What actually sets Colorado apart
In much of suburban Colorado the county mill levy is only part of the story. Metropolitan districts formed to finance new infrastructure levy their own mills, and in a new development that district levy can exceed everything else combined. Check the district disclosure before you make an offer.
Property taxes in Colorado at a glance
- Average effective tax rate: 0.49% of home value per year
- Median home value: $502,200
- Estimated tax on a median-value home: $2,448 per year (about $204 per month)
- Rank by tax rate: 47th of 50, highest first
- Rank by amount actually paid: 28th of 50, highest first
- Where these figures come from: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, for the Colorado statewide averages shown above — ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates, last reviewed September 2026.
Why the Colorado rate understates the bill
Ranked by rate, Colorado is 47th of the fifty. Ranked by what an owner actually pays, it is 28th — 19 places higher. The rate is not doing that work; the $502,200 median home value is. A modest percentage of an expensive house is still an expensive bill.
North Dakota makes the point. It charges 0.99%, roughly 2.0 times the Colorado rate, and its median owner still pays about $2,392 a year — some $56 less than a Colorado owner on a median-value home.
How Colorado works out what you owe
Residential property is taxed on a fraction of market value set by the legislature, and that residential assessment rate has been adjusted repeatedly in recent years, so the ratio applied to your home may differ from the one applied a year or two earlier.
Colorado sets no statutory limit on how fast a home's taxable value can rise, so a Colorado assessment tracks the market more closely than it would in a capped state.
Exemptions Colorado homeowners should claim
Each of these reduces a Colorado bill every year you hold the property, and almost none are granted without a claim:
- Senior homestead exemption: Owners aged 65 or older who have occupied the home for at least ten consecutive years can exempt a share of the first tranche of actual value.
- Disabled veteran exemption: Veterans with a permanent and total service-connected disability, and some surviving spouses, qualify for the same style of exemption without the ten-year occupancy test.
Where you buy inside Colorado changes the bill
A statewide average hides its extremes. Where they show up in Colorado:
- Denver County: a combined city and county, so one authority sets both the municipal and county share of your bill
- Douglas County: high-growth suburbs south of Denver where metropolitan district debt is layered on top of ordinary levies
- El Paso County: Colorado Springs, with a large military population and comparatively moderate combined rates
Colorado and its neighbours
The same $502,200 — the Colorado median — taxed at each neighbouring state's average rate:
- Wyoming at 0.58%: about $2,913 a year, roughly $465 more than the $2,448 a Colorado owner would pay on the same value.
- Nebraska at 1.5%: about $7,533 a year, roughly $5,085 more than the $2,448 a Colorado owner would pay on the same value.
- Kansas at 1.3%: about $6,529 a year, roughly $4,081 more than the $2,448 a Colorado owner would pay on the same value.
- Oklahoma at 0.82%: about $4,118 a year, roughly $1,670 more than the $2,448 a Colorado owner would pay on the same value.
- New Mexico at 0.72%: about $3,616 a year, roughly $1,168 more than the $2,448 a Colorado owner would pay on the same value.
- Utah at 0.53%: about $2,662 a year, roughly $214 more than the $2,448 a Colorado owner would pay on the same value.
- Arizona at 0.52%: about $2,611 a year, roughly $163 more than the $2,448 a Colorado owner would pay on the same value.
Appealing a Colorado assessment
If the assessed value on your Colorado home overstates what it is worth, the route is an appeal to the county board of equalization, then the Board of Assessment Appeals. The window is protests are filed in May, following the notice of valuation, and it is strict — missing it means waiting a full cycle.
Frequently asked questions
When are Colorado property taxes due, and when must exemption claims be filed?
Bills go out in January. The full amount is due at the end of April, or in two halves due at the end of February and mid-June. Applications are filed with the county assessor, generally by mid-July for that assessment year.
Does this calculator use my exact Colorado county tax rate?
No — it applies the Colorado statewide average of 0.49%. Rates are set locally, and the spread inside Colorado is wide enough to matter: on a $502,200 home, $2,489 a year separates Colorado from an averagely taxed state before any county variation is counted. Check the parcel's own rate with its Colorado 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.