Zionsville vs Carmel, Westfield, and Fishers
Families weighing Zionsville usually weigh Carmel, Westfield, and Fishers too. Here are the four side by side on the numbers that decide it: certified property-tax rates, home values, schools, and population. Every figure is a cited public record. We hold recorded sale prices for the Zionsville area only, so no recorded price is shown for the other three towns.
Property-tax rates
The certified total rate for each town's main incorporated district, pay-2025, as a percent of gross assessed value. The illustrative column applies each rate to the same $500,000 assessed value, before any deductions, so the differences are legible. Rates vary by district within every town, and a real bill is much lower than gross rate times value.
| Town | County | Certified rate | Tax on $500,000 AVillustrative, before deductions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zionsville this site | Boone County | 1.9795% | $9,898 |
| Carmel | Hamilton County | 1.9977% | $9,989 |
| Westfield | Hamilton County | 2.3247% | $11,624 |
| Fishers | Hamilton County | 2.1955% | $10,978 |
Westfield carries the highest town-proper rate (2.3247%) and Zionsville the lowest (1.9795%). But the rate you pay depends on your exact district, and Indiana's homestead deductions and circuit-breaker caps (1% of value for a homestead) pull the actual bill well below these gross figures. Estimate a real Zionsville bill →
Cross-check: our tax estimator uses 2.0336% for the Zionsville town district (pay-2026), the rate shown here is 1.9795% (pay-2025). The small gap reflects the different pay-years and district definitions behind the two figures.
Home values
Median owner-occupied home value from the Census ACS 5-year survey. These are modeled survey estimates with margins of error, not recorded sale prices, and they lag the current market. They are the one figure available on the same basis for all four towns.
| Town | Median valueACS survey estimate | Margin of error |
|---|---|---|
| Zionsville | $587,800 | ±$21,572 |
| Carmel | $486,800 | ±$10,332 |
| Westfield | $425,700 | ±$17,028 |
| Fishers | $391,000 | ±$8,661 |
This is a different kind of number from the survey estimates above. It is the median of 438 homes that actually changed hands in Zionsville in the last 12 months (through May 2026), from Boone County records, not a modeled estimate. Over the last five years the recorded median is $575,000 across 2,785 sales. We hold this for the Zionsville area only. See it block by block → Month by month →
Why only Zionsville has a recorded price here: recorded sale prices come from county public records, and this site tracks Boone County. Carmel, Westfield, and Fishers are in Hamilton County, so their figures above are the ACS survey estimate, the honest cross-town basis, not a recorded sale.
Schools and population
The public school corporation for each town and its class-of-2025 state graduation rate, plus population. Indiana discontinued A-F school letter grades, so the graduation rate is the citable quality signal.
| Town | School district | Grad rateclass of 2025 | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zionsville | Zionsville Community Schools | 97.94% | 32,095 |
| Carmel | Carmel Clay Schools | 99.02% | 101,651 |
| Westfield | Westfield Washington Schools | 97.94% | 54,677 |
| Fishers | Hamilton Southeastern Schools | 98.87% | 102,337 |
How this is built, and what to watch
- Tax rates vary by district within every town. The rate shown is the town-proper corporation district (Zionsville Corporation, Carmel City, Westfield Town, Fishers Town) as a percent of gross assessed value, pay-2025, from the DLGF 2025 Certified Tax Rates by District.
- These are gross rates, not an effective tax burden. An Indiana bill is far lower than gross rate times market value: the state applies an assessment ratio, homestead deductions, and the constitutional circuit-breaker caps (1% of value for homesteads, 2% other residential, 3% commercial). The illustrative tax below is before deductions, for comparing rates only.
- Median home values are ACS 2024 5-year survey estimates (Census table B25077, median value of owner-occupied units), with margins of error. They are modeled estimates, not recorded sale prices, and lag current prices by the 5-year window.
- For Carmel and Fishers the ACS 1-year value runs higher than the 5-year ($561,200 vs $486,800 for Carmel; $420,300 vs $391,000 for Fishers). The 5-year figure is used for all four towns so the comparison is apples-to-apples.
- The school signal is the IDOE class-of-2025 state graduation rate (total cohort), which includes waiver graduates. Indiana also publishes lower non-waiver and separate federal rates. Indiana discontinued A-F school letter grades, so a current letter grade is not available.
- This is one comparison page, not a claim that any town is better. Every column is a cited fact; the weights are yours. Zionsville's recorded median refreshes weekly with the sales data; the cited rates and survey figures refresh on their annual government release.