HOA Fees: Average Costs by State & What Management Companies Charge
The median monthly fee paid by U.S. owner households in an HOA or condo association is $135 (2024 American Community Survey — the first Census release to measure HOA fees directly). About 25.0% of the country's 86,635,506 owner households pay a required fee, and medians range from $47 (Arkansas) to $739 (New York).
Associations that hire professional management typically pay $10–$20 per door per month in base fees (industry-reported), plus à-la-carte extras.
Average HOA fees by state
Median monthly fee among owner households that pay one, from the 2024 ACS. Click a column to sort; states with a full fee guide are marked.
Market check: 43.6% of U.S. for-sale listings carried a nonzero HOA fee in 2025, with a median monthly fee of $135 (up from $125 in 2024 and $108 in 2019) [source]. Listing-based figures skew higher than the Census household median because homes on the market over-represent condos and amenity-rich communities.
| State | Median fee / mo | % of owners paying |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $739 | 14.3% |
| District of Columbia | $505 | 38.6% |
| Hawaii | $470 | 42.0% |
| Massachusetts | $376 | 16.8% |
| Connecticut | $351 | 15.5% |
| New Hampshire | $316 | 14.8% |
| Rhode Island | $314 | 9.9% |
| New Jersey | $300 | 20.5% |
| California Fee guide | $278 | 23.7% |
| Minnesota | $269 | 16.1% |
| Illinois Fee guide | $237 | 23.6% |
| Florida Fee guide | $230 | 44.3% |
| Vermont | $221 | 10.9% |
| Wisconsin | $184 | 10.5% |
| Maine | $169 | 8.0% |
| North Dakota | $157 | 7.7% |
| Pennsylvania | $148 | 12.6% |
| Utah | $135 | 22.4% |
| Alaska | $135 | 16.2% |
| Iowa | $128 | 11.2% |
| Michigan | $125 | 18.1% |
| Ohio | $124 | 17.0% |
| Virginia Fee guide | $123 | 34.0% |
| Maryland | $104 | 37.7% |
| Colorado Fee guide | $99 | 42.4% |
| Georgia | $99 | 33.1% |
| Arizona Fee guide | $98 | 44.7% |
| Nevada Fee guide | $95 | 51.3% |
| South Carolina | $94 | 34.4% |
| Oregon | $88 | 16.2% |
| South Dakota | $86 | 10.0% |
| Delaware | $85 | 40.5% |
| Washington Fee guide | $82 | 26.2% |
| North Carolina Fee guide | $79 | 29.4% |
| Tennessee | $79 | 18.8% |
| Texas Fee guide | $76 | 34.3% |
| Kentucky | $70 | 14.7% |
| Kansas | $65 | 20.9% |
| Indiana | $61 | 22.2% |
| Idaho | $61 | 30.9% |
| Louisiana | $61 | 14.8% |
| New Mexico | $61 | 15.1% |
| Missouri | $54 | 25.3% |
| Nebraska | $54 | 18.1% |
| Montana | $53 | 19.0% |
| Mississippi | $53 | 13.0% |
| Alabama | $52 | 17.0% |
| Wyoming | $52 | 12.8% |
| Oklahoma | $48 | 19.8% |
| West Virginia | $48 | 11.4% |
| Arkansas | $47 | 12.1% |
Are you overpaying? Check your dues
Enter what you pay each month. We place it in the 2024 Census distribution of HOA and condo fees actually paid by owner households in the United States.
Distribution: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 ACS 1-Year, Table B25142 (owner households paying a required fee). A high percentile isn't proof of overpaying — building type and amenities drive most of the spread (see below) — but it tells you which question to ask next.
Estimate your association's management cost
Positions your community within the industry-reported per-door range based on size, building type, and amenities. This is the professional-management fee your association pays, not your personal dues — and it's indicative, not a quote.
Estimates position your community within the industry-reported range of $10–$20/door — more complexity lands nearer the top. Base management fee only; transfer fees, resale documents, and project-management extras are billed on top (see the extras table). Ranges are industry-reported, not government data.
Where your monthly fee actually goes
Your dues fund the association's entire operating budget — the management company is just one line item, and usually one of the smaller ones. A typical association budget breaks down like this:
| Budget category | Typical share* | What it covers | Cost pressure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repairs, maintenance & landscaping | ~30–45% | Common-area upkeep, landscaping, pools, elevators, roofs, painting | Scales with building age and amenity count |
| Reserve contributions | 15–40% | Savings for future major repairs (roofs, paving, elevators) | Association Reserves, analyzing more than 100,000 reserve studies conducted between 1986 and 2025, found approximately 74% of U.S. HOAs are underfunded — the highest underfunding rate the firm has ever recorded [source] |
| Insurance | ~10%+ | Master policy on common property, liability, D&O, flood/wind where required | The fastest-rising line in most budgets — More than 90% of community associations saw insurance premium increases at their most recent renewal, per CAI's 2023 survey [source] |
| Utilities & shared services | ~10% | Common-area electric, water/sewer, trash, security, front desk | Heaviest in high-rises and gated communities |
| Professional management | ~5–12% | The management company's base fee | Typically $10–$20/door/mo (industry-reported) |
| Admin, legal & audit | remainder | Tax filings, audits, legal counsel, elections, compliance | Spikes in dispute or litigation years |
*Shares are indicative, drawn from RunHOA — HOA Budget Allocation: Where Your Dues Go, ManageCasa — HOA Reserve Funds: Funding Levels, Studies and State Rules, Kuester Management Group — What Percentage of HOA Dues are Paid to the Management Company? — insurance-heavy condo and coastal budgets skew far higher on insurance, and every community differs. On the national $135/mo median, management's ~5–12% works out to roughly $7–$16 of it.
The real total cost of ownership is dues plus special-assessment risk. An association that keeps dues artificially low by skipping reserve contributions isn't cheaper — it's deferring the bill — 30% of surveyed HOA associations issued a special assessment in the last five years, and another 35% expect to levy one within the next five years [source]. When you evaluate a community (or your own board's budget), read the reserve study alongside the monthly fee.
What pushes fees up — or down
- Building type. High-rise condos carry elevators, shared HVAC, structural insurance, and staff — that's why condo fees dwarf single-family HOA dues in the same ZIP code.
- Amenities. Pools, gates, clubhouses, and fitness centers each add insurance, maintenance, and utility load. Guarded gates and front desks add payroll — usually the single most expensive amenity.
- Age. Older buildings spend more on repairs and insure for more risk. The national median HOA fee rose from $108/month in 2019 to $135/month in 2025 — a 25% increase over six years — per Realtor.com's January 2026 HOA report [source].
- Location and hazard exposure. Coastal wind, wildfire, and hail markets feed straight into master-policy premiums — a structural reason Florida and Hawaii fees top the state table while inland, single-family-heavy states sit at the bottom.
- Scale. Fixed costs (audits, filings, minimums) spread across more homes in large communities — small associations pay more per door for everything, including management.
- Reserve honesty. Fees that look low because reserves are skipped aren't low — they're deferred (see above).
HOA dues vs. management fees — two different numbers
People search "HOA fees" meaning two very different things, and conflating them causes most fee arguments at board meetings:
- Your dues (assessments) are what each owner pays the association — they fund everything in the budget table above.
- The management fee is what the association pays a professional manager to run day-to-day operations: collecting assessments, paying vendors, budgets and financials, covenant enforcement, board support.
If your dues feel high, the management fee is rarely the main driver — but a weak manager who mishandles insurance renewals, vendor bids, or reserve planning inflates every other line. That's what this site exists for: comparing 7,541 management companies across all 50 states and DC on verified ratings, portfolios, and license status.
What management companies charge
Industry-reported pricing puts full-service community management at roughly $10–$20 per door per month. Small communities (under 50 units) commonly face minimum monthly contracts of $1,500–$3,000 regardless of per-door rate. Reported ranges: HOAManagement.com, Cedar Management Group, Kuester Management Group, Mosaic HOA (propertyexemption.com). No US regulator publishes management-fee data, so treat every range — ours included — as a benchmark for comparing itemized proposals, not a price list.
The base fee never tells the whole story. Ask every bidder for their full fee schedule — the money is in the extras:
| Common extra | Who pays | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer / resale processing fee | Buyer or seller at closing | Set by the manager, not the association; several states cap these — see your state guide |
| Resale disclosure / estoppel documents | Seller | Statutory caps in several states (FL, VA, AZ among them) — check your state guide |
| Onboarding / setup fee | Association | One-time; negotiable, sometimes waived for multi-year terms |
| Project / construction management | Association | Often 5–10% of project cost on top of the vendor's invoice |
| After-hours calls, mailings, statements | Association | Per-item charges that add up; ask for the full à-la-carte schedule |
| Technology / portal fees | Association or owners | Newer line item; sometimes charged per unit per month |
The only government-filed fee data in the country: Texas requires every association to disclose its property-transfer fees in a recorded management certificate. We parsed 6,180 of them — median transfer fee $250, middle 50% between $200 and $340, and 66.7% of resale certificates priced exactly at the statutory $375 cap. Full breakdown by county in the Texas fee guide.
Fee red flags — for boards comparing managers
- A too-cheap base fee. The lowest per-door bid usually carries the most aggressive à-la-carte schedule. Compare total estimated annual cost, never the headline rate.
- Vague "additional services billed as incurred." Demand the itemized schedule with dollar amounts before signing.
- Markups on vendor invoices or related-party vendors. Ask directly whether the manager profits from maintenance work it arranges.
- Owner-paid junk fees. Statement fees, portal fees, and payment-processing surcharges shifted onto individual homeowners don't show up in the board's contract math — but your owners feel them.
- Long terms with auto-renewal and punitive exit clauses. Keep terms short and exit notice reasonable so you keep negotiating leverage.
How to benchmark and negotiate
Get at least three itemized proposals — per-door base fee, every à-la-carte charge, and any owner-paid fees — and compare total annual cost at your community's actual activity level. Use the estimator above as your sanity check, then request quotes, or start from your state directory to see who actually manages communities near you.
Your annual fee audit — 8 checks in 30 minutes
- Pull the current budget and mark each line against the share table above — anything wildly off pattern deserves a question, not an assumption.
- Divide the management fee by your unit count. Outside $10–$20/door/month? Ask why — there may be a good reason, but make them say it.
- Request a 12-month extras report — every à-la-carte charge billed beyond the base fee. Extras quietly exceeding 25–30% of the base fee is the classic underpriced-contract pattern.
- Check the insurance renewal. Did the manager competitively bid the master policy or roll it over? One question, potentially thousands of dollars.
- Read the reserve study date. Older than 3–5 years, or contributions below the study's recommendation, is deferred fees in disguise.
- List every owner-paid fee — statement, portal, payment-processing, late-fee schedules. Boards rarely see these; owners always do.
- Find your contract's end date and notice window — mark the calendar for 90 days before it. Leverage has an expiry date.
- Benchmark once a cycle: even if you're happy, a competing quote every 2–3 years keeps your incumbent's pencil sharp.