Arizona property tax, explained with the actual numbers

Updated August 29, 2026. Written by the JB PARCEL team. Ratios and rates change by tax year; the class 1 ratio below is the 2026 figure.

Arizona puts two values on every parcel, and the one that matters for your tax bill is the smaller one. The full cash value is the assessor's estimate of market value. The limited property value is a capped number that, for most parcels, can only rise 5 percent a year no matter what the market does. That cap came from Proposition 117, and since 2015 your taxes are charged on the limited value alone. A house that doubled in market value since 2015 is still being taxed on a number that crept up 5 percent a year.

The ratios

Arizona does not tax the limited value directly. It first applies an assessment ratio that depends on the property's legal class.

The class 1 ratio has been stepping down a half point a year by statute, which is why a commercial listing from two years ago quotes a different ratio than today's. The ratio times the limited value gives the net assessed value, and that is the number every taxing district charges against.

The rate

Rates are quoted per $100 of assessed value, and a parcel pays a stack of them: county, city, school district, community college, and any special districts it sits inside. Worked example: a rented house in Phoenix with a limited value of $400,000. Class 4, so the assessed value is $40,000. If the combined rate across all districts is $9.50 per $100, the bill is $3,800 a year. The same $400,000 as an owner-occupied home gets a state aid credit on the school portion that a rental does not, which is one of several reasons the county wants to know, and neighbors report, when a home quietly becomes a rental.

What trips up buyers from other states

1. The two values. Listing sites often show full cash value. Underwrite on the limited value; it is what the bill is computed from.
2. Classification changes reset your math. Buy an owner-occupied house and turn it into a rental and it moves from class 3 to class 4. The ratio stays 10 percent but the school credit goes away, so the bill rises even though nothing else changed.
3. Vacant land is taxed harder than homes. Class 2's 15 percent ratio means a $200,000 lot can carry a higher bill than a $250,000 house. Check the class before you assume.
4. New construction escapes the cap once. The limited value of new improvements is set fresh, not grown from a prior year, so the first full-year bill on a new build can jump well past what the dirt was paying.

What the card shows you

The parcel card in Arizona counties carries the full cash value, the limited value where the county publishes it, the land and improvement split, and the last recorded sale. Comparing full cash value to limited value tells you how much cap protection the current owner has built up. A wide gap means the bill is well below what a fresh reassessment would charge, and that protection transfers with ownership in most cases because the cap follows the parcel, not the owner.