What actually sets Arkansas apart
The Amendment 79 cap means a long-tenured Arkansas owner and a recent buyer on the same street can be paying very different amounts. If you are the buyer, budget from the market value rather than from the seller's current bill.
Property taxes in Arkansas at a glance
- Average effective tax rate: 0.57% of home value per year
- Median home value: $175,300
- Estimated tax on a median-value home: $1,003 per year (about $84 per month)
- Rank by tax rate: 38th of 50, highest first
- Rank by amount actually paid: 48th of 50, highest first
- Where these figures come from: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, for the Arkansas statewide averages shown above — ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates, last reviewed September 2026.
Why the Arkansas rate overstates the bill
Arkansas ranks 38th of the fifty on rate but only 48th on the bill itself — 10 places lower. The percentage reads worse than the cheque does, because it is applied to a median home value of $175,300.
Hawaii is the mirror image: a rate of 0.27%, well under the 0.57% charged here, and a median bill near $2,183 — about $1,180 more a year than an Arkansas owner pays.
How Arkansas works out what you owe
Assessed value is 20% of appraised market value, and county-wide reappraisals run on a three or five year cycle depending on how fast values are moving.
Amendment 79 caps the annual increase in taxable value at 5% for most homesteads and 10% for other property until the assessment catches up to market value.
Exemptions Arkansas homeowners should claim
Each of these reduces an Arkansas bill every year you hold the property, and almost none are granted without a claim:
- Homestead property tax credit: A flat credit is applied against the bill on a principal residence, which is worth proportionally more on a modest home than on an expensive one.
- Age 65 and disability freeze: Owners aged 65 or older, and those who are disabled, have the taxable value of their homestead frozen as of the qualifying year.
Where you buy inside Arkansas changes the bill
A statewide average hides its extremes. Where they show up in Arkansas:
- Pulaski County: Little Rock and North Little Rock, with the state's widest spread of millage between school districts
- Benton County: the north-west corner around Bentonville and Rogers, where fast growth has driven the most frequent reappraisals in the state
- Washington County: Fayetteville and the university, where student rentals and owner-occupied homes sit side by side on the same roll
Arkansas and its neighbours
The same $175,300 — the Arkansas median — taxed at each neighbouring state's average rate:
- Missouri at 0.88%: about $1,543 a year, roughly $540 more than the $1,003 an Arkansas owner would pay on the same value.
- Tennessee at 0.55%: about $964 a year, roughly $39 less than the $1,003 an Arkansas owner would pay on the same value.
- Mississippi at 0.74%: about $1,297 a year, roughly $294 more than the $1,003 an Arkansas owner would pay on the same value.
- Louisiana at 0.55%: about $964 a year, roughly $39 less than the $1,003 an Arkansas owner would pay on the same value.
- Texas at 1.58%: about $2,770 a year, roughly $1,767 more than the $1,003 an Arkansas owner would pay on the same value.
- Oklahoma at 0.82%: about $1,437 a year, roughly $434 more than the $1,003 an Arkansas owner would pay on the same value.
Appealing an Arkansas assessment
If the assessed value on your Arkansas home overstates what it is worth, the route is an appeal to the county Board of Equalization. The window is petitions are generally accepted through the third Monday in August, and it is strict — missing it means waiting a full cycle.
Frequently asked questions
When are Arkansas property taxes due, and when must exemption claims be filed?
Taxes are assessed one year and paid the next, with payment due by 15 October. Property must be assessed with the county assessor by 31 May each year; the homestead credit is claimed with the county collector.
Does this calculator use my exact Arkansas county tax rate?
No — it applies the Arkansas statewide average of 0.57%. Rates are set locally, and the spread inside Arkansas is wide enough to matter: on a $175,300 home, $729 a year separates Arkansas from an averagely taxed state before any county variation is counted. Check the parcel's own rate with its Arkansas county before relying on this figure.
Reference sources
Related calculators
How this estimate is built
Principal and interest come from the standard amortization formula, worked through in full on the formula reference page. Property tax, insurance, PMI and loan-program figures layer on top from published assumptions — each one sourced, dated and listed on the methodology page. Every result here is an estimate built from public data, not a quote: confirm the specifics with a lender before relying on it.
For developers
This calculation is also available as a REST API and through an MCP server, both running the same engine as this page — so the figures match by construction rather than by convention. No key required.