Home Appraisal Cost by State (2026)

Appraisal cost by loan type

Conventional and FHA/USDA figures are commonly reported ranges (Angi 2026), not a single published table. VA figures come directly from VA's own fee schedule, detailed below.

VA appraisal fee cap by state (2026)

The Department of Veterans Affairs sets a maximum-allowable fee for VA appraisals in every state, effective May 1, 2026. It is the only appraisal-cost figure published by a government body for all 50 states and DC, on a fixed date, so it is the most reliable per-state benchmark on the market — even for readers who are not using a VA loan, since it tracks the same underlying driver (local appraiser supply and travel cost) that shapes conventional and FHA pricing too. Figures below are the statewide baseline for an individual single-family home; many states set a higher cap for specific rural counties, shown in the full VA table linked in Sources.

Source: VA Appraisal Fees and Timeliness table, effective May 1, 2026, accessed August 30, 2026. Statewide baseline for an individual single-family home; condominium, manufactured-home and 2–4 unit caps run the same or higher in every state and are in the full VA table.

Alaska tops the table at $1,100 statewide — and up to $1,500 in its most remote counties — because of the state's size, low appraiser density, and travel cost. The cheapest states cluster in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic (Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin all cap at $650), where appraiser supply is denser relative to housing stock.

Why this table uses VA's schedule, not a conventional-loan average

We checked for a state-by-state conventional or FHA appraisal-cost table before building this page, and none exists from a primary source. FHA appraisals are governed by HUD's “reasonable and customary” standard — HUD explicitly does not set or publish fees, leaving them to be negotiated between the appraiser and the lender or AMC. Conventional appraisal fees are set entirely by the private market with no regulatory filing at all. The many “average appraisal cost by state” tables circulating online are aggregator estimates, not sourced figures, and we chose not to reproduce them here. VA's schedule is the one exception: because VA guarantees the loan, it fixes a maximum fee by state (and, within many states, by county) and republishes it on a fixed schedule — which makes it the only figure on this topic that is dated, complete, and traceable to a primary source.

What drives appraisal cost, beyond state

How the appraisal fee connects to your appraisal contingency

The fee on this page pays for the appraisal itself; it says nothing about what happens if the number that comes back is lower than your contract price. That risk is what an appraisal contingency in your purchase agreement is for — it gives you a contractual way out (or a renegotiation lever) if the appraised value falls short. Waiving that contingency to make an offer more competitive is a separate decision from paying the appraisal fee, and it's the one that actually carries the financial risk: without it, a low appraisal can leave you contractually obligated to either cover the gap in cash, renegotiate with a seller who has no obligation to agree, or walk away and forfeit your earnest money. See what happens when there's an appraisal gap for the full set of options if it happens to you.

Appraiser independence: what the law actually requires

Every appraisal you pay for is legally required to be independent of everyone who has a financial stake in the deal closing — including your loan officer and your real estate agent. The Dodd-Frank Act added Section 129E to the Truth in Lending Act, and the CFPB's implementing rule, Regulation Z § 1026.42, bars any “covered person” from trying to cause an appraiser to report a minimum or maximum value “through coercion, extortion, inducement, bribery, or intimidation.” The rule spells out specific prohibited tactics: withholding or threatening to withhold an appraiser's payment because the number came in low, implying that future business depends on hitting a target value, or excluding an appraiser from a lender's approved list because their past reports didn't meet a predetermined threshold. Lenders are separately required to pay appraisers a “customary and reasonable” fee for the local market, and if a lender reasonably believes an appraiser materially violated professional appraisal standards, it must refer the matter to that state's licensing agency.

This is also why you can't simply call the appraiser yourself to make your case for a higher number, and why your agent generally can't either — independence rules route that conversation through the lender instead, which is the point of the process described next.

If you disagree with the appraisal: the Reconsideration of Value process

You're always entitled to see the appraisal you paid for. Regulation B § 1002.14 gives applicants the right to a free copy of any valuation used in the credit decision, delivered promptly on completion or at least three business days before closing. If you think the number is wrong — a missed comparable sale, an inaccurate square-footage figure, a condition detail the appraiser didn't see — that copy is what you use to request a Reconsideration of Value (ROV), and the process differs by loan type.

On a conventional loan sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you have a defined right to one borrower-initiated ROV per appraisal. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide (B4-1.3-12) requires the request to identify the property, appraiser and appraisal date, describe the specific deficiency, and supply supporting data — up to five comparable sales the appraiser is being asked to consider. The lender must disclose this process when it delivers the appraisal, and it remains on the hook either way: “the lender is responsible for ensuring the appraisal report and opinion of market value are reliable and adequately supported,” regardless of how the ROV comes out.

On an FHA loan, there is currently no equivalent industry-wide borrower-initiated ROV mandate. HUD published one in May 2024 (Mortgagee Letter 2024-07) but rescinded it in March 2025 via Mortgagee Letter 2025-08, reverting to the prior rule: the underwriter, not the borrower directly, may request a reconsideration when the appraiser overlooked relevant information available as of the appraisal date. In practice, that means an FHA borrower who disputes an appraisal should raise it with their loan officer and ask the underwriter to request a reconsideration — the door isn't closed, it's just no longer a codified borrower-facing process the way it is on a conventional loan.