Arlington's Property Tax Exemptions Help Save Residents Money

Published on May 16, 2025

The City of Arlington is facing a challenging Fiscal Year 2026. Throughout the next several months, our “Piecing it Together” budget series will provide a high-level overview of the unique situational and economic factors impacting Arlington’s budget this year. Have a question or topic you’d like to see included? Send us a message. 

For decades, the City Council has authorized a variety of exemptions to provide property tax relief for Arlington residential property owners.

Property tax exemptions help by removing a portion of the value of your property from taxation, which in turn lowers your tax bill.  The City of Arlington offers this list of tax relief options for eligible residential property owners:

• a tax freeze for seniors who are 65 or older, first approved in 2005
• a tax freeze for individuals with disabilities
• a 20% homestead exemption, annually approved since 1985
• a $60,000 exemption for persons who are 65 or older
• a $60,000 exemption for persons with disabilities
• Exemptions ranging from $5,000 to $12,000 for veterans with disabilities or for survivors of U.S. Armed Forces members or first responders who were killed in action

Those exemptions can add up to big savings for residents. Arlington was an early adopter of exemptions and is among only 14 Tarrant County cities that offer the maximum 20% homestead exemption allowed by the state. That means if your home and land is appraised by the county at $350,000 and you qualify for a 20% homestead exemption, you will pay City of Arlington taxes on your property as if it was worth $280,000.

Not all Tarrant County cities offer the same levels of property tax exemptions. For example, only 24 of the 44 cities in the county offer some form of homestead exemption, which ranges from 1% to 20%. Only seven cities in the county offer as much or more than the $60,000 exemption the City of Arlington offers for residential property tax owners 65 or older.

This year, Arlington residential property owners had more than $6.4 billion in value exempt from city property taxes due to the City of Arlington’s allowed exemptions. That’s just over 25% of the City’s $25.5 billion residential property tax base. An additional $2.3 billion in residential property value was also exempt because of tax freezes for owners who are 65 or older and for individuals with disabilities.

View Tarrant County tax rates and exemptions.