On 2026 bills, a $1 million home in Applewood Villages, Wheat Ridge owes roughly $6,200 a year in property tax, based on Jefferson County’s 93.893-mill levy for the neighborhood’s main tax area and Colorado’s 2025 assessment rates.
Property tax is one of the first numbers buyers ask about when a home in Applewood Villages comes up, and one of the first sellers get asked about once they list. The answer is easier to pin down here than in many parts of the metro area, because almost every house in the neighborhood sits in the same Jefferson County tax area.
The math changed in 2025, though. Colorado split residential assessment into two rates, one for school districts and one for everyone else, and a temporary value discount that lowered bills in 2024 ended. That is why many Applewood Villages owners saw their bill rise this year even though the county’s valuation of their home did not change.
Jason Sirois is a Realtor with FORM at Compass Denver and an Applewood resident. This post walks through how an Applewood Villages bill is built, what a $1 million home and a few other price points work out to, what is expected to change on the bills that arrive in 2027, and how to check the exact figure for a specific address.
How is a property tax bill calculated in Applewood Villages?
Applewood Villages is in the City of Wheat Ridge and Jefferson County. A residential bill has three inputs:
- Actual value: the Jefferson County Assessor’s value for the home, which is reappraised every two years.
- Assessment rate: for taxes paid in 2026, 7.05% of actual value for the school district and 6.25% for every other taxing entity, according to Colorado Public Radio’s explainer on this year’s change.
- Mill levy: the combined tax rate of every district the parcel sits in. One mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value.
The bill is the assessed value multiplied by the mills, calculated once for the school share and once for everything else. CPR also notes that a 2024 law had temporarily reduced residential values by up to $55,000 for tax purposes. That discount is gone on 2026 bills, which is a big part of why they went up.
What is the mill levy for Applewood Villages?
The residential parcels we checked in the Applewood Village subdivision on the Jefferson County Assessor’s property search are in tax area 3130. For taxes payable in 2026, the county lists these levies for that tax area, which match its 2025 tax authority mill levy list:
| Taxing entity | Mills (tax year 2025, paid 2026) |
|---|---|
| Jeffco Public Schools (R-1) | 44.349 |
| Jefferson County | 26.978 |
| West Metro Fire Protection District | 13.790 |
| Northwest Lakewood Sanitation District | 5.946 |
| City of Wheat Ridge | 1.830 |
| Urban Drainage and Flood Control (two levies) | 1.000 |
| Regional Transportation District | 0.000 |
| Total | 93.893 |
The school district is the single largest piece, a little under half the total. The City of Wheat Ridge’s own property tax is small, at 1.83 mills. A few parcels on the edges of the neighborhood, and the commercial properties along 32nd Avenue, can fall in a different tax area, so always check the specific address.
What are property taxes on a $1 million Applewood Villages home?
Using tax area 3130’s levies and the 2025 assessment rates:
- School share: $1,000,000 x 7.05% = $70,500 assessed value, x 44.349 mills = about $3,127
- Everything else: $1,000,000 x 6.25% = $62,500 assessed value, x 49.544 mills = about $3,097
- Total: about $6,223 a year, or roughly 0.62% of value
Here is the same math at other values. These are our estimates from the county’s published levies, not Treasurer’s bills, and they assume no exemptions:
| Assessor’s actual value | School share | Non-school share | Estimated 2026 bill |
|---|---|---|---|
| $750,000 | $2,345 | $2,322 | $4,667 |
| $1,000,000 | $3,127 | $3,096 | $6,223 |
| $1,250,000 | $3,908 | $3,871 | $7,779 |
| $1,500,000 | $4,690 | $4,645 | $9,335 |
One caution: the bill is based on the assessor’s value, not the sale price. Colorado assessors reappraise in odd-numbered years using sales from an earlier period, so a home that sells for $1 million in 2026 may carry a different assessor’s value until the next reappraisal in 2027. A buyer’s first bill reflects the assessor’s figure, and the next reappraisal can move it.
What changes on the bills that arrive in 2027?
CPR reports that for the 2026 tax year, paid in 2027, the non-school assessment rate goes back up to 6.8%, and a new $70,000 value reduction applies to the non-school portion only. The Jefferson County record for a Simms Street home in the area shows this already: its 2026 local-government assessed value equals its actual value minus $70,000, times 6.8%. The mill levies for 2026 have not been set yet and show as “to be determined.”
Holding today’s levies constant, the non-school share for a $1 million home would rise by about $37. Below roughly $865,000 in value, the $70,000 reduction outweighs the higher rate and the non-school share goes down slightly. That crossover is our arithmetic, not a county figure, and the final 2027 bill will also depend on the levies districts certify in December.
The November 2026 election matters here too. Preliminary results reported by Chalkbeat on November 4 showed Jeffco Public Schools’ mill levy overrides, 5A and 5B, failing, and the district acknowledged the likely loss. If that holds, the roughly $273-a-year increase on a $650,000 home that the district estimated will not appear on 2027 bills. Our post on Jeffco ballot issues 5A and 5B explains what they would have funded. Wheat Ridge’s ballot issue 2A, which was passing in early results, is a sales tax and does not change property tax bills.
How do Applewood Villages taxes compare with Denver?
For a rough sense of scale, our post on property taxes on a $1 million West Highland home works through Denver’s numbers for the same tax year. Denver’s levies are lower than tax area 3130’s, so a $1 million home in Northwest Denver carries a smaller bill than the same value in Applewood Villages. Property tax is one line in the cost of ownership, alongside water, sanitation, insurance and maintenance, and it is worth comparing the full picture rather than one number.
For more on the neighborhood itself, including recent sales and what sets it apart, see our Applewood community page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the property tax rate in Applewood Villages, Wheat Ridge?
Most residential parcels are in Jefferson County tax area 3130, with a total levy of 93.893 mills for taxes paid in 2026. With the 7.05% school and 6.25% non-school assessment rates, that works out to about 0.62% of the assessor’s value per year.
How much are property taxes on a $1 million home in Applewood Villages?
About $6,223 a year on 2026 bills, by our estimate from the county’s published levies: roughly $3,127 to the school district and $3,097 to the county, fire, sanitation, city and drainage districts combined.
Why did my Applewood Villages property tax go up in 2026?
Mainly because a temporary value reduction of up to $55,000 ended and the school assessment rate rose to 7.05%, according to CPR. Your assessor’s value from 2025 did not change between the two years.
Will Applewood Villages property taxes go down in 2027?
For lower-valued homes, possibly a little. The non-school rate rises to 6.8% but a $70,000 reduction applies to that share. At current levies, homes above roughly $865,000 would see a small increase on that share. Final levies are set in December.
How do I find the exact tax for an Applewood Villages address?
Search the address on the Jefferson County Assessor’s property search. The record lists the tax area, each district’s mill levy and the assessed values. The Jefferson County Treasurer issues the actual bill.
Does Wheat Ridge’s 2A sales tax raise property taxes?
No. Ballot issue 2A is a one-cent sales and use tax. It does not change the city’s 1.83-mill property tax levy.
If you are weighing a purchase or sale in Applewood Villages and want help reading a tax record, Jason Sirois and the FORM Team at Compass Denver are happy to walk through it.
This post is for general information only and is not tax advice. Figures are estimates based on Jefferson County’s published 2025 mill levies and state assessment rates; exemptions, special districts and future levies can change a bill. Confirm with the Jefferson County Assessor and Treasurer or a tax professional. Election results cited were preliminary as of November 4, 2026.
