Arlington County Property Tax: The 2026 Rate and What It Costs

At the 2026 rate, a $900,000 assessment carries $9,745 a year once the stormwater fee is added. That is $812 a month inside your payment.

By Ken Byrne, NMLS #187129 · ALCOVA Mortgage LLC, NMLS #40508 · Updated September 2026

Property tax is the second largest line in an Arlington housing payment after the loan itself, and it is the one buyers estimate rather than calculate. This guide gives you the adopted rate, the arithmetic at real assessments, the fee that is not in the rate, the appeal deadlines that pass in March while everyone is still reading their notice, and how the whole thing lands in your monthly payment. Every figure is from Arlington County’s own adopted budget. If you want it run against a specific address before you write an offer, JB Financing will do it the same day.

The 2026 Arlington property tax rate, and what actually changed

Arlington sets one base real estate tax rate for the calendar year. For 2026 the County Board adopted $1.053 per $100 of assessed value. That is 1.053 percent of whatever the county says your property is worth on January 1.

Arlington County adopted budget, revenue summary. The stormwater utility fee replaced the county-wide sanitary district rate of $0.017 per $100, which was repealed in December 2023, effective January 1, 2024. The vehicle rate is included here only because it is the single most common thing Arlington owners confuse with real estate tax; it is a separate bill.

What your Arlington tax bill actually comes to

Calculated, not estimated. Assessment divided by 100, multiplied by 1.053, plus the flat stormwater fee. The monthly column is what your lender will collect through escrow.

Figures are calculated from the adopted calendar year 2026 base rate of $1.053 per $100 of assessed value and the $268 stormwater utility fee, rounded to the nearest dollar. Your own bill can differ if the property sits in a special district or carries an exemption.

The $268 fee that is not in the rate

Arlington charges a stormwater utility fee of $268 per equivalent residential unit. It is a flat charge, not a rate, which means it behaves differently from everything else on the bill: it does not scale with your assessment, so it is proportionally heaviest on the cheapest properties and nearly invisible on the most expensive.

It matters here for one practical reason. Every online Arlington tax estimator we have seen multiplies the assessment by the rate and stops. That is $268 a year, about $22 a month, missing from the estimate. On its own it will not break a file, but it lands in escrow with everything else and it is part of why the number your lender collects is higher than the number you calculated at the kitchen table.

The stormwater charge is a flat $268 per unit rather than a rate, so it does not scale with what the house is worth.

Real estate tax and car tax are different bills

A large share of Arlington tax searches are actually about vehicles, and the two get mixed up constantly because both are county bills and one of them shares an October due date. They are separate taxes on separate property with separate rates.

When it is due, and what happens if it is late

Real estate tax is billed in two installments. If you escrow, your servicer pays both and you never see the deadline. If you do not escrow, these are your dates.

Late payment is expensive and it compounds. Within 30 days of the due date the penalty is 5 percent of the tax if the tax is over $100, or $5 if the tax is between $5 and $100. Past 30 days an additional penalty of 5 percent of the unpaid tax, or $5, whichever is greater, is added. Interest accrues at an annual rate of 10 percent starting the day after the tax was due.

Arlington County tax payment due dates and penalty schedule, and the Department of Real Estate Assessments appeal deadlines. Assessments are effective as of January 1 each year; departmental review applications must be delivered, postmarked or filed online before midnight on March 2, and Board of Equalization appeal forms before midnight on April 15.

How to appeal an Arlington assessment

There are two bites and they are sequential, with the first deadline arriving early. Most owners who intend to appeal miss March 2 because the notice arrives, gets put aside, and by the time it is picked up again the departmental window has closed.

Step one: departmental review, by March 2

This is a request to the Department of Real Estate Assessments to look again. It is informal, free, and it is where most successful appeals are actually resolved. What wins is evidence about the property rather than an argument about the tax: comparable sales that closed near January 1, a condition problem the assessor could not see from the street, a square footage or room count that is wrong in the record.

Step two: the Board of Equalization, by April 15

A separate body, a more formal hearing, and a later deadline. You do not have to have gone through departmental review first, but having done so usually sharpens the case.

The mechanics of building that case, and what evidence actually moves an assessor, are covered in our guide to appealing a Virginia property tax assessment.

How the tax lands in your mortgage payment

If you have a mortgage, you almost certainly do not pay Arlington twice a year. Your servicer does, out of an escrow account you fund monthly. One twelfth of the annual bill goes in every month alongside principal, interest and insurance.

This is why the tax rate is a qualifying issue and not just a cost-of-living issue. Lenders qualify you on the full payment including escrowed taxes. At $1.053 per $100, a $900,000 Arlington assessment adds $812 a month to the payment a lender is measuring against your income, before insurance. That is the difference between comfortably qualifying and not, on more files than you would expect. How escrow accounts work covers the cushion, the annual analysis and why your payment changes without your rate changing.

What the tax does to what you can afford

Every dollar of monthly tax is a dollar that cannot go to principal and interest under the same debt-to-income ratio. That trade is worth quantifying before you set a price range.

The right hand column is an illustration of the trade, not a quote: it converts the monthly tax into the loan amount that same payment would otherwise support at prevailing 30-year rates. It moves with rates and is shown to make the scale of the trade visible, not to be used as a figure in an offer.

The practical implication is that two buyers with identical incomes can afford visibly different houses in Arlington and Fairfax purely on the tax line. What you can actually afford in Northern Virginia runs that comparison with the ratios lenders really use.

Arlington against its neighbors

Rate alone is a misleading comparison, because the jurisdictions assess differently and the assessments themselves differ enormously. What matters is the bill on a comparable house.

The county-by-county rates, and the reasons a lower rate on a higher assessment can cost more, are set out in our Northern Virginia property tax comparison. The short version for Arlington is that it sits in the middle of the Northern Virginia rate range while carrying some of the region’s highest assessments, which is what pushes the absolute bills up.

Tax is also only one of the Virginia-specific costs on an Arlington purchase. The other is recordation, which the buyer pays twice on a financed purchase, once on the deed and once on the loan. That is covered with the statutory rates in the Virginia closing cost breakdown.

Everything we lend on in this county, with the local detail, sits on our Arlington page, and the wider state picture is on our Virginia lending page.

What Arlington owners get wrong

Frequently asked questions

What is the Arlington VA property tax rate for 2026?

$1.053 per $100 of assessed value for calendar year 2026, which is 1.053 percent. That is a two cent increase from the 2025 rate of $1.033. A separate stormwater utility fee of $268 per equivalent residential unit is charged on top and is not part of the rate.

How much is property tax in Arlington County?

On a $900,000 assessment, $9,477 in real estate tax plus the $268 stormwater fee, so $9,745 for the year or about $812 a month. On $600,000 it is $6,586 for the year. Multiply your assessed value by 0.01053 and add $268 to get your own figure.

When are Arlington County property taxes due?

In two installments, June 15 and October 5. Vehicle personal property tax is also due October 5, which is why the two bills get confused. If you have a mortgage with an escrow account your servicer pays the real estate installments for you.

What happens if I pay my Arlington property tax late?

Within 30 days of the due date the penalty is 5 percent of the tax if the tax is over $100, or $5 if the tax is between $5 and $100. After 30 days a further penalty of 5 percent of the unpaid tax, or $5, whichever is greater, applies. Interest runs at 10 percent a year from the day after the due date.

How do I appeal my Arlington property assessment?

Two routes with two deadlines. A departmental review with the Department of Real Estate Assessments must be delivered, postmarked or filed online before midnight on March 2. An appeal to the Board of Equalization must be filed before midnight on April 15. Bring evidence about the property, particularly comparable sales close to January 1.

Can I appeal the tax rate itself?

No. The rate is set by the County Board as part of the annual budget and there is no individual appeal against it. What you can contest is the assessed value the rate is applied to. If you believe the county has your property worth more than it is, that is an appealable question.

What is the Arlington stormwater fee?

A flat $268 per equivalent residential unit, charged alongside real estate tax. It replaced the county-wide sanitary district rate of $0.017 per $100, which was repealed in December 2023, with the fee effective January 1, 2024. Because it is flat rather than a rate, it does not scale with your assessment.

Is Arlington property tax included in my mortgage payment?

Usually yes. With an escrow account your servicer collects one twelfth of the annual bill each month and pays the county on both due dates. It is why your monthly payment is meaningfully larger than principal and interest, and why it can change when your assessment does even though your interest rate has not moved.

Why did my mortgage payment go up when my rate did not?

Almost always escrow. When your assessment rises, the servicer runs an escrow analysis, finds the account will fall short, and both raises the monthly collection and recovers the shortfall. On an Arlington-sized tax bill that can move a payment by over $100 a month with a fixed interest rate.

Is Arlington personal property tax the same as property tax?

No. Personal property tax is the vehicle tax, charged at $5.00 per $100 of assessed valuation and due October 5. Real estate tax is charged at $1.053 per $100 and due in two installments. The vehicle bill never goes through your mortgage escrow.

How does Arlington assess property values?

Assessments are effective as of January 1 each year and reflect the county’s opinion of market value at that date. That means the value on your bill can predate your purchase, and a house bought mid-year is often reassessed toward its purchase price the following January.

Does a higher property tax reduce how much I can borrow?

Yes, directly. Lenders qualify you on the full monthly payment including escrowed taxes, so $812 a month of Arlington tax is $812 that cannot service principal and interest under the same debt-to-income ratio. It is a real constraint on price range, not a footnote.

Are there Arlington property tax relief programs?

Arlington operates relief for qualifying older and disabled owners, with income and asset tests set by the county and revised periodically. Because the thresholds change, confirm the current year’s limits with the county rather than relying on any figure published elsewhere, including here.