Do Sex Offenders Affect Property Values?

The unsurprising answer is: Yes.  According to Slate, the effect is dramatic:

How much does your property value drop when a registered sex offender lives next door? About 12 percent. According to a study released in 2008, houses located next door to a registered sex offender drop by that much in value. For the average American homeowner, that’s a loss of nearly $21,000, enough money to send a child to private school for two years. [...] The picture gets even bleaker when you consider that sex offenders affect not only the value of adjacent properties, but the value of other homes nearby. On average, homes within a 0.1-mile radius of a registered sex offender drop in value by 4 percent.

Steve Clowney