Travis Bunn
Founder, AppealDesk · Published March 1, 2026
How Much Can Property Taxes Increase in Colorado? 2026 Complete Guide
Updated July 2026
Quick Answer
Colorado has no cap on how much an individual home's assessed value can increase. Your value tracks the market and is revalued every two years. What Colorado limits instead is the tax side: statewide assessment-rate reductions, plus revenue growth caps enacted in 2024 that hold most local governments to 5.25% annual property tax revenue growth and school districts to 6%. TABOR separately requires voter approval before any mill levy increase.
The practical upshot for 2026: even where home values are flat, many bills are rising, because the temporary assessment-rate cuts of 2023 and 2024 are phasing into higher permanent rates.
Most homeowners never challenge their assessment, usually because nobody tells them they can or shows them how. That gap is the whole reason AppealDesk exists: see what your county has your home on record at, free, and if the number looks wrong we build the case for $49.
How Much Can My Assessment Increase in Colorado?
There is no limit. Unlike California's 2% cap or Texas's 10% homestead cap, Colorado places no ceiling on how much the assessor can raise your home's actual value from one revaluation to the next. If comparable homes in your neighborhood sold for 20% more during the study period, your value can go up 20%. If they sold for 40% more, it can go up 40%.
Because there is no cap, there is also no cap reset when a home sells. In cap states, buyers often see a jump in taxable value at purchase because the cap resets to market. In Colorado that mechanism simply does not exist: every home is already carried at the assessor's estimate of market value, whether you bought it last year or thirty years ago.
Reassessment runs on a two-year cycle, with values reset in odd-numbered years. 2025 was a reappraisal year, so 2026 is an intervening year: values largely carry over from 2025 unless something about the property changed. That does not make 2026 a quiet year for tax bills, as explained below, and the appeal window still runs every year.
How Colorado Limits Property Taxes Instead
Colorado's restraints operate on the rate and revenue side rather than on your individual value. Three layers matter.
First, the state sets the residential assessment rate: the percentage of your actual value that is actually subject to tax. Mill levies apply to that assessed slice, not to your full market value. The legislature has repeatedly cut this rate to blunt the effect of rising values.
Second, 2024 legislation added revenue growth caps on local governments. Most local taxing entities cannot grow their property tax revenue faster than 5.25% per year (10.5% over two years), and school districts are capped at 6% per year (12% over two years). These caps limit what governments collect in total, not what any single homeowner pays, and voters can override them locally.
Third, TABOR, the constitutional Taxpayer's Bill of Rights adopted in 1992, requires voter approval for any mill levy increase. Districts cannot quietly raise their rates. Note that the Gallagher Amendment, which for decades tied residential and commercial assessment shares together, was repealed by voters in 2020 through Amendment B, which is a big part of why the legislature now sets rates directly.
Colorado's 2024 Property Tax Laws: SB24-233 and HB24B-1001 Explained
The current system was built in a rapid sequence of bills. In November 2023, a special session passed SB23B-001, which gave homeowners temporary relief for tax year 2023: a $55,000 exemption off residential value and a 6.7% residential assessment rate.
In May 2024, SB24-233 extended that relief through tax year 2024, restructured rates for 2025 and beyond, and created a 5.5% annual property tax revenue growth limit for local governments, with schools excluded.
Then, in an August 2024 special session, HB24B-1001 tightened the deal. It cut the local government revenue cap to 5.25% per year, added the 6% per year school district cap, and set the 2025 residential assessment rates at 6.25% for local government levies and 7.05% for school levies. In exchange, the backers of two statewide ballot measures, Initiatives 50 and 108, withdrew them. If you see older articles citing the 5.5% figure, they are describing the superseded SB24-233 version.
Caps and rate limits only control how fast your bill can grow. Nothing in them checks whether the number underneath is right. Assessors in Colorado set values with mass-appraisal models that price thousands of homes at once, and nobody reviews yours unless you challenge it.
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What Is Colorado's Average Property Tax Rate in 2025 and 2026?
Colorado remains one of the lowest property tax states in the country. The Tax Foundation puts Colorado's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied housing at 0.50% based on 2023 data, roughly the tenth lowest nationally. Other sources measuring slightly different things put the median effective rate around 0.55%, with a median annual bill around $2,723 and an average around $2,126. Whichever measure you use, Colorado sits well below the national norm.
The statutory assessment rates for the next two tax years are set by HB24B-1001:
| Tax year | Rate for local government levies | Rate for school district levies |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 6.7% with a $55,000 value exemption | |
| 2025 | 6.25% | 7.05% |
| 2026 | 6.7% | 6.95% |
The 2026 rates apply if statewide value growth comes in under 5%; the phase-in schedule adjusts otherwise. Notice what happens on the local government side: the rate steps up from 6.25% to 6.7%. On a $500,000 home, the assessed value for local government levies rises from $31,250 to $33,500. That is a 7.2% increase in the taxable base with zero change in the home's actual value. This is why many Colorado homeowners will see higher 2026 bills even in a flat market: the temporary relief rates are phasing into higher permanent ones.
Colorado's Effective Property Tax Rate: Where It Ranks Nationally
If you are comparing states, the Tax Foundation's 0.50% effective rate figure (2023 data) is the cleanest benchmark, and it places Colorado around tenth lowest in the United States. Low rates are not the same thing as low bills, though. Colorado home values are high, so a modest rate applied to a large value still produces a meaningful check, and the 2024 to 2026 rate phase-in means the effective rate is drifting upward from the temporary relief lows. A low state ranking is no reason to assume your individual bill is correct.
Do Property Taxes Go Up Every Year in Colorado?
They can, and lately they usually do, but the mechanics differ by year. In odd-numbered reappraisal years like 2025, your actual value is reset to the market, and with no cap on the change, that is where the big jumps happen. In even intervening years like 2026, your value mostly carries over, but your bill can still rise because assessment rates change on the statutory schedule and districts collect up to their revenue caps.
The revenue caps do real work here: a district collecting at its limit cannot grow property tax revenue faster than 5.25% a year (6% for schools) without going to the voters. But those caps apply to the district's total collections, not to your parcel. If your value rose faster than your neighbors' values, your share of the district's revenue grows even while the total stays capped. The only lever that addresses your individual number is the appeal process.
- California2% a year
- Florida3% homestead
- Texas10% homestead
Colorado: Revenue cap. That is a different kind of limit from the bars above, which cap the assessment itself.
Most entities cannot grow revenue faster than 5.25% a year; school districts are capped at 6%.
A cap limits how fast the number grows. It does not check whether the number was right to begin with.
What you can do about it
How to Appeal Your Colorado Property Value
Colorado's appeal calendar is one of the earliest and shortest in the country. County assessors mail Notices of Value by May 1 each year. You then have until June 8 to file an objection with the county assessor, postmarked or delivered by that date. If the assessor denies your objection, you can petition the County Board of Equalization by July 15. Beyond the CBOE, further appeals go to the state Board of Assessment Appeals, district court, or binding arbitration.
Two things trip homeowners up. First, the window runs every year, including intervening years like 2026, so a value you missed challenging in 2025 can still be contested in 2026. Second, because there is no cap standing between the assessor's model and your bill, an overstated value flows straight through to what you pay. The strongest appeals rest on comparable sales from the assessor's own study period showing that homes like yours sold for less than your assigned value. Check with your county assessor for any local procedural details.
A real AppealDesk order, Denver County
In May 2026, a homeowner in Denver County ran the check. The county had their home on record at $2,387,100, while recorded sales of comparable homes supported about $1,600,198: an over-assessment of $786,902, worth roughly $4,244 per year if corrected. Their packet laid out the comparable sales, the forms, and the filing steps. Nobody at the county was ever going to run that check for them.
Growth limits only help if the number they grow from is fair. If your assessment jumped after a purchase, new construction, or a revaluation, that new number is the one nobody has reviewed. Checking it is free and takes about a minute.
Check the number your bill is figured from
Enter your address to pull your county record free. If it looks too high, your $49 packet gives you everything to challenge it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can my Colorado property taxes increase this year?
There is no fixed limit on your individual bill. Your assessed value can rise as much as the market did, and in 2026 the residential assessment rate for local government levies steps up from 6.25% to 6.7%, so many bills rise even with flat values. The 5.25% and 6% revenue caps constrain what districts collect in total, not what any one homeowner pays.
How often is my property reassessed in Colorado?
Every two years, in odd-numbered years. 2025 was a reappraisal year and 2026 is an intervening year, so most values carry over from 2025 unless the property changed. You can still appeal in an intervening year.
Does Colorado have an assessment cap that resets when I buy a home?
No. Colorado has no assessment cap at all, so there is nothing to reset at sale. Every home is carried at the assessor's estimate of market value regardless of when it last changed hands. Buying a home does not trigger a reassessment jump the way it does in cap states like California.
Why is my 2026 Colorado tax bill higher if my home value did not change?
Because the assessment rate changed. The temporary relief rates from 2023 and 2024 are phasing into higher permanent rates under HB24B-1001: the local government rate goes from 6.25% in 2025 to 6.7% in 2026 (if statewide growth is under 5%). A higher percentage of your unchanged value becomes taxable, so the bill rises.
What is the deadline to appeal my property value in Colorado?
June 8. Notices of Value are mailed by May 1, and your objection to the county assessor must be postmarked or delivered by June 8. If denied, you have until July 15 to petition the County Board of Equalization.
Related Resources
If your value looks high, start with our step-by-step guide to how to appeal property taxes in Colorado. If you are weighing whether the effort pays off, see is it worth appealing property taxes, and when you are ready to build a case, read what evidence you need for an appeal.
This article provides general information about Colorado property tax laws as of July 2026. Tax laws change frequently, and local rules vary. Consult your county assessor or a tax professional for advice specific to your situation.