Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In Mesa, AZ

Who rents in Mesa

Mesa had an estimated 511,764 residents in the 2020–2024 American Community Survey, in 198,498 occupied homes. Owners held 127,839 of those homes and renters 70,659, a 35.6% renter share. Among nearby cities, that is close to Chandler (35.0%) and above Gilbert (26.9%), but well below Glendale (42.8%) and Tucson (48.2%), according to the same ACS release. In absolute terms, Mesa's 70,659 renter households outnumber those of Chandler (37,672) and Gilbert (25,965) combined.

Mesa's median household income was $82,752, between Glendale's $73,530 and Chandler's $108,095. That middle position shows up in the rental stock: Mesa has fewer luxury renters than Chandler or Scottsdale and more working households that rent long term.

The employer base is broad. The City of Mesa's economic development office lists Mesa Public Schools (7,829 employees), Banner Health (6,468), the City of Mesa (5,250) and Boeing (4,600) as the largest Mesa-based employers. Banner Desert Medical Center is part of that healthcare workforce. Dexcom adds 1,867 jobs, and the list includes a cluster of aerospace and defense firms, among them Able Aerospace Services, Nammo Defense Systems, MD Helicopters and Gulfstream, spread around Falcon Field and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Arizona State University reports 515 Mesa-based employees, reflecting its Polytechnic campus in southeast Mesa.

Hospital, manufacturing and airport jobs run on shifts, and many of those workers rent near where they work. That supports apartment demand across the city rather than in one employment center.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in Mesa was $1,620 over 2020–2024. That is below Chandler ($1,902), Scottsdale ($2,013) and Gilbert ($2,110), and above Glendale ($1,528), per ACS table B25064. Mesa sits in the middle of the East Valley rent range, which is part of its appeal to renters priced out of Gilbert and Chandler.

Affordability is still tight. Of Mesa's renter households, 52.4% spend 30% or more of income on rent, and 24.1% spend at least half. That burden is higher than in Chandler (43.9%) or Gilbert (44.5%), where incomes are higher.

HUD's Fair Market Rents for the metro, the basis for Housing Choice Voucher payment standards, sit above Mesa's Census median. The table compares them with metro asking rents reported by Kidder Mathews for Q2 2026:

FMRs are for the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler MSA from HUD. Voucher programs in the metro use ZIP-code-level Small Area FMRs, so the payment standard for a specific Mesa building can differ. Where FMRs exceed market asking rents, voucher-backed tenancies can support a building's rent roll.

The apartment stock

Mesa has 222,992 housing units. Per ACS table B25024, 43,987 of them, or 19.7%, are in buildings with five or more units: 12,212 in 5–9 unit buildings, 12,288 in 10–19 unit buildings, 5,985 in 20–49 unit buildings and 13,502 in complexes of 50 or more. Small and mid-size properties make up a larger share of Mesa's apartment stock than large complexes do.

Mesa also has 27,843 mobile homes, 12.5% of all housing units. For apartment owners, manufactured-home parks are a low-cost alternative that competes for the same budget-minded renters.

The median Mesa home was built in 1989. The 1980s were the busiest decade, with 53,402 units, followed by the 1970s at 42,874. Overall, 29.0% of units date from before 1980 and 13.3% were built in 2010 or later. Buildings from the 1970s and 1980s are now reaching the age when roofs, water heaters, plumbing and HVAC need replacement, and buyers will price those projects into offers. The pre-1980 stock is concentrated in and around Downtown Mesa, while Eastmark, a master-planned community near Gateway, carries much of the newer construction.

New supply

The metro construction pipeline is shrinking. Kidder Mathews counted 15,974 units under construction across the Phoenix area in Q2 2026, down 35.5% from a year earlier, and 6,355 units delivered in the first half of 2026. Metro vacancy was 11.3%, 40 basis points lower than a year before, while average asking rent fell 2.2% to $1,536.

Mesa has its share of new projects. The report lists The Mason in East Mesa, 419 units due in the third quarter of 2026. Its completion adds lease-up competition in the east, while older buildings in central and west Mesa compete mainly on price.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Maricopa County

Arizona classifies residential rental property as legal class 4, with an assessment ratio of 10%. Taxes are based on the limited property value, which under A.R.S. 42-13301 can rise no more than 5% a year and cannot exceed full cash value. A sale is not one of the recalculation triggers in A.R.S. 42-13302, so a buyer generally inherits the seller's limited value. Valuation appeals must be filed within 60 days of the notice.

Mesa, like Gilbert, levies no primary city property tax. The 2025 Maricopa County rate schedule shows Mesa with a 0.0000 primary rate and a 0.8582 secondary rate per $100 of assessed value, compared with 0.2118 and 0.8700 in Chandler and 0.3242 and 1.1296 in Glendale. County-wide levies include a 1.1591 county primary rate, 1.0600 primary for the community college district, 0.1428 for flood control, 0.1400 for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District and 0.2914 for the Special Health Care District. School district levies are added and vary across Mesa's several districts.

Arizona has no real estate transfer tax, and the state constitution bars new ones. Since January 1, 2025, the Department of Revenue confirms, cities may no longer charge transaction privilege tax on long-term residential rent, so Mesa's former rental tax no longer appears on a new owner's books.

Landlord rules and local compliance

A.R.S. 33-1329 preempts rent control throughout Arizona, including in charter cities such as Mesa, except for housing owned, financed, insured or subsidized by a state agency or a city. Under the landlord-tenant act, security deposits are capped at one and a half months' rent, with an itemized return due within 14 business days of move-out and the tenant's demand. A landlord can end a lease for unpaid rent after a five-day notice.

Every rental must be registered with the Maricopa County Assessor under A.R.S. 33-1902. Out-of-state owners must name an Arizona statutory agent, and the statute allows penalties of $1,000 plus $100 a month for an unregistered new acquisition, or $150 a day for an existing property, after a 10-day cure period. Buyers and lenders routinely ask for proof that the registration is current, so it is worth checking before you list.

What this means if you own a building here

Mesa sellers benefit from a city with no primary property tax and a tax base that can rise no more than 5% a year, both of which help a buyer's numbers. Kidder Mathews put the metro average cap rate at 5.8% in Q2 2026, down from 6.6% a year earlier, and reported Longbow Luxury Apartments in Central Mesa selling for $95.25 million, or $280,973 per unit. That was a large, newer property. A 1970s 16-unit building west of Country Club Drive will price off its own trailing net operating income, rent upside and repair needs.

Before talking to buyers, remove the old rental-tax line from your expenses, confirm your assessor registration and list the age of roofs, plumbing and HVAC. Test value with our apartment building value calculator. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across Mesa, listed or off-market; see our seller page for how we underwrite.