Ingham County closing costs
The county-specific transfer tax and deed recording fees for Ingham County, Michigan - the local details that change your total beyond the statewide rate.
- Effective transfer tax
- 0.11%
- ≈ $440 on a $400,000 home
- Typical lender + 3rd-party fees
- $3,982
- median of 2,518 purchase loans · HMDA 2023
Ingham County compared with Michigan counties
In the verified Michigan county records we have, Ingham County's effective transfer-tax rate ranks #1 of 7 by highest rate. At $400,000, the county-specific transfer tax is $440, which is $3,000 below the state-level calculation before city surtaxes.
- County rank
- #1 of 7
- within verified Michigan county pages
- Tax at $400,000
- $440
- state baseline $3,440
- HMDA fee sample
- 2,518
- purchase loans in 2023
Ingham County transfer-tax data: official source linked on this page, reviewed 2026-Q2.
Transfer tax in Ingham County
SELLER/GRANTOR pays the transfer tax in Michigan ("Transfer taxes shall be upon the seller or grantor and must be paid at the time the instrument is presented for recording") and it must be paid before the Register of Deeds will record the deed. County transfer tax = $0.55 per $500 of consideration = 0.0011 of price (per MCL 207.501 et seq., County Real Estate Transfer Tax Act, applies to counties under 2 million population — Ingham qualifies). On TOP of this is the STATE transfer tax of $3.75 per $500 = 0.0075 (state-level, not captured in county_transfer_tax_rate), so the combined statewide rate is $4.30 per $500 = 0.0086. No city/municipal transfer tax exists in Michigan — there are no local add-ons beyond state + county, so the rate is uniform statewide. Largest city in the county is Lansing (the state capital); no separate city transfer tax. Recording fee is a flat $30.00 per instrument regardless of pages (per the 2016 statewide flat-fee statute, MCL 600.2567).
Recording fees in Ingham County
Deed/instrument recording fee: $30.00 flat per document (deeds, mortgages, lis pendens, certified copies of court documents, or other real-property instruments), regardless of number of pages. Additional $3.00 for each instrument assigned or discharged beyond the first on assignment/discharge documents. Copy fees: unrecorded/time-stamped $0.50/page; recorded document copies $1.00/page; certified copies $5.00/document plus $1.00/page. (Source: Ingham County Register of Deeds official fee schedule, rd.ingham.org)
Official recorder: Ingham County recorder ↗ — the authoritative source for the current recording fee schedule.
What lenders actually charge in Ingham County
Across 2,518 home-purchase mortgages originated in Ingham County in 2023, the median total loan costs — lender fees plus third-party services such as appraisal and title, excluding prepaids and escrow — were $3,982, of which about $1,721 was the lender’s own origination charges. That is reported loan-level data from every lender under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act — not a national average — so it reflects what buyers in this county actually paid. Lender fees vary widely, so comparing a few rate quotes is the single biggest lever on your closing total.
Source: FFIEC HMDA Data Browser ↗ (2023 purchase originations, FIPS 26065, ODC-BY 1.0). Median total loan costs exclude prepaids and escrow.
Estimate your Ingham County closing costs
Pre-set to Michigan. County-level taxes above may add to this estimate.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the transfer tax in Ingham County?
Ingham County (Michigan): the applicable real-estate transfer tax works out to about 0.11%. SELLER/GRANTOR pays the transfer tax in Michigan ("Transfer taxes shall be upon the seller or grantor and must be paid at the time the instrument is presented for recording") and it must be paid before the Register of Deeds will record the deed. County transfer tax = $0.55 per $500 of consideration = 0.0011 of price (per MCL 207.501 et seq., County Real Estate Transfer Tax Act, applies to counties under 2 million population — Ingham qualifies). On TOP of this is the STATE transfer tax of $3.75 per $500 = 0.0075 (state-level, not captured in county_transfer_tax_rate), so the combined statewide rate is $4.30 per $500 = 0.0086. No city/municipal transfer tax exists in Michigan — there are no local add-ons beyond state + county, so the rate is uniform statewide. Largest city in the county is Lansing (the state capital); no separate city transfer tax. Recording fee is a flat $30.00 per instrument regardless of pages (per the 2016 statewide flat-fee statute, MCL 600.2567).
What are recording fees in Ingham County?
Deed/instrument recording fee: $30.00 flat per document (deeds, mortgages, lis pendens, certified copies of court documents, or other real-property instruments), regardless of number of pages. Additional $3.00 for each instrument assigned or discharged beyond the first on assignment/discharge documents. Copy fees: unrecorded/time-stamped $0.50/page; recorded document copies $1.00/page; certified copies $5.00/document plus $1.00/page. (Source: Ingham County Register of Deeds official fee schedule, rd.ingham.org)
How much are closing costs in Ingham County?
Closing costs in Ingham County follow Michigan's structure plus this county's specific transfer-tax and recording fees. Use the calculator below for an estimate; for the exact recording schedule, the county recorder is the authoritative source.
What do lenders charge in fees in Ingham County?
In 2023, the median total loan costs — lender fees plus third-party services like appraisal and title, excluding prepaids and escrow — across 2,518 home-purchase mortgages in Ingham County were about $3,982, of which roughly $1,721 was the lender's own origination charges. This is reported loan-level data under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; actual fees vary by lender, so comparing quotes matters.
Closest Michigan county comparisons
Sibling links are ordered by nearby verified effective transfer-tax rate, so each county page connects to genuinely comparable counties.