Lincoln apartment property tax is built from two numbers: the market value the Lancaster County Assessor places on the building as of January 1 each year, and the combined levy of every taxing district that covers the parcel, minus a state-funded school tax credit that now appears directly on the bill. Because Lancaster County moved to annual valuations, an apartment owner in Lincoln should expect the value side of that equation to be revisited every year rather than every few years.
Lincoln, Nebraska’s capital and the Lancaster County seat, had 291,082 residents in the 2020 Census and an estimated 301,522 in July 2025. With an owner-occupied rate of 56.1% for 2020–2024, roughly 44% of the city’s occupied homes are rented, which makes apartment buildings a large slice of the county’s taxable base. This guide follows the tax year in order: how value is set, when owners are notified, how to protest, how levies and credits turn value into a bill, and what the extra filings for apartment owners look like.
The valuation standard in Nebraska law
Nebraska taxes real property at 100% of its value. Section 77-201 of the state statutes says taxable real property “shall be valued at its actual value,” and Nebraska’s definition of actual value in §77-112 equates that with market value. The same section allows assessors to use professionally accepted mass appraisal methods, including:
- the sales comparison approach, which compares the property to recent sales of similar buildings;
- the income approach, which converts the property’s expected net income into a value using a capitalization rate; and
- the cost approach, which estimates replacement cost less depreciation, plus land value.
For apartment buildings, the income approach usually carries the most weight, because buyers price them on income. The Lancaster County Assessor/Register of Deeds states that residential and commercial property is assessed at market value as of January 1, 2026, and the timing is set in statute: under §77-1301, real property is assessed as of 12:01 a.m. on January 1.
How the county applies the income approach
A 2026 decision by the Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC) shows how the county uses the income approach on income-producing commercial property. In 830 L LLC v. Lancaster County Board of Equalization, decided June 16, 2026, the county had valued the parcel using the income approach, and TERC upheld values of $788,700 for 2024 and $806,400 for 2025. The owner had argued for lower values using its actual figures and capitalization rates of 10.0% and 10.5%. TERC held that the county was not required to adopt the owner’s actual figures. The lesson for apartment owners is that a protest built only on the building’s own income statement, without market support for rents, expenses and cap rates, faces an uphill argument.
Lancaster County’s reassessment cycle
Two changes in recent years affect how often an apartment owner’s value moves.
- Annual valuations. Assessor Dan Nolte moved Lancaster County from a three-year valuation cycle to annual valuations, as KOLN reported in January 2026. Values now track the market year by year instead of jumping every third year.
- Physical inspections on a six-year cycle. Residential and commercial appraisers inspect about one-sixth of parcels each year, so every property is reviewed in person roughly every six years. Commercial property is reviewed by building type and occupancy code.
The county’s 2026 three-year plan says commercial land values are being reviewed in 2026, with some reclassification and upward changes expected for some property types, and that new market models will be built for all property classes in 2027. Apartment owners should read that as a signal that 2027 notices may reflect a broader recalibration than a typical year.
How close assessments are to market
Each year the Nebraska Department of Revenue audits county assessment levels. Its 2026 Reports and Opinions for Lancaster County found a commercial median assessment ratio of 97.40% and a residential median of 97.00%, meaning assessed values sat slightly below sale prices at the median. The same report shows commercial and industrial value in the county rose 5.40% from 2024 to 2025.
Notices and the Lincoln apartment property tax calendar
Nebraska’s property tax calendar is set mostly by statute, with a few county-specific dates. For a Lincoln apartment building, the year runs roughly as follows:
- January 1, 12:01 a.m.: assessment date for real and personal property.
- By January 15: in counties with at least 100,000 residents, the assessor posts or mails preliminary valuations.
- By March 25: the assessor completes the assessment.
- May 1: personal property returns are due.
- By June 1: under §77-1315, the assessor mails a valuation change notice by first-class mail to the owner of record as of May 20, for any parcel whose value changed from the prior year.
- June 1 to June 30: protest filing window.
- By October 15: levies are set.
- Mid-December: tax statements are mailed.
- December 31: taxes become due.
The county’s own key property tax dates for Lancaster County are the best place to confirm each year’s calendar, since some dates move when they fall on a weekend.
Protesting an apartment valuation
An owner who disagrees with a value has a short window and a defined process.
Filing with the County Board of Equalization
Under the protest deadlines in §77-1502, protests must be filed on or before June 30, one protest per parcel. In Lancaster County, protests are filed with the County Clerk. The board hears protests from June 1 through July 25, and a county with more than 100,000 residents may extend hearings to August 10, in which case decision notices are due by August 18.
Lancaster County’s 2026 process
Lancaster uses independent referee appraisers to review protests. The county’s protest timeline for 2026 laid out the sequence:
- Referee hearings ran through June and July and were mostly held by phone.
- Value recommendations were posted July 31.
- The Board of Equalization took final action on August 4.
- Final notices were mailed by August 18.
- The window to appeal to TERC ran from August 10 to September 10.
Appealing to TERC
Section 77-1510 sets the TERC appeal deadline at August 24, or September 10 in a county that has adopted the extended hearing schedule. Because Lancaster extends its hearings, its deadline is September 10.
What to bring to a referee hearing
Because most Lancaster referee hearings happen by phone, the evidence needs to be organized and sent in advance. A useful packet for an apartment building includes:
- a current rent roll showing unit mix, in-place rents and vacant units as of January 1;
- trailing twelve-month income and expense statements, with one-time capital items separated from recurring operating costs;
- asking rents for comparable buildings nearby, with dates and sources;
- recent sales of comparable apartment buildings and the capitalization rates they imply; and
- photos or contractor bids documenting deferred maintenance, such as roofs, boilers or parking lots, that a buyer would price into an offer.
Building a stronger protest
The 830 L LLC decision suggests what a persuasive apartment protest looks like. Market rents for comparable units, market vacancy and expense ratios, and capitalization rates drawn from comparable sales carry more weight than a single year’s operating statement. Owners who track their numbers with a tool such as our NOI calculator can compare their actual net operating income against the market figures the assessor is likely to use and see where the gap comes from.
From value to bill: levies in Lincoln
Value is multiplied by the levy of every district that covers the parcel. Nebraska expresses levies in dollars per $100 of value.
Levy limits
Section 77-3442 caps several of the main levies: school general fund levies at $1.05 per $100, counties at 50 cents (5 cents of which is reserved for interlocal agreements), and cities at 45 cents plus 5 cents for interlocal agreements.
What a Lincoln parcel pays
The most recent official breakdown of a consolidated levy inside Lincoln, for 2022–23, totaled 1.988570 per $100 of value. Its components were:
- Lincoln Public Schools: 1.207169
- City of Lincoln: 0.312930
- Lancaster County: 0.260814
- Southeast Community College: 0.0937
- Lower Platte South Natural Resources District: 0.026002
- Railroad Transportation Safety District: 0.022217
- Airport Authority: 0.017126
- Public Building Commission: 0.017
- Educational Service Unit 18: 0.015
Rates have since shifted. For fiscal 2025–26, Lancaster County adopted a levy of 0.214482 per $100, above its revenue-neutral rate of 0.202418, on a tax request of $101,083,950 as total county assessed value rose 9.85%. Lincoln Public Schools’ 2025 general fund rate was 0.009011410 per dollar of value, about 0.90 per $100, and the district’s adopted total levy was reported at about $1.02 per $100, down nearly 9 cents. The Department of Revenue’s 2025 average tax rate for Lancaster County was 1.5955% of value, compared with 1.4738% statewide.
A worked example
Take a hypothetical Lincoln apartment building assessed at $3,000,000. At the county’s 2025 average rate of 1.5955%, the gross tax would be about $47,865 before credits. In the 2022–23 breakdown above, Lincoln Public Schools accounted for about 61% of the consolidated levy, so the school credit described next can reduce that figure meaningfully. As a rough illustration only: if about 61% of that $47,865 were school taxes eligible for the credit, and the credit covered about 28% of eligible school taxes as it did countywide in 2025, the credit would be roughly $8,200, leaving a net bill near $39,700. Owners should run the calculation with the actual levy and credit printed on their own statement, since rates differ by tax district within the city and the credit percentage changes each year with state funding.
State relief: the school tax credit on your statement
Nebraska’s approach to property tax relief was restructured twice, in 2020 and 2024, and apartment owners qualify for the current version.
LB 34 and the move to statement credits
In the August 2024 special session, the Legislature passed LB 34 by 40-3, and it was signed August 20, 2024. The bill added about $185 million in new relief, moved the money behind the refundable income tax credit for school taxes onto property tax statements, and capped city and county property tax requests at the greater of 0% or inflation, plus growth, with exceptions for public safety, emergencies and voter-approved increases.
The School District Property Tax Relief Credit
Under §77-7305, the credit applies to every taxable real property parcel, which includes apartment buildings. The Department of Revenue’s directive on the School District Property Tax Relief Credit explains that it covers school taxes other than bond levies and voter-approved overrides, and that it is allocated to each county and then to each parcel in proportion to school taxes. For tax year 2025 in Lancaster County, eligible school taxes were $425,299,169.74 and the credit allotted was $120,579,124.81, which works out to about 28% of eligible school taxes.
Two details are easy to miss. The community college portion of relief is still claimed on the state income tax return rather than on the property tax statement. And the older LB 1107 refundable income tax credit now covers only school taxes paid between January 1, 2022 and January 2, 2024, so it should not be counted in current underwriting.
Personal property returns and payment deadlines
Apartment owners also own taxable personal property: appliances, laundry equipment, furnishings in furnished units, and maintenance equipment.
- Filing: the Department of Revenue’s 2026 guidance says returns are required for depreciable tangible personal property owned or held on January 1 at 12:01 a.m., including property leased to or from another person, and are due to the county assessor on or before May 1.
- Penalties: a 10% penalty applies to value added after May 1 through June 30, rising to 25% on or after July 1.
- No exemption: LB 1107 eliminated the former $10,000 per-tax-district exemption after tax year 2019, so the full value is taxable.
On the real property side, Lancaster County taxes become due December 31. Under §77-204, the first half becomes delinquent April 1 and the second half August 1, and delinquent taxes accrue interest at 14% a year.
TIF and redevelopment in Lincoln
New apartment projects in Lincoln often use tax increment financing. The city’s 2025 Annual TIF Report counted 133 active TIF projects at the end of 2025, 116 of them collecting divided taxes. The increment, meaning taxes on value above the base year, repays eligible public improvements, usually over 15 or 20 years. Housing examples include Antelope Square Apartments ($5.5 million, 2024), Campion Housing ($5.5 million, 2023), Aspen Heights ($7.0 million, 2017), Elsey Housing at 10th and Y ($1.69 million, 2016) and the first phase of Foxtail/SoFo Housing ($1.94 million, 2025). For owners of existing buildings, TIF-assisted competitors are worth knowing about, and so is the date each project’s increment period ends and its full value returns to the general tax rolls.
What Lincoln owners should do with all this
The practical steps for owners of apartment buildings in Lincoln:
- Read the June notice closely. With annual valuations, every change notice is a chance to check the county’s income assumptions against your rent roll and market data.
- Calendar the hard deadlines. June 30 for protests, September 10 for TERC appeals in Lancaster County, May 1 for personal property returns, and April 1 and August 1 for tax payments.
- Budget taxes after credits. Underwrite from the levy on your own statement and net out the school credit, but do not count the expired LB 1107 income tax credit.
- Check the owner of record after a purchase. Change notices go to the owner of record as of May 20, so a buyer who closes in late spring should confirm the deed is recorded and watch for a notice addressed to the seller.
- Watch 2027. The county’s plan to build new market models for all classes in 2027 could move apartment values more than a typical annual update.
- Plan for a sale. A buyer will underwrite taxes at the current assessed value and levy, so a well-supported value matters when it is time to sell.
For local market context, see our Lincoln market page, and for other Nebraska cities, the Nebraska markets page.
