Census Bureau figures from the 2024 five-year American Community Survey put the typical Arkansas homeowner’s real estate tax at $1,040 a year on a $188,000 home, an effective rate of 0.55 percent. Across the 75 counties that ratio runs from 0.32 percent in Montgomery and Stone counties to 0.81 percent in Phillips County. The calculator below divides each county’s median tax paid by its median home value, applies that ratio to your figure, and compares the result with what the typical owner nearby reports. Type full market value, the price the house would sell for, rather than the assessed value on your notice, which is only 20 percent of market.
The Homestead Credit Rises to $675 on 2027 Bills
The feature that sets this state apart is a flat dollar credit rather than a slice of value. Amendment 79 to the Arkansas Constitution, approved in 2000, created a homestead property tax credit that the county assessor applies to the bill on your principal residence, and Ark. Code Ann. Section 26-26-1118 sets its size. A statewide half-cent sales tax repays counties through the Property Tax Relief Trust Fund. The credit started at $300, reached $350 in 2007, $375 in 2019, $425 in 2023, and $500 in 2024.
Arkansas Property Tax Calculator (2027)
Select any of the 75 counties and enter what the house would sell for. The result applies the county's own ratio of median tax to median value, then sets your yearly and monthly figure beside the local midpoint bill and home value. Numbers come from the Census Bureau's 2024 five-year American Community Survey.
A planning estimate only. It multiplies your market value by the county's effective ratio, the Census ACS 2024 five-year median levy divided by the median owner-occupied value, so it reflects the 20 percent assessment ratio and typical relief of those survey years. Real bills come from your parcel's taxable assessed value times the combined millage of your school district, county, and city, minus the Amendment 79 homestead credit, which is $675 on bills due in 2027 under Act 174 of 2026. The 65 and older or disabled freeze and the disabled veteran exemption are not modeled. Check your figures with the county assessor and collector, and petition the county equalization board by the third Monday in August if your value looks wrong.
Two laws in two years moved it again. Act 330 of 2025 lifted it to $600 per parcel for assessment year 2025, which shows up on bills paid in 2026. Then the 2026 fiscal session passed House Bill 1103, which became Act 174 on May 1, 2026, raising the credit to $675 for assessment years beginning January 1, 2026. Because Arkansas collects each year’s tax the following year, that $675 lands on bills due October 15, 2027. Many Arkansas calculators online still quote $500 or $600.
You apply for the credit with your county assessor, and only one credit is allowed per owner each year. It can never exceed the tax on the home itself.
Twenty Percent of Market Value, Then Mills
County assessors value real estate at market value as of January 1, and Ark. Code Ann. Section 26-26-303 sets assessed value at 20 percent of that figure. A house worth $200,000 therefore carries a $40,000 assessment. Rates are expressed in mills, one mill being $1 per $1,000 of assessed value, so every 10 mills adds $400 to the bill on that house.
Three kinds of government stack their mills. Amendment 74 of 1996 requires every school district to levy at least 25 mills, the uniform rate of tax that the state collects and sends back to districts. On the $200,000 house those 25 mills alone come to $1,000, or 0.5 percent of market value. Counties may levy up to 21 mills (5 for general government, 5 for bonded debt, 8 for libraries, 3 for roads), and cities up to 20. The quorum court sets county general and road millage within those limits and a city council its general levy; every other levy, including any school increase, needs voter approval. The credit comes off last.
Where Rates Land: Phillips and Pulaski High, Montgomery and Stone Low
Phillips County, in the Delta around Helena-West Helena, posts the steepest Arkansas ratio at 0.81 percent ($636 on a $78,200 median home). Pulaski County, home to Little Rock, follows at 0.76 percent ($1,642 on $214,700), then Prairie at 0.72, Jefferson at 0.66, and Lonoke at 0.63. Saline, Sebastian, and Crittenden each sit at 0.62.
The Ouachita and Ozark counties hold the bottom. Montgomery (0.32 percent, $479 on $151,900) and Stone (0.32 percent, $548 on $171,600) tie for lowest, with Newton at 0.38 and Randolph at 0.40. Benton County owners pay the largest median dollar amount, $1,823, because homes there have the highest median value, $323,500, even though the 0.56 percent ratio is ordinary. The middle of the 75 county ratios is 0.51 percent, and 51 counties fall under the 0.55 statewide figure, since the statewide figure gives more weight to populous, higher-ratio counties such as Pulaski and Saline.
Two examples use the same data as the calculator. A $250,000 home in Pulaski County at 0.76 percent works out to about $1,900 a year, or $158.33 a month, which is $258 above the county’s median levy. A $350,000 home in Benton County at 0.56 percent comes to about $1,960 a year, or $163.33 a month. The same $200,000 house would owe roughly $640 in Montgomery County and $1,620 in Phillips County.
Each ratio is built from two Census medians over owner-occupied homes, so it already absorbs the 20 percent assessment, the Amendment 79 limits, and the credits owners claimed during the 2020 to 2024 survey years, when the credit was $500 or less. With $675 on 2027 bills, a homesteaded owner may land a little under the county ratio: the extra $250 over the 2023 credit equals about 0.13 percent of value on a $188,000 house.
Amendment 79 Limits the Jump After a Reappraisal
Counties reappraise every property on a three or five year cycle, depending on how fast local values have grown, under the Uniform System of Real Property Assessment (Act 1185 of 1999). When a reappraisal raises a value sharply, Amendment 79 phases in the increase. On a homestead, taxable assessed value can rise no more than 5 percent of the prior year’s figure in the first year after reappraisal, and by that same dollar step each year after until it reaches full assessed value. Other real property steps up by 10 percent.
Suppose a reappraisal lifts a homestead from $30,000 to $40,000 assessed. Next year’s taxable value is capped at $31,500, then $33,000, $34,500, and so on in $1,500 steps, reaching the full $40,000 in the seventh year. The limits do not cover new construction, newly discovered property, or substantial improvements.
Seniors, Disabled Owners, and Veterans
Owners who are 65 or older, or disabled, can freeze the taxable assessed value of their homestead at its value on the next assessment date after they qualify. The freeze holds assessed value, not millage, so a newly approved levy still applies; it does not carry to a buyer, and new construction or an improvement adding 25 percent or more to value is added at full assessment. Apply at the county assessor’s office.
Under Ark. Code Ann. Section 26-3-306, a veteran awarded special monthly compensation for the loss or loss of use of one or more limbs, for total blindness in one or both eyes, or for a 100 percent service-connected total and permanent disability pays no property tax on the homestead and personal property. An unmarried surviving spouse and minor dependent children keep the exemption. It cannot be combined with the homestead credit or the freeze, and collectors ask for the VA benefits letter.
Challenging a Value Before the Third Monday in August
Start with the assessor; state law gives you the right to meet with the office about a value before filing. If that fails, petition the county equalization board, in person, by petition, or by letter, on or before the third Monday in August (August 16 in 2027). Boards meet from August 1 through October 1. The board can adjust a value only if it is unfair compared with similar property, clearly erroneous, or manifestly excessive, and the burden of proof is yours, so bring recent sales of comparable homes. A board decision can be taken to county court, and from there to circuit court.
Paying From March to October 15, and What Follows a Missed Bill
Taxes on the 2026 assessment are payable from March 1 through October 15, 2027. You may pay in one sum or in installments: a quarter by the third Monday in April, another quarter by the third Monday in July, and the remaining half by October 15; collectors may also take smaller payments in between. After October 15 the tax is delinquent and a 10 percent penalty applies. Real estate still unpaid a year after the due date is forfeited to the state and certified to the Commissioner of State Lands, where it can be redeemed until 4 p.m. on the last business day before the land goes to public auction.
What to Watch Before the Next Census Release
The county ratios here come from the 2024 five-year ACS and will be refreshed when the Census posts its next five-year release, typically in December. For Arkansas owners, three things matter in 2027: the $675 credit on your bill, the August equalization deadline if your county is in a reappraisal year, and any millage question on your school district’s ballot.
Data: one ratio per county, Census ACS 2024 five-year release, table B25103 over table B25077. Rules and relief: Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Assessment Coordination Division, and Acts 330 of 2025 and 174 of 2026. Estimates show county norms, not bills; confirm your parcel with your county assessor and county collector.