What is the property tax rate in Arkansas?
Arkansas property tax averages 0.56% of market value for owner-occupied homes (Tax Foundation 2026, using the 2024 American Community Survey). That is well below the national middle and far below Illinois or New Jersey.
The rate on your own building comes from two numbers instead. The assessor values property at market and assesses it at 20%, and the tax is that assessed value times the total millage for your school district, city and county. The Arkansas Assessment Coordination Division’s 2025 millage report, for taxes collected in 2026, puts the state average of county averages at 48.77 mills.
How Arkansas sets assessed value
Arkansas assesses real property at 20% of its true, actual or market value, according to the Assessment Coordination Division. The county assessor sets market value through countywide reappraisals, and the assessed value is one-fifth of that figure.
Apartment buildings are assessed the same way as other real property, at 20%. The difference for a rental owner is in the caps: a rental building is not a homestead, so it falls under the 10% annual limit rather than the 5% limit for homes, and it does not qualify for the homestead credit.
How millage works in Arkansas
A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, and your total millage is the sum of the school district, city and county levies on your parcel. The Assessment Coordination Division says the tax is the taxable assessed value times the prevailing millage rates.
So the formula is market value times 20% times total mills divided by 1,000. At the state average of 48.77 mills, that works out to about 0.98% of market value for a building assessed at its full current value. That is well above the 0.56% Tax Foundation figure, which partly reflects homes whose bills are held down by the 5% homestead cap and the homestead credit. Of the 48.77 average, 38.50 mills is school millage, 4.16 is city and 7.91 is county.
Arkansas property tax rates by county
County average millage in Arkansas runs from about 41 to 60 mills. The figures below are each county’s Average Overall Total from the Assessment Coordination Division’s 2025 Millage Report, which covers taxes collected in 2026. The report is marked unaudited and approximate, and rates within a county vary by school district and city, so check the rate on your own parcel.
Pulaski County, home to Little Rock, has the highest average at 59.56 mills, driven largely by 44.88 mills of school millage. Scott County is lowest at 41.17. Benton County, in Northwest Arkansas, is among the five highest at 54.29, while neighboring Washington County averages 51.47, close to the middle of the range. Sebastian County, home to Fort Smith, averages 51.93.
| County | Average total millage (2026 collections) | Group |
|---|---|---|
| Pulaski | 59.56 | Highest |
| Jefferson | 58.16 | Highest |
| Bradley | 54.73 | Highest |
| Nevada | 54.40 | Highest |
| Benton | 54.29 | Highest |
| Lee | 41.96 | Lowest |
| Fulton | 41.89 | Lowest |
| Pope | 41.88 | Lowest |
| Stone | 41.76 | Lowest |
| Scott | 41.17 | Lowest |
Amendment 79 caps on assessment increases
Amendment 79 to the Arkansas Constitution limits how fast assessed value can grow on property that has been on the rolls. For a homestead, the increase is capped at 5% a year. For other property, including commercial and rental property, the increase is capped at 10% a year, according to the Assessment Coordination Division.
The cap protects owners after a reappraisal raises market values sharply. If the assessor raises your building’s market value by 30%, your assessed value can still rise only 10% a year until it catches up with 20% of the new market value.
How the 10% cap plays out if you keep the building
If you hold rather than sell, the 10% cap closes the gap one step at a time. Take a building whose assessor market value is $2,000,000, so its full assessed value would be $400,000, but whose capped assessed value is $250,000. At 48.77 mills, and assuming the market value and millage stay put, the bill climbs each year until it reaches the full figure.
This is one reason long-held Arkansas buildings often carry bills well below what a new owner will pay. The cap is a benefit to you while you own the building, and a cost a buyer will subtract from the price.
| Year | Capped assessed value | Yearly tax at 48.77 mills |
|---|---|---|
| Now | $250,000 | $12,193 |
| Year 1 | $275,000 | $13,412 |
| Year 2 | $302,500 | $14,753 |
| Year 3 | $332,750 | $16,228 |
| Year 4 | $366,025 | $17,851 |
| Year 5 (reaches 20% of market) | $400,000 | $19,508 |
Does a sale trigger reassessment in Arkansas?
Yes, for capped property. The Assessment Coordination Division says that when capped property is bought by someone who will not use it as a homestead, the cap is lifted and the property is assessed at 20% of full market value on the following January 1.
For an apartment building, that means the buyer’s tax bill can jump the year after closing if the cap had been holding your assessment below 20% of market. The bigger the gap between your capped assessed value and 20% of the assessor’s market value, the bigger the jump. Buyers who know the rule will look at your assessed value and the assessor’s market value, not just last year’s bill.
How to appeal your assessment in Arkansas
You appeal to your county’s equalization board, and you must go to the board before you can appeal to county court. The Assessment Coordination Division says equalization boards meet from August 1 through October 1, and that a board must give its decision in writing.
Counties set their own appointment process. Pulaski County, for example, says owners appeal by making an appointment during the August appeal period and meeting with the board. Check with your county assessor for the exact filing deadline as soon as you receive a change of value notice.
- Review the assessor’s market value and the capped assessed value on your notice.
- Bring a rent roll, operating statements and recent sales of similar buildings.
- Book your equalization board hearing in the August appeal period.
- If the board rules against you, the next step is county court.
Property tax exemptions for Arkansas apartments
Arkansas has no general property tax exemption for apartment buildings. The Assessment Coordination Division states that commercial and rental property is not exempt. The homestead credit and the 5% homestead cap apply only to an owner’s primary residence.
Business personal property, such as appliances and equipment you own in the building, is assessed separately each year. Pulaski County charges a 10% penalty on late business personal property assessments, so keep that filing current before you sell; a buyer will ask about it.
Worked example: property tax on a $2M Arkansas apartment building
Take a 28-unit building with a market value of $2,000,000. At 20%, its assessed value is $400,000. At the state average of 48.77 mills, the yearly tax is $19,508. The same building in Pulaski County at 59.56 mills would owe $23,824, and in Scott County at 41.17 mills about $16,468.
Now the sale. Say the 10% cap has held the building’s assessed value at $250,000, so the current bill at 48.77 mills is about $12,193. A buyer pays $2,000,000 and will not live there, so the cap comes off on the next January 1. If the assessor’s market value is $2,000,000, assessed value goes to $400,000 and the bill to $19,508, or about $7,316 more a year.
At an illustrative 6% cap rate, $7,316 of lost net operating income takes about $121,925 off what a buyer can pay. A buyer who underwrites from your current bill will overpay; one who knows the Amendment 79 rule will lower the offer. Better that you know the number first.
| Scenario | Assessed value | Yearly tax |
|---|---|---|
| State average, 48.77 mills | $400,000 | $19,508 |
| Pulaski County, 59.56 mills | $400,000 | $23,824 |
| Scott County, 41.17 mills | $400,000 | $16,468 |
| Capped value before sale, 48.77 mills | $250,000 | $12,193 |
| Cap lifted after sale, 48.77 mills | $400,000 | $19,508 |
Effective rate or millage: which one to use
Use your own assessed value and millage for your building, and the 0.56% effective rate only to compare Arkansas with other states. The Tax Foundation figure is median taxes paid divided by median home value for owner-occupied homes, so it reflects the homestead cap and credit that an apartment building does not get.
Within Arkansas, millage differences between counties are smaller than in many states, about 18 mills from top to bottom. The cap is often the bigger factor: two buildings on the same street with the same market value can owe very different amounts if one changed hands recently and the other has been capped for years.
What to check on your Arkansas tax records before you sell
Pull these before you list, so the tax question does not surprise you in negotiation.
- The assessor’s market value and your capped assessed value, and the gap between 20% of the first and the second.
- The total millage for your school district, city and county.
- When your county’s last reappraisal took effect.
- Your business personal property assessment and whether it is current.
- The last three tax bills and any equalization board decisions.
Selling an apartment building in Arkansas
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units in Arkansas, including Pulaski, Benton, Washington and Sebastian counties. We buy directly, close on your timeline, and can work inside 1031 deadlines. We underwrite the post-sale tax bill up front, so the offer you get already reflects the cap coming off.
For the tax on the sale itself, see Arkansas capital gains tax on real estate. For the tenant rules a buyer will inherit, see Arkansas landlord-tenant law for apartment owners.
