Sell Your Commercial Property In Arapahoe County, CO

Who rents in Arapahoe County

Renters head 90,698 of the 257,232 occupied households in Arapahoe County, a 35.3% share in the 2020-2024 ACS. Owners hold the larger piece, at 166,534 households. Englewood carries the highest renter share among the covered cities, at 50.8%.

Aurora holds the largest renter pool among Arapahoe County cities, with 54,627 renter households. Littleton and Centennial lean further toward ownership, though Centennial's median rent still tops $2,100. Apartment stock concentrates in Aurora and Englewood, where more than a third of housing sits in buildings of five or more units.

Arapahoe County's renter base skews toward mid-size apartment buildings rather than high-rise towers. The county's median year a home was built is 1986, which means much of its rental stock predates recent construction codes and may carry different unit mixes than newer Denver-area supply. Buyers weigh that vintage against each building's capital needs when they underwrite a purchase.

Rents, growth and affordability

Arapahoe County's median gross rent climbed 36.0%, from $1,390 to $1,891, between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 surveys. Median household income rose 30.5% to $101,087, while population grew 2.4% to 659,844 residents over the same span.

Renter households rose 3.5%, adding 3,029 households, and units in buildings of five or more apartments grew 6.0%, adding 4,389 units. Rent burden remains heavy: 56.4% of Arapahoe County renters paid 30% or more of income on gross rent in the 2020-2024 ACS.

HUD's FY2027 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro area is $2,169, effective October 1, 2026, running $278 above the county's $1,891 median gross rent. Rental vacancy in Arapahoe County stands at 5.5%.

Employment in Arapahoe County grew 3.2% to 358,318 employed residents between the two surveys, adding 11,082 jobs. Unemployment stood at 5.0% in the 2020-2024 ACS, a backdrop that supports steady rent demand even as rent growth outpaced both income and job gains.

City-by-city comparison

Rents and renter shares vary widely across Arapahoe County. Centennial posts the highest median rent among the covered cities at $2,148, alongside the lowest renter share, 19.4%. Englewood runs the opposite pattern, with a $1,668 median rent and a 50.8% renter share.

Vacancy ranges from 3.2% in Centennial to 7.1% in Littleton. Aurora's 29.5% share of units in 5+ buildings sits close to the countywide 29.0% figure, while Englewood's 37.5% share leads the group.

Income levels also diverge sharply among these four cities. Centennial's median household income of $131,928 is the highest in the group, while Englewood's $86,800 and Aurora's $88,368 sit closer to the countywide figure of $101,087. That income spread helps explain why Centennial supports the highest rents despite its small renter share.

Property taxes and assessment in Arapahoe County

Colorado assesses multifamily property as residential for tax purposes. The state sets the assessment rate at 6.8% of actual value for non-school levies and 7.05% for school-district levies, effective for tax years from January 1, 2026, per the Colorado Division of Property Taxation.

Real property in Arapahoe County is revalued every odd-numbered year, with personal property assessed annually. For tax years 2025 and 2026, comparable sales must fall between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, so a strong current sale price does not feed the next appraisal until the following cycle.

Colorado charges no real estate transfer tax. Only a state documentary fee applies under C.R.S. 39-13-102: none at $500 or less of consideration, otherwise 1 cent per $100 of consideration above that.

What this means if you sell in Arapahoe County

When you sell commercial property in Arapahoe County, CO, you sell into a renter base that holds 35.3% of households and a rent line that climbed 36.0% in five years. The 5.5% rental vacancy rate is the counterweight buyers will test against your rent roll and any concessions.

Rent control is not a factor here. C.R.S. 38-12-301 preempts local rent control statewide, so Arapahoe County owners in Aurora, Centennial, Englewood and Littleton set rents by lease terms and market demand, not by city ordinance.

As a multifamily buyer in Arapahoe County, we review 5+ unit buildings across Aurora, Centennial, Englewood and Littleton as they stand today. Send a current rent roll, a T-12 and your latest tax statement, and we will price the building on those numbers.