Escrow and Prorations

What will escrow actually cost you at closing?

The escrow and prepaids section is the least understood part of any cash-to-close figure — and the most state-specific. Pick your state, enter your real tax bills, and this builds your initial escrow deposit, your monthly escrow, your tax prorations, and a month-by-month projection — the same one your lender puts in the closing package, before they generate it.

Why I built this

Every closing package includes an Initial Escrow Account Disclosure — a month-by-month projection of your escrow account — and almost nobody sees it until days before closing, long after they budgeted their cash to close. I build this projection for my own clients early, because the escrow deposit is set by real arithmetic: your servicer projects a year of deposits and bill payments and collects just enough up front that the account bottoms out at a two-month cushion. That math depends heavily on where you are. Florida and Texas run one tax bill a year on predictable dates. Pennsylvania runs two or three — county and municipal on the calendar year, school districts on a July-to-June fiscal year — and closing a month before a big school bill produces a very different deposit than closing a month after it. This tool runs the same aggregate method your servicer uses, with your state’s actual bill cycles, so the number on your closing disclosure looks familiar instead of alarming.

— Matt Mergo · NMLS #563819
Your transaction
Used for the proration day count
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On a refinance, your existing policy keeps its own renewal date
Property taxes
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One bill covers everything in your state
Allegheny, Butler, and Washington millage tables are preloaded — any other county works too, just type the tax amounts below yourself
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Enter the gross assessed value from the tax bill or county site — not the purchase price, and before any homestead exclusion. In Butler County especially, assessed values run far below market value. With a preloaded county, this fills the tax amounts below; clear it to enter amounts yourself.
Not listed? Type it anyway and enter the amount below
Fills in when you pick a municipality — override if needed
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School taxes run July to June, not the calendar year
Total annual property tax—
Monthly tax portion (annual ÷ 12)—
Initial escrow deposit at closing
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Monthly escrow payment—
Prepaid first-year insurance—
Escrow and prepaids at closing—
Your projected initial escrow account disclosure
MonthTo escrowFrom escrowForBalance
Reading this like a lender: the deposit is set so the account bottoms out at a two-month cushion — never at zero. Due months vary by county and district, so adjust them above to match your actual bills; the closer a big bill sits to your closing, the larger the deposit. Prorations here assume the standard day-count split; your settlement agent runs the official version. Bills due within about 60 days of closing are collected at the table itself — escrow can’t fund in time — and show as their own line above.
Have Matt run your real numbers

Or talk it through first. How your specific county bills and when its tax year turns. That is what decides who owes what at the settlement table. Text · Call · Email. It’s free, and there’s no pitch at the end of it.

This calculator is an educational estimate, not a loan offer or an official escrow disclosure. Actual escrow requirements depend on your lender’s analysis method, your exact bill amounts and due dates, and your closing date; prorations follow local convention and are computed by the settlement agent. It assumes a two-month cushion (the federal maximum) and a 365-day proration year. Millage rates are preloaded from the 2026 Allegheny County Treasurer, Butler County, and Washington County listings and change over time — verify current rates with your county. The Allegheny County homestead exclusion of $18,000 requires an approved application on file with the county; school districts set their own exclusion separately and not all districts grant one, so apply it only where the district’s bill reflects it. Forest Hills Mortgage · Matt Mergo, NMLS #563819. Equal Housing Opportunity.