Which Franklin County Suburbs Got Hit Hardest by the 2026 Value Update?

If you own in Franklin County, a letter this year told you your home is worth more, and your first thought was probably about the tax bill, not a celebration. The county's 2026 value update raised residential values about 10 percent on average, with some school districts near 14 percent and others near 7 percent. For context, the typical Franklin County home sold for $375,000 in 2026. The number that lands in your mailbox is an assessment, though, and it is not the same as what your house would sell for. This cycle the two numbers are pulling apart by town, and that gap is worth understanding before the final values hit in December and the appeal window opens.

I pulled every 2026 single-family closing in the Columbus MLS and set the sale data next to the auditor's tentative value increases. The suburbs that got the biggest assessment jump are not the suburbs where buyers are fighting hardest. The pattern is clear once you line them up.

How much did Franklin County values go up in 2026, and where?

On the auditor's tentative figures, residential values rose about 10 percent countywide, commercial about 4 percent and industrial about 13 percent. The update measures by school district, and most district residential averages landed between about 5 and 15 percent.

At the top, Bexley was reported near 14 percent. New Albany-Plain came in around 12 percent. At the bottom, districts like Gahanna-Jefferson and Groveport-Madison were reported near 7 percent. These are tentative values, released June 9, 2026, and they are final in December 2026 after the Ohio Department of Taxation signs off. The spread is the story: a homeowner two districts over can see nearly double your percentage increase on the same kind of house, because each district's number moves with its own recent sales.

One point that calms a lot of nerves at the kitchen table: a 10 percent value increase is not a 10 percent tax increase. Ohio's levy structure and the state rollback mute the move, so the percentage on the notice is not the percentage on the bill. The value update is the input, not the result.

Does a higher value mean my house is worth more?

No, and this is the part the notice does not explain. The value update is a mass assessment built from 2023 to 2025 sales across your district. It is not an appraisal of your specific home, and it is not a listing price. What your house would bring is set by buyers competing for it today, which is a live market number, not a county study of the recent past.

The cleanest proof is the mismatch by town this year. Look at the two ends of the value-update range next to how those same towns sold in 2026.

Suburb	2026 median sale	Over asking price	Tentative value update
New Albany	$780,000	30%	about 12% (district)
Upper Arlington	$747,500	47%	in the district range
Dublin	$634,448	43%	in the district range
Worthington	$549,950	61%	in the district range
Westerville	$479,999	42%	in the district range
Gahanna	$455,450	51%	about 7% (district)
Hilliard	$420,000	42%	in the district range
Grove City	$361,450	34%	in the district range
Columbus	$330,000	37%	in the district range
Reynoldsburg	$315,000	33%	in the district range

Source: Columbus REALTORS MLS single-family closings in Franklin County, January 1 through September 21, 2026, computed by Adam Geuy from the MLS export. Value-update figures are the Franklin County Auditor's tentative 2026 averages, countywide from the auditor and district figures as reported by local coverage, all final in December.

Read Gahanna and New Albany side by side. Gahanna got one of the smallest value bumps in the county this cycle, about 7 percent, and yet Gahanna homes sold over their asking price 51 percent of the time in 2026, the highest over-ask rate of any suburb on the board after Worthington. New Albany got a bigger assessment jump, around 12 percent, and sold over ask 30 percent of the time. If the value update tracked market heat, those numbers would run together. They do not. The assessment looks backward at a district's three-year sales base; the over-ask rate is buyers bidding right now.

Which suburbs are the hottest sellers' markets right now?

The over-asking column is the better tell for a seller than either the median or the value notice. Worthington led the ten suburbs I pulled, with 61 percent of 2026 sales closing above the original asking price, 23 points above the countywide Franklin rate of 38 percent. Gahanna followed at 51 percent and Upper Arlington at 47 percent. Those are the towns where a correctly priced home is still drawing competing offers.

The price ladder is a different ranking. New Albany topped the suburbs at a $780,000 median, Upper Arlington at $747,500 and Dublin at $634,448, while Reynoldsburg sat at $315,000 and Columbus proper at $330,000. That is a spread of about $465,000 from the top suburb to the bottom, on single-family homes inside one county. A value-update percentage tells you none of that. It tells you how your district's assessed base moved, and nothing about where your house sits on this ladder or how hard buyers are pushing for it.

Countywide, 7,021 single-family homes closed in Franklin County in 2026 through September 21, at a $375,000 median and $203 a finished square foot, with 38 percent going over the original asking price. That is the backdrop every suburb number sits against.

What should a Franklin County homeowner do with the value notice?

Three things, in order, and none of them is to panic about the percentage.

1. Separate the assessment from the market. Your value notice answers a tax question. What your home would sell for answers a different one. Before you react to either, get the two numbers in the same room. The reappraisal percentage can run ahead of or behind your sale value, and this year it is doing both depending on the town.
2. Check the value against recent sold comps, not against last year's bill. If your tentative value is higher than what comparable homes on your street sold for, that is the case for a Board of Revision complaint once values are final, and the window for tax year 2026 runs through March 31, 2027. If the value is at or below your likely sale price, the assessment is doing its job and there is nothing to contest. Either way you want the comps, not a gut feeling.
3. Remember this number has a long shelf life. The next full reappraisal is not until 2030, so the value set this cycle is the base you carry for several years of bills. That is the argument for getting it right now, while the sold-comp evidence from 2026 is fresh.

In the deals I walk through with owners, the surprise is rarely the tax. It is realizing the county's value and the home's sale value are two separate measurements that happen to arrive in the same season, and treating one as if it were the other. The value update is the auditor's read of your district. Your sale price is the market's read of your house. When they disagree, the market wins at the closing table, and the assessment is the one you can challenge.

See where your value stands

The county gave you a tentative number. The useful move is to set it next to what your specific home would sell for this fall, before the December bills land and before the appeal window closes in the spring. Send me your address and I will pull your tentative value against the last few sold comps on your street, so you can see whether the update tracks the market or runs ahead of it. If the next full reappraisal timeline is the part you want straight, the Franklin County reappraisal schedule through 2030 lays out the key dates, and the Franklin County homestead exemption savings is worth a look if you are over 65 or disabled. For a current read on your home, start with a home value estimate or book a time at calendly.com/adam-geuy or call me at 937-239-2919.

Adam Geuy, Realtor, Blacktree Realty. License #2020007964. ABR, PSA, SRS.

Housing figures are Columbus REALTORS MLS single-family closings in Franklin County, January 1 through September 21, 2026, computed from the MLS export. Value-update percentages are the Franklin County Auditor's tentative 2026 averages: countywide residential about 10 percent, commercial about 4 percent, industrial about 13 percent, from the auditor's office; district figures of about 14 percent for Bexley, about 12 percent for New Albany-Plain and about 7 percent for the lowest districts are as reported by local coverage and are tentative until final values in December 2026. The Board of Revision complaint deadline for tax year 2026 is March 31, 2027. Verify your own parcel with the Franklin County Auditor. Informational only, not tax or legal advice.