Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: they are four different things and only one of them is a debt. An exemption cuts the taxable value of your home. A freeze holds your assessment or bill where it is. A circuit-breaker refunds tax once it exceeds a share of your income. A deferral lets you not pay now — and secures the unpaid tax against the house.
Exemption — the simplest
A slice of your assessed value stops being taxable. If the exemption is $50,000 and your home is assessed at $300,000, you are taxed on $250,000. The saving scales with your local tax rate, which is why the same exemption is worth very different amounts in different counties. Usually the easiest to qualify for and often the smallest.
Freeze — protection against the future, not the present
A freeze locks your assessment (or in some states the bill itself) at its current level. It saves you nothing today; it protects you from what happens next. In a market where values are climbing quickly a freeze can become the most valuable programme of the four within a few years. In a flat market it does very little. Read carefully whether your state freezes the assessment or the tax — if the assessment is frozen but the rate rises, your bill still rises.
Circuit-breaker — the one keyed to income
Named for the electrical idea: it trips when the burden gets too high. Once property tax exceeds a defined share of household income, the state refunds or credits the excess. It is the most sharply targeted of the four and often the most generous for people with low incomes and high tax bills. It usually requires an annual filing and proof of income, and it is the programme most often left unclaimed.
Deferral — the one that is a debt
You stop paying; the state does not stop charging. Deferred tax accumulates, usually with interest, and is typically secured by a lien on the property, payable when you die, sell or move out. It is genuinely useful for someone who is house-rich and cash-poor with no heir depending on the equity. It is the wrong choice for someone whose plan is to leave the house to their children, who would inherit the debt with it. The detail on deferral liens.
How to compare them for your own situation
- Cash-flow problem now? Circuit-breaker first (it is a refund), exemption second. Deferral only if neither applies and you understand the lien.
- Worried about rising assessments? The freeze is the one that compounds in your favour.
- Leaving the house to family? Avoid deferral unless the family has agreed to it with the numbers in front of them.
- Can you stack them? Sometimes. Many states let an exemption and a circuit-breaker coexist. Ask the assessor directly rather than assuming.
What your state actually runs: property-tax relief for seniors by state.
Program classifications and thresholds are read from each state’s own revenue department, comptroller or statute, at the source linked on the state page. Dollar and income thresholds change most years and are labelled with the year we confirmed them — check the current figure with the state or your county before relying on it. General information, not tax advice.