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Maricopa County, AZ

Maricopa County, AZ: distress report

38,038 of the 1,759,896 properties in Maricopa County, AZ have unpaid property tax: 2.2%, the 39th highest of 87 counties we track. Its LeadCounty Distress Index is 38 out of 100, rank 51. Source: Maricopa County Assessor's Office and other county offices. Refreshed weekly.

Maricopa County compared with the rest

Share of all 1,759,896 properties in Maricopa County, next to Arizona and all counties LeadCounty covers.
MeasureMaricopa CountyCountArizonaAll counties
Tax delinquent2.2%38,0382.0%3.0%
Foreclosure0.1%1,4020.1%0.3%
Code casesn/an/a0.8%1.9%
Inherited (12 mo)n/an/an/a0.3%
Absentee26.1%459,93225.9%25.3%
Owned 15+ yrs9.2%162,47614.4%23.6%
Distress Index (0-100)38rank 5140–

Download these numbers as a free CSV Counts and shares only, no owner information. Free to use with a link to this page.

Summary in plain English

  • 2.2% of properties are tax delinquent, against 3.0% across all counties we cover (39th of 87).
  • 26.1% are owned by an absentee owner and 9.2% are owned 15 years or more.
  • 1,402 properties (0.1%) are in foreclosure.
  • 3.7% of properties were sold in the last 12 months.

Top ZIP codes for tax-delinquent properties

ZIP codes in Maricopa County with the most tax-delinquent properties.
ZIPCityTax delinquent
85354Tonopah2,040
85326Buckeye1,236
85009Phoenix918
85041Phoenix777
85338Goodyear724

How the Distress Index is built

For each county we take four distress measures from its official records: the share of properties that are tax delinquent, in foreclosure, have an open code case, or received an inheritance deed in the last 12 months. Each measure is turned into a percentile among the counties that publish it (0 is the lowest share, 100 the highest). The index is the average of the percentiles a county has.

  • A county is scored only if the tax-delinquent measure and at least one more are available. A record a county's offices do not publish is left out, never counted as zero.
  • Shares use all properties in the county file as the base. Absentee owners, long-held properties and sales are shown for context and are not part of the index.
  • Sales are shown only where a county publishes sale dates and prices. Counties that do not (for example Texas) show n/a.
  • A state's index is the average of its scored counties, weighted by number of properties.
  • The index compares the counties LeadCounty covers. It is not a national ranking and not investment advice.

Edition 1. Counts come from official county records and are refreshed weekly. Full method: methodology, editorial standards, data sources.

Questions

How many properties in Maricopa County have unpaid property tax?

38,038 of the 1,759,896 properties in Maricopa County, AZ, which is 2.2%. Across all counties we cover the share is 3.0%.

Where do the Maricopa County numbers come from?

From Maricopa County Assessor's Office, Cities of Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe, Maricopa County Recorder and the other offices listed on our data sources page. LeadCounty joins the records parcel by parcel and refreshes them weekly.

What is the Maricopa County Distress Index?

38 out of 100, rank 51 of 71 scored counties. It averages how high Maricopa County sits among counties on the measures its offices publish.

How we make these guides

Written by the LeadCounty editorial and data team from official county, court and state sources and our own weekly counts. We name the office behind every number, say what we cannot see, and fix mistakes when you tell us. See our editorial standards and methodology. General information, not legal or financial advice. Refreshed weekly.

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