Denver Property Tax: Rates, Payment, and Appeals

Denver property tax is calculated by applying the city’s combined mill levy, about 79.6 mills for 2025, to a small fraction of your home’s market value set by Colorado law. For 2026, the residential assessment rate for local government levies is 6.8% of actual value, applied after a 10% reduction on the first $700,000. A $500,000 home does not generate anything close to a $500,000 tax base, because the state shrinks the taxable value sharply before any mill levy touches it.

How Your Bill Is Calculated

Three steps produce the number on your statement. The Denver Assessor sets your property’s actual (market) value. The state’s assessment rate converts that to a much smaller assessed value. Denver’s combined mill levy is then applied to the assessed value.

Colorado revalues real property every odd-numbered year using market data anchored to June 30 of the preceding even year.¹ For the 2025 and 2026 tax years, the assessor relies on comparable sales that closed between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.² Because values only update every two years, your 2025 and 2026 bills share the same valuation.

A mill equals one-tenth of a cent, or $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value.³ Denver’s combined general mill levy for 2025 is 79.602 mills, pulled from the city, Denver Public Schools, the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, and various special districts.⁴

Rates for 2026

The assessment rate is the slice of actual value that becomes taxable. For 2026:

Residential, local government levies: 6.8% of actual value, applied after a 10% reduction on the first $700,000. The minimum assessed value is $1,000.⁵
Residential, school district levies: up to 7.15% of actual value, with the exact figure set by the property tax administrator.⁶
Commercial improved: 25% of actual value.¹
Commercial other: 26% of actual value.¹

What a $500,000 Home Pays

Take a Denver home with an actual value of $500,000. The 10% reduction shaves $50,000 off the first $500,000, leaving $450,000. The 6.8% local government assessment rate produces an assessed value of about $30,600. At 79.602 mills, the resulting local government tax is roughly $2,436. The school district portion runs on a slightly different rate and gets added on top. Your annual statement from the Denver Treasurer breaks every piece out line by line.

Exemptions That Lower Your Bill

Colorado offers property tax exemptions for qualifying seniors, 100% disabled veterans, and certain surviving spouses. Each one reduces the taxable actual value of your home before the assessment rate is applied, which cuts the bill substantially.

Senior Homestead Exemption

If you are at least 65 and have owned and occupied your home as your primary residence for the ten years leading up to the assessment date, you qualify for an exemption on 50% of the first $200,000 in actual value, a $100,000 reduction.⁷ For the 2026 tax year, that means you were born on or before January 1, 1961 and have owned and lived in the home continuously since before January 1, 2016.

The surviving spouse of someone who previously qualified can claim the exemption on the same home, even without meeting the age or residency test independently.⁷ File the application with the Denver Assessor, and report any change in circumstances that would affect eligibility.

Disabled Veteran and Gold Star Spouse Exemption

Veterans rated 100% permanently disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs qualify for the same 50% exemption on the first $200,000 of actual value.⁸ There is no age or length-of-ownership requirement. The veteran must have an honorable discharge and must own and occupy the home as a primary residence.

Gold Star Spouses qualify as well. Colorado defines a Gold Star Spouse as the spouse of a service member who died in the line of duty, or of a veteran whose death resulted from a service-related injury or disease.⁹ The surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who previously received the exemption can continue claiming it on the same property.⁷

When and How to Pay

Denver gives you two options:

Two installments: first half due February 28, second half due June 15.¹⁰
Single payment: full amount due April 30.¹⁰

The Denver Treasury accepts payments online, by mail, or in person at the Wellington Webb Municipal Building. If your mortgage includes escrow, your loan servicer pays the bill from the funds collected through your monthly payment and reviews the account annually.¹¹ In a reappraisal year, expect your monthly escrow to rise once the servicer adjusts for the higher tax bill.

What Happens If You Pay Late

Interest starts immediately. Delinquent property taxes in Colorado accrue at 1% per month, and a partial month counts as a full month.¹² Miss the February 28 first installment and interest runs from March 1. Miss the June 15 second half and interest starts June 16. On the single-payment option, interest begins May 1 if the full amount is not paid by April 30.

One grace period exists: if the treasurer mails your statement late, you have 30 days from the mailing date to pay the first installment without penalty.¹²

Taxes left unpaid long enough end up at a tax lien sale, where the county treasurer sells a lien certificate to an investor. You then have three years from the year of the original sale to redeem by paying the back taxes plus interest. The redemption interest rate is set annually at nine percentage points above the federal discount rate; for 2025 that rate was 14%. If you do not redeem within the three-year window, the lienholder can apply for a treasurer’s deed and take ownership of the property.

Protesting Your Valuation

If the assessor’s value feels too high, you have the right to protest, and the window is short.

The Denver Assessor mails Notices of Valuation by May 1 in reappraisal years. You have until June 30 to file.¹³ Mailed protests must be postmarked by June 30, and in-person protests must be delivered by that date. If June 30 falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.¹⁴ You can file electronically through the Denver Real Property Appeal Portal, which issues a confirmation receipt.

The strongest protests use comparable sales from the assessor’s own data window, January 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024 for the current cycle.¹ Look for neighborhood homes similar in size, age, and condition that sold for less than the assessor’s value of yours. Physical condition matters too. A failing roof, foundation problems, or a lot on a busy intersection all drag market value down, and photographs plus contractor estimates give the assessor concrete evidence instead of a vague complaint. Your property schedule number, printed on the Notice of Valuation, follows the file through every stage.

After reviewing your evidence, the Denver Assessor mails a Notice of Determination by August 15, either adjusting the value or explaining why it stands.¹⁵

Appeals After the Assessor Says No

A denial is not the end. Colorado provides a three-step appeal chain, and each level reviews the evidence independently.

The first step is the Denver County Board of Equalization. If the CBOE’s decision also goes against you, the next option is the state Board of Assessment Appeals. A BAA hearing is a fresh proceeding where you and the county both present evidence from scratch, not a review of the CBOE record.¹⁶ As an alternative to the BAA, you can file directly in district court. Most homeowners find the BAA more manageable than hiring a lawyer for court, but the court path exists for complex or high-value cases.

Business Personal Property

Denver property tax reaches beyond land and buildings. Businesses that own tangible personal property, including furniture, machinery, fixtures, and equipment, must file an annual declaration schedule with the Denver Assessor based on what sits in the city on January 1.

For the 2026 tax year, businesses with $56,000 or less in total actual value of personal property are exempt from filing and owe no personal property tax.¹⁷ Above that threshold, the assessor applies depreciation schedules to arrive at a taxable value, then uses the 25% or 26% commercial assessment rate and the same mill levy that applies to real property. Failing to file when required lets the assessor estimate the value, and those estimates rarely favor the taxpayer.

1
Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Property Taxation. Understanding Property Taxes in Colorado
2
Board of Assessment Appeals. Property Tax Terminology
3
Assessors’ Library. Chapter 4 – Assessment Math – Section: Mills
4
City and County of Denver. Frequently Asked Questions
5
Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Property Taxation. Residential Local Government Assessment Rate
6
Colorado General Assembly. SB24-233 Property Tax
7
Justia. Colorado Code 39-3-203 – Property Tax Exemption for Qualifying Seniors and Disabled Veterans
8
Colorado Division of Veterans Affairs. Property Tax Exemption
9
Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Property Taxation. Property Tax Exemption for Veterans with a Disability and Gold Star Spouses in Colorado
10
City and County of Denver. Pay Property Taxes
11
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1024.17 Escrow Accounts
12
FindLaw. Colorado Code 39-10-104.5 – Delinquent Interest
13
Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Property Taxation. Filing Deadlines
14
Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Property Taxation. Protests and Appeals – Section: Assessor Hearing
15
City and County of Denver. Assessor’s Office
16
Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Property Taxation. Protests and Appeals
17
Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Property Taxation. Personal Property Declaration Schedules