What is the property tax rate in New Mexico?
The property tax rate in New Mexico averages 0.63% of market value for owner-occupied homes (Tax Foundation 2026, using the 2024 American Community Survey). That is below the middle of the states, less than half of Texas’s 1.40%, and above Arizona and Colorado, which sit at about 0.5% in the same ranking.
Your own bill comes from a mill rate, not that percentage. The Department of Finance and Administration’s Property Tax Facts for the 2025 tax year shows a statewide mean residential rate of 30.352 mills, and a median county rate of 24.180 mills. One mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value, and taxable value in New Mexico is one-third of the property’s assessed value.
How New Mexico sets assessed and taxable value
County assessors value property at its current and correct value, which means market value, and the tax applies to one-third of that figure. The DFA report states the relationship the other way around: assessed value is three times net taxable value, plus exemptions.
So a building valued at $1,500,000 has a taxable value of $500,000. At 30 mills, the bill is $15,000 a year, or 1% of value. To turn any county’s mill rate into a share of market value, divide it by 3,000.
Apartment buildings used for long-term housing are classed as residential property, because New Mexico defines residential property as one or more dwellings used mainly for permanent human habitation. Hotels and motels are excluded, and a unit used mainly as a short-term rental is assessed as nonresidential. That classification decides two things: whether the 3% valuation cap applies, and which of the county’s two rates you pay.
The 3% valuation cap on residential property
Under NMSA 7-36-21.2, the value of residential property cannot rise by more than 3% over the prior year, or by more than 6.1% over two years. Nonresidential property has no such cap and is valued at market each year.
The cap does not apply to new physical improvements, to a property’s first year on the tax roll, or to the year after a change of ownership or a change in use or zoning. Owners who have held a building for many years in a rising market often have a capped value well below what the building would sell for.
On top of the value cap, New Mexico limits the rates. Operating levies are capped at 20 mills under the state constitution, and a yield control formula trims residential operating rates when values jump so that revenue grows roughly with local government costs. Debt and special levies need voter approval and sit outside the 20-mill limit.
Does New Mexico reassess property when it is sold?
Yes. In the tax year after a change of ownership, the 3% cap falls away and the assessor values the property at its current and correct value. The cap then starts again from that new value.
This reset is the main property tax risk in a New Mexico apartment sale. A buyer’s first full year can carry a much higher bill than yours, and buyers price that in. The buyer of residential property must file a sales affidavit with the assessor, and the Santa Fe County Assessor advises new owners not to count on the title company or county clerk to file it.
New Mexico property tax rates by county
Residential rates in New Mexico ranged from 17.280 mills in Catron County to 41.004 mills in Bernalillo County in tax year 2025. The figures below are DFA’s weighted average residential rates by county, from Table 6 of the 2025 Property Tax Facts. Rates differ within each county by city, school district and special district.
Divide by 3,000 to get the approximate share of market value: Bernalillo’s 41.004 mills works out to about 1.37% of value, and Catron’s 17.280 mills to about 0.58%.
| County | Residential rate (mills) | Nonresidential rate (mills) | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernalillo | 41.004 | 44.705 | Highest |
| Sandoval | 32.635 | 30.439 | Highest |
| McKinley | 32.335 | 33.007 | Highest |
| Socorro | 32.251 | 32.706 | Highest |
| Valencia | 31.334 | 34.459 | Highest |
| Harding | 19.669 | 23.594 | Lowest |
| De Baca | 19.550 | 18.872 | Lowest |
| Santa Fe | 19.028 | 27.690 | Lowest |
| Taos | 17.477 | 26.218 | Lowest |
| Catron | 17.280 | 15.690 | Lowest |
Residential and nonresidential rates
Each New Mexico taxing district sets two rates, one for residential and one for nonresidential property, because yield control is applied to each class separately. An apartment building pays the residential rate, while a strip center or office building next door pays the nonresidential rate.
The gap can be wide. In Santa Fe County, the 2025 average nonresidential rate was 27.690 mills against 19.028 mills residential. In Bernalillo County it was 44.705 against 41.004. A mixed-use building with ground-floor retail is split between the two classes, so ask the assessor how your building is coded.
What the statewide averages hide
The statewide mean of 30.352 mills sits well above the typical county, because high-rate counties led by Bernalillo, the most populous county and the one with the highest rate, pull it up. The median county rate is lower, at 24.180 mills for residential property, which is closer to what an owner in Las Cruces, Farmington or Roswell sees. Doña Ana County averaged 29.107 mills, San Juan County 24.180 and Chaves County 24.416 in 2025.
Two buildings in the same county can still pay different rates. A building inside Albuquerque city limits carries city and school levies that a building in an unincorporated area does not, and special districts for flood control, hospitals or colleges add more. The rate printed on your own tax bill is the one to use, and the county treasurer can tell you which districts apply to a parcel before you buy or sell.
How to protest your property value in New Mexico
File a protest petition with the county assessor within 30 days after the assessor mails your notice of value. Notices go out in April, so the deadline usually falls in May. Check the mailing date printed on your notice.
If the assessor does not settle it, the protest is set for a hearing. Filing a protest is an election of remedies: the 2026 Sandoval County protest form says it waives the other route, a claim for refund in district court. Bring rent rolls, operating statements and recent sales of similar buildings, since the case is about what the building would sell for.
- April: notices of value mailed.
- 30 days after mailing: last day to file a protest petition with the assessor.
- Before you file: check that the building is classed as residential and that the 3% cap was applied if you have owned it more than a year.
Property tax exemptions for New Mexico apartments
New Mexico’s best-known exemptions do not cover rental buildings. The $2,000 head of household exemption and the veteran exemptions apply to the owner’s own primary residence, and the valuation freeze for low-income seniors and people with disabilities applies only to their homes.
Affordable housing deals and buildings financed through government programs can carry their own tax terms. If your building has one of those arrangements, ask the assessor and your attorney whether it survives a sale before you set a price.
Worked example: property tax on a $2M New Mexico apartment building
Take a 24-unit building in Albuquerque with a market value of $2,000,000. Its taxable value is one-third, about $666,667. At Bernalillo County’s average residential rate of 41.004 mills, the yearly tax is about $27,336. At the statewide average of 30.352 mills it would be about $20,235, and in Santa Fe County at 19.028 mills about $12,685.
Now add the 3% cap. Suppose the seller has owned the building since the early 2010s and its capped value is $1,400,000. Taxable value is about $466,667 and the bill is about $19,135. When the building sells for $2,000,000, the cap ends for the next tax year and the bill rises to about $27,336, an increase of $8,201 a year.
Buyers value apartments on net operating income. At an illustrative 6% cap rate, $8,201 less NOI means about $136,680 less value. A buyer who underwrites from the seller’s current tax bill will be surprised in year two, and a careful buyer will cut the price at the start.
| Scenario | Value used | Yearly tax |
|---|---|---|
| Bernalillo County, 41.004 mills | $2,000,000 | $27,336 |
| Statewide average, 30.352 mills | $2,000,000 | $20,235 |
| Santa Fe County, 19.028 mills | $2,000,000 | $12,685 |
| Seller’s capped value, Bernalillo | $1,400,000 | $19,135 |
| After sale reset, Bernalillo | $2,000,000 | $27,336 |
How property tax affects your sale price
Because of the reset, the tax bill a buyer underwrites is the one the building will carry at the sale price, not yours. The difference comes straight out of value at the market cap rate.
You can still help your price. Give buyers the last three tax bills and the notice of value, show which units are coded residential, and explain any recent improvements so a buyer’s projection matches what the assessor will do. Sellers who have owned a building since before a big run-up in values should expect the reset to be part of every offer.
Selling an apartment building in New Mexico
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units in New Mexico, from Bernalillo and Sandoval counties to Doña Ana and Santa Fe. We buy directly, close on your timeline, and can work inside 1031 deadlines. We underwrite the post-sale tax bill up front, so the number we give you already reflects it.
For the income tax on a sale, see New Mexico capital gains tax on real estate, and for the tenant rules a buyer inherits, New Mexico landlord-tenant law for apartment owners.
