Colorado property tax: 2026 assessment rates and Denver example

How is a Colorado property tax bill calculated?

Three parts decide the bill, and three different bodies control them:

1. Actual value. The county assessor sets it. Residential property is valued only by the market approach, which compares sales of similar homes. Real property is revalued every odd-numbered year. For tax years 2025 and 2026, the comparable sales are those from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 (Division of Property Taxation).
2. Assessment rate. The General Assembly sets the percentage of actual value that is taxed. The result is the “assessed value.”
3. Mill levy. Each taxing authority (county, city, school district, special districts) sets its own rate. One mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value.

Since 2025, a home has two assessment rates, one for local government levies and one for school district levies, so there are two assessed values and two tax amounts to add up.

What are the residential assessment rates?

Two cautions apply. First, the 2026 local rate reduces actual value by the least of 10% of the value, $70,000 (adjusted for inflation in the first year of each later reassessment cycle) or the amount that brings assessed value down to $1,000 (HB24B-1001 summary). The Division describes it as 6.80% after a 10% reduction of the first $700,000 of value. Second, the 7.05% school rate is the rate in law. The Division explains that a state process can lower it each year to keep school property tax revenue within a legal limit, and it publishes 7.05% for 2026.

SB24-233 and HB24B-1001, both signed in 2024, produced these rates. The Division’s 2026 legislation list shows no 2026 bill that changes the residential rates.

Example: a $625,000 house in Denver

The Denver Assessor says the typical single-family home was valued at about $625,000. Denver’s 2025 mill levies were 27.328 for local government (including the Urban Drainage district) and 52.274 for schools. This table uses the Assessor’s formula for 2025 taxes, which were payable in 2026.

That is about 0.54% of the $625,000 value (our arithmetic). Special districts can add to a bill.

For the 2026 tax year, Denver sets its levies around December 15, so they are not final yet. As an illustration only, apply the 2026 rates to the same value and the 2025 levies: the local assessed value is ($625,000 − $62,500) × 0.068 = $38,250, giving $1,045.30. Schools stay at $2,303.32. The total is $3,348.62, $22.20 less than in 2025. Actual 2026 bills will differ once levies are adopted.

Is there a homestead exemption in Colorado?

Not a general one. Colorado has a senior exemption: when the state budget allows, 50% of the first $200,000 of actual value of a qualified person’s primary residence is exempt (Division of Property Taxation). You must be 65 or older on January 1, and you or your spouse must have owned and lived in the home as your primary residence for the 10 years before. For 2026, that means being born on or before January 1, 1961 and living there continuously since January 1, 2016. A similar exemption exists for veterans with a service-connected disability, with no age requirement. A property gets only one exemption per year.

On the Denver example, the 2025 formula with $100,000 exempted gives about $2,831.49, which is $539.33 less. Apply to the county assessor by July 15 of the tax year; late applications are accepted to August 15 but lose appeal rights. A separate “senior primary residence” classification ends after the 2026 tax year (SB26-116). The Division also lists a property tax/rent/heat rebate, a deferral program and a work-off program.

Is there a cap on how much my value can rise?

The sources read for this article set no per-home cap. State law instead limits the growth of property tax revenue for local governments; HB24B-1001 ties the limit for non-school local governments to 5.25% growth for each year of a reassessment cycle.

When are the key dates?

Interest on late payments is 1% a month in Denver. Counties over 300,000 residents must use an alternate protest schedule with later dates, so check your notice. If you disagree with the assessor, you can appeal to the county board of equalization, then to an arbitrator, district court or the Board of Assessment Appeals within 30 days.

How do property taxes work when you buy?

Colorado bills in arrears: a bill mailed early in the year covers the preceding year. The standard CBS1 contract prorates general taxes to the closing date, using the preceding year’s taxes, the most recent mill levy and valuation, or another basis the parties choose (§ 16.1.1). Read Colorado closing costs and the Denver guide, and see how lenders collect the tax in an escrow account.