklin County; most of the northern shoreline lies in Bedford County.

Lakefront and lake-access properties on the Franklin side are assessed and taxed under Franklin County rates ($0.430/$100 RE TY2025 per DOT). Some parcels with split waterfront may straddle the county line - confirm parcel-level boundary placement with the Franklin County Commissioner of the Revenue. Franklin County's lower county RE rate ($0.430) relative to Bedford ($0.410) makes Smith Mountain Lake one of the lower-property-tax major-recreational-lake areas in Virginia, though Franklin's non-zero Merchants' Capital and Boones Mill town overlays apply if the property is held by a business or located inside the Boones Mill town limits.