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County · Southeast Missouri / Lead Belt / Mississippi Corridor

Iron County

Short answer

A small, scenery-rich county at the heart of the St. Francois Mountains, where ancient igneous rock surfaces as Missouri's highest ground (Taum Sauk Mountain), the granite domes of Elephant Rocks, and the river-carved Johnson's Shut-Ins.

All counties All local notes

Towns, cities & local places in Iron County

ArcadiaArcadia ValleyBelleviewElephant Rocks State ParkFort Davidson State Historic SiteGranitevilleIron MountainIrontonJohnson's Shut-Ins State ParkPilot KnobSt. Francois MountainsStouts CreekTaum Sauk MountainTaum Sauk Mountain State Park
Region
Southeast Missouri / Lead Belt / Mississippi Corridor
Local notes
12
Notes nearby
6
Nearby counties
6

Property tax snapshot

Missouri has no single county rate. A bill is the sum of every taxing district on the parcel — county, school, city, fire, library, ambulance — and the school levy varies most within a county.

Estimate a bill Look up the exact rate

Practical guides

Common county next steps in Iron County

Use these when the local office, parcel, vehicle, or deadline matters.

Property tax estimator Estimate a real-property bill, then confirm the exact parcel value and levy locally. Personal property tax guide Sort January 1 vehicle ownership, paid receipts, and statements of non-assessment. Vehicle title checklist Plan the license-office trip around title timing, inspections, emissions, and receipts. Assessment appeal guide If a value looks wrong, start with the county deadline and evidence about market value.

Local notes

Local rules and costs to check in Iron County

Short notes on the taxes, paperwork, and local-government layers here — grouped by topic, each linking the official sources behind it.

Floodplains, flash flooding, and the Arcadia Valley's water Steep igneous terrain sheds rain fast into creeks and the Black River, so where a property sits relative to the floodplain matters for buyers, insurance, and everyday road safety. SEMO GIS is an assessor inventory tool, not a survey Iron County's assessor points property users to SEMO GIS, while warning that it is for tax inventory and not for survey purposes. Fort Davidson and the 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob Fort Davidson State Historic Site preserves a significant Civil War battlefield in the county and is a primary way to understand Iron County's role in the wider 1864 campaign. Iron County tax bills run through the collector Iron County's collector handles current and delinquent property taxes, and the county says tax bills are due by December 31. Iron mining at Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain gave the county its name Nineteenth-century iron mining shaped the county's settlement, rail, place names, and even its county seat, and the legacy is still visible on the landscape.

Local notes

Worth knowing in Iron County

History, rivers, lakes, and quirks that give the county some shape.

Arcadia Valley is a town cluster, not one municipality Iron County's own overview describes Pilot Knob, Ironton, and Arcadia as communities within Arcadia Valley, with Ironton serving as county seat. Bell Mountain is Iron County's federal-wilderness hiking layer The Forest Service describes Bell Mountain Wilderness as an Iron County St. Francois Mountains area with rugged trails and limited marking. Marble Creek links Iron County visitors to the Ozark Trail The Forest Service describes Marble Creek Recreation Area as a remote creekside campground with an Ozark Trail trailhead reached from the Arcadia and Ironton side. Iron County sits in the St. Francois Mountains, Missouri's igneous core The county's hard, ancient volcanic rock is the reason for its highest-point, shut-ins, and granite-dome scenery, and it sets the region apart from Missouri's more common limestone-and-karst terrain. Elephant Rocks State Park: giant granite boulders you can walk among Elephant Rocks is one of the county's signature, family-friendly destinations and a clear window into the granite geology and quarrying history of the area. Taum Sauk Mountain is the high point of Missouri The highest natural point in Missouri is in this county, a genuine destination distinction that draws hikers and high-point baggers and anchors a state park.
Browse 1 more stories and place notes

Official sources

Where to confirm it

A short set of official county and agency pages cited here. The other 20 source links stay with their individual notes.

Iron County Government Center Iron County Assessor Iron County Assessor portal U.S. Forest Service - Bell Mountain Wilderness Iron County Collector Missouri Department of Revenue - Renewing Missouri License Plates U.S. Forest Service - Marble Creek Recreation Area Missouri DNR Missouri DNR

Worth knowing nearby

Notes from the counties closest to Iron County

Source-checked notes from the nearest counties — the local layer often carries across the county line.

Bismarck Conservation Area grew around a lead-mining reservoir St. Francois County · Bismarck Conservation Area surrounds DiSalvo Lake, a 1944 reservoir built for nearby lead-mining operations, and now adds public land south of Bismarck. Millstream Gardens carries the St. Francis River through Tiemann Shut-Ins Madison County · Millstream Gardens Conservation Area is a Madison County St. Francis River landscape with Tiemann Shut-Ins, natural-area river corridor, and public access west of Fredericktown. Fort Barnesville is a Civil War earthwork near Ellington Reynolds County · Fort Barnesville, in the Current River Conservation Area near Ellington, is a rare surviving Civil War redoubt tied to the old military road between Pilot Knob and Van Buren. Washington County personal property starts with the Assessor's list Washington County · Washington County's assessor page explains that the office maintains taxable real and personal property and sends annual personal-property declaration forms. Hickory Canyons keeps Ice Age plants in Ste. Genevieve County Ste. Genevieve County · Hickory Canyons Natural Area has sandstone box canyons, cool cliff faces, short trails, and glacial relict plants northeast of Farmington. The St. Francis River and Wayne County's flood history Wayne County · The St. Francis River runs through Wayne County, which has flooded before. Look up any address on FEMA's flood maps, and don't assume Wappapello Lake removes all flood risk.

Nearby counties

Closest counties to Iron County

Nearby counties with their own local notes.

St. Francois County The heart of the Old Lead Belt: Farmington is the seat, the Park Hills/Flat River area sits on former lead-mining ground, and the legacy left mine tailings (chat) and federally documented cleanup to handle calmly via EPA and DNR. Madison County A small Southeast Missouri county on the eastern edge of the St. Francois Mountains, with Fredericktown as its seat. Reynolds County A small, remote, heavily forested county in the St. Francois Mountains built around Centerville as the seat. Washington County Potosi is the seat of a county defined by one of Missouri's oldest mining districts: barite, locally called tiff, and early lead mining at Mine au Breton. Ste. Genevieve County A Mississippi River county whose seat, Ste. Genevieve, holds one of the densest concentrations of French Colonial vertical-log architecture in North America, now anchored by a National Historical Park. Wayne County A southeast Missouri county where the St. Francois Mountains meet the St. Francis River and Lake Wappapello, with timber country, relocation history, and floodplain questions.

Reviewed June 18, 2026. These notes are a starting point — confirm exact parcel, license, tax, or permit details with the Iron County office that controls each record.

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