These two towns sit next to each other, draw from similar price ranges, and get compared constantly. The comparison is usually made with raw tax rates, which is the one thing you cannot do here. Here is the whole picture with the sources attached.

How do Pittsford and Brighton compare on town and county tax?

These are the 2026 Town and County tax rates published by Monroe County, in dollars per $1,000 of assessed value.

Source: Monroe County, 2026 Town and County Tax Rates. This table is town and county tax only. School tax is billed separately and is the larger number. Village taxes and special district charges for things like fire, lighting and sewer are also billed separately and are not in these rates.

How do the school tax rates compare, and why does the town matter?

School district lines and town lines are not the same lines. The Brighton and Pittsford districts each cross into the other town, and the county publishes a different rate for each town and district combination. These are the 2025-2026 school tax rates, again per $1,000 of assessed value.

Source: Monroe County, 2025-2026 School Tax Rates. Read that table by town and district together, never by district alone. A house in the Town of Pittsford that sits in the Brighton district pays 29.718940, the highest of the four, and a house in the Town of Brighton that sits in the Pittsford district pays 27.670459, the lowest. Which district serves a given address is a matter of public record and you should confirm it for the specific address rather than assuming it from the town name.

Why you cannot compare those rates side by side

A tax rate is applied to assessed value, and these two towns do not assess at the same fraction of what houses actually sell for. Monroe County publishes both measures.

Source: Monroe County, equalization rates. The two columns measure slightly different things, so say which one you are using. The arithmetic below uses the level of assessment first and then repeats it with the equalization rate, because the answer should not depend on which one you pick.

Take a house in each town, each in its own district:

• Brighton, town and county 15.185726 plus school 28.707606, is 43.893332 per $1,000 assessed.
• Pittsford, town and county 12.434985 plus school 28.641139, is 41.076124 per $1,000 assessed.

On the raw numbers Pittsford looks about 2.82 lower. Now convert both to dollars per $1,000 of market value:

• At the level of assessment, 53 percent and 51 percent: Brighton 23.26, Pittsford 20.95. Gap 2.31.
• At the state equalization rate, 59 percent and 57 percent: Brighton 25.90, Pittsford 23.41. Gap 2.48.

So the common warning that raw rates mislead is right about the method but, for this particular pair, it does not change who is cheaper. Pittsford is lower on the raw rate, lower at the level of assessment and lower at the equalization rate. What the adjustment does is slightly widen the gap rather than reverse it. That is true of Brighton and Pittsford. It is not a rule, and for other town pairs in Monroe County the adjustment can and does flip the order, so run the same arithmetic before you rely on it anywhere else.

On a house worth $400,000 the difference works out to roughly $926 a year at the level of assessment, or about $993 at the equalization rate. That is before any STAR exemption or other exemption you qualify for, and before village or special district charges. It is a planning figure, not a quote.

How long is the commute from Pittsford and Brighton?

This is mean travel time to work for residents of each town, from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 2024 five-year estimates. It counts everyone who commutes to a job, in any direction and by any means, so it is not a drive time to one destination.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 five-year estimates, tables B08013 and B08012, from the Bureau's published summary files. Mean travel time is aggregate travel time divided by the number of workers.

Treat the gap carefully. The point estimates are 2.1 minutes apart, but the margins of error put Brighton between 15.9 and 17.8 minutes and Pittsford between 17.9 and 20.1. Those ranges clear each other by about nine seconds. The direction is real, the size of it is not precise, and two minutes a day is not a reason to choose a town. Both towns commute shorter than the county as a whole.

How do I check a specific address?

Town averages do not pay your bill. For any house you are seriously considering:

• Confirm the school district for that exact parcel, not for the town. Both districts cross the town line, and the rate follows the parcel. Ask for it in writing from the town assessor or the district, and do not rely on a listing site field.
• Get the current assessed value for that parcel, which is not the asking price and often not the last sale price.
• Ask which special districts the parcel is in. Fire, lighting, sewer, drainage and ambulance charges appear on the bill and are not in the rates above.
• Ask whether the property is inside the Village of Pittsford, which carries its own line on the county table and its own village tax.
• Ask what exemptions currently apply and which of them transfer to you. A seller's STAR exemption does not come with the house.

The mechanics of why two similar houses land on different bills are covered in Monroe County property taxes town by town.

Frequently asked questions

Is the commute shorter from Pittsford or Brighton, NY?
Brighton. Residents of the Town of Brighton average 16.9 minutes to work against 19.0 minutes for the Town of Pittsford, on the Census Bureau's 2024 five-year American Community Survey. Both are shorter than the Monroe County average of 19.9 minutes. The margins of error are about 0.9 and 1.1 minutes, so treat the 2.1 minute gap as a direction rather than a precise figure.

Are property taxes lower in Pittsford or Brighton, NY?
Pittsford, on every measure. Combining town, county and school tax for a property in each town's own district, Brighton is 43.893332 per $1,000 of assessed value and Pittsford is 41.076124. Converting to market value using each town's level of assessment gives 23.26 for Brighton and 20.95 for Pittsford, a difference of roughly $926 a year on a house worth $400,000.

Why can you not compare Pittsford and Brighton tax rates directly?
Because a rate applies to assessed value, and the two towns assess at different fractions of market value. Monroe County lists Brighton at a 53 percent level of assessment and Pittsford at 51 percent. For this pair the adjustment widens Pittsford's advantage rather than reversing it, but for other Monroe County town pairs it can change which town is cheaper, so do the arithmetic each time.

Does the school district change the tax rate within the same town?
Yes. Monroe County publishes school rates by town and district together. In the Town of Pittsford, a parcel in the Brighton district is 29.718940 and one in the Pittsford district is 28.641139. In the Town of Brighton, a parcel in the Brighton district is 28.707606 and one in the Pittsford district is 27.670459.

How do I find the exact tax rate and school district for one address?
Confirm the school district for that parcel in writing with the town assessor or the district rather than from a listing site, get the current assessed value for the parcel, ask which special districts it falls in, check whether it is inside the Village of Pittsford, and ask which exemptions apply and whether they transfer to you.

If you are weighing these two towns against each other for a specific move, I am at +1 585 732 8665 or soldbykhem@joinreal.com and I will pull the parcel figures with you.