Two houses on facing blocks in Chevy Chase, Maryland can carry the same assessed value, sit inside the same 20815 zip code, and still owe noticeably different property tax bills every year. The gap has nothing to do with the house. It comes down to which side of an invisible municipal line the driveway sits on.
Chevy Chase, MD is not a single town with one government. It is a cluster of separately incorporated municipalities, each with its own elected board, its own annual budget, and its own property tax rate layered on top of the same Maryland state and Montgomery County rates that every property in the area already pays. A buyer comparing two listings that both say "Chevy Chase" is really comparing two different local governments, and the single median price that gets quoted for the neighborhood is an average across governments that do not tax or serve residents the same way.
The Governments Hiding Inside One Neighborhood Name
Within the boundaries most people call Chevy Chase, Maryland, Montgomery County's own tax structure recognizes several incorporated municipalities operating side by side: Chevy Chase Village, Section 3 of the Village of Chevy Chase, Section 5 of the Village of Chevy Chase, the Town of Chevy Chase, the Village of Martin's Additions, and the Village of North Chevy Chase. Some streets fall outside all of them, in unincorporated Montgomery County, where the county is the only local government involved. Each incorporated village elects its own board, adopts its own budget every spring, and answers to no one outside its own charter for how it taxes and serves its residents.
North Chevy Chase shows how small these governments actually are. The village was created as a special tax district in 1924 and incorporated as a municipality in 1996, and today it covers 211 single-family homes inside roughly 0.11 square miles next to the Connecticut Avenue entrance to the Capital Beltway. A government that size is still a government, with its own budget, its own service contracts, and its own tax rate, separate from a neighboring village a few streets away.
What the Same Assessed Value Actually Costs
Every property in the area pays the Maryland state real property tax rate, recently published at $0.112 per $100 of assessed value, plus the Montgomery County rate, which sat at $0.978 per $100 for fiscal year 2025. That combination alone, with no municipal layer added, comes to $1.09 per $100 of assessed value.
The incorporated villages add their own rate on top of that base. Recently published municipal rates put Chevy Chase Village at $0.0672 per $100, Section 3 at $0.10 per $100, and the Town of Chevy Chase at $0.0079 per $100. Applied to a $1,000,000 assessed home, the numbers look like this:
| Jurisdiction | Combined rate per $100 | Annual tax on $1,000,000 assessed value |
|---|---|---|
| Unincorporated Montgomery County | $1.0900 | $10,900 |
| Town of Chevy Chase | $1.0979 | $10,979 |
| Chevy Chase Village | $1.1572 | $11,572 |
| Section 3, Village of Chevy Chase | $1.1900 | $11,900 |
On identical assessed value, the spread between the lowest and highest jurisdiction runs close to $1,000 a year, before anyone accounts for how quickly assessed values are climbing inside each village's own boundary. Village boards set these rates through their own budget process each spring. Chevy Chase Village's charter requires its Board of Managers to prepare a proposed budget and tax rate on or before April 1 of each year, for a fiscal year that begins July 1, which means the rate attached to a specific address can shift from one budget cycle to the next even when the county and state numbers hold steady. Anyone comparing two Chevy Chase listings should confirm the current rate directly with the relevant village office rather than relying on a figure that was accurate a season earlier.
The Trade Nobody Puts in the Listing
The extra municipal tax buys something specific. Each village uses it to run services the county would otherwise provide at a standard, countywide level, and the difference shows up in daily errands more than on the deed.
Section 3 states the trade plainly on its own site: Montgomery County does not service Section 3 at all, so the village contracts for its own household trash pickup twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, instead of the county's standard once-a-week collection, along with a separate Monday yard waste route, Wednesday recycling, and a village-paid composting contract with Compost Crew.
North Chevy Chase runs a similar model at an even smaller scale. The village contracts for its own refuse collection twice weekly, quarterly bulk pickup in March, June, September, and December, weekly yard waste on Mondays, weekly recycling on Wednesdays, and seasonal leaf collection from October through December, and it maintains its own streets, sidewalks, and street trees rather than handing those tasks to the county. The village describes the result on its own site as service delivered in greater frequency than most of the surrounding county.
Chevy Chase Village goes a step further and runs its own police department, with a Communications Center staffed around the clock, in addition to standard Montgomery County police coverage. The Village's Public Works Department also handles snow removal for every Village street with one exception: Brookville Road and Connecticut Avenue stay under state maintenance, since both are state-numbered highways rather than local streets.
None of this makes one jurisdiction better than another. A household that wants twice-weekly trash pickup, a dedicated village police force, or a plow crew that reaches the block before the state gets to a state highway is paying for a specific bundle of services through that municipal rate. A household in unincorporated county land is choosing standard countywide service at a lower combined rate. The trade runs in both directions, and it is invisible on a listing sheet that simply reads "Chevy Chase, MD."
Why This Matters More at Closing Than at the Open House
Listing platforms and marketing copy tend to use "Chevy Chase" as one place name, and the address on a listing rarely states which of these governments a house actually falls inside. The Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation record for a specific parcel will show whether a municipal tax applies and which one, and that record is the fastest way to confirm which government a house answers to before writing an offer.
The distinction carries into the settlement table too. Prorated property taxes at closing are calculated off the levy in effect for that specific parcel, not off a neighborhood average, so two purchase contracts closing in the same month on comparable homes can carry different tax prorations depending on which village or unincorporated pocket each parcel sits inside. A buyer comparing a Chevy Chase Village listing against a Section 3 listing, or either one against an unincorporated county listing, is comparing two different tax and service structures, not two versions of the same deal.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Before an Offer Goes In
How do I find out which government a specific Chevy Chase address falls under? The parcel's state assessment record lists any municipal tax code attached to the address, and the relevant village or town office can confirm the current rate and service schedule directly.
Do these municipal boundaries follow the same lines as zip codes? No. Municipal boundaries and postal zip codes are drawn independently, so a line that separates two villages on a tax map will not necessarily appear anywhere on a zip code map.
Does living in unincorporated Montgomery County mean there's no local government at all? No. It means Montgomery County itself is the only local government involved, providing standard countywide services like once-a-week trash collection and county police patrol rather than a village-run alternative.
Comparing two Chevy Chase addresses starts well before the inspection period, with a look at which government each one actually answers to. Pearlman Meekin & Co. walks buyers and sellers through exactly that kind of parcel-level detail before an offer goes in. Book a consultation to talk through a specific address.
