2019 Mesa Average Residential Household Cost Comparison

The purpose of this report is to analyze the amount paid by the typical Mesa household for direct services provided by the City of Mesa. These amounts are then compared to seven other comparable cities in the Phoenix metropolitan area. 

This report takes into account property tax, sales tax, and utility services as of July 2019. This report assumes the same consumption levels for water and wastewater services. For property tax we use median single-family home value in each city for the analysis. The sales tax numbers are based on Phoenix metropolitan household income. The purpose of this is to reflect the typical residential household would pay for each of the services or what would be paid in taxes in the respective city. 

Residential solid waste services for Mesa are estimated at $362 per household. 

In the above chart the annual water charge is based on a typical single-family residential monthly water consumption of 10,000 gallons. The annual total cost for the typical Mesa household is $1,138. 

Even though Mesa has the third highest sales tax rate at 2% our sales tax revenue per household is only $636. This lack of revenue indicates a poor economic situation. 

For this analysis the Phoenix metropolitan median household income of $73,291 per 2017 census survey. Phoenix metropolitan median household income was utilized to make a comparison between cities. 

Mesa does not have a primary property tax but a secondary property tax. Mesa ranks the lowest for property tax collection for this reason. The median single-family LPV for each city, per the Maricopa County Assessor, is below.

Only the City of Mesa and the Town of Gilbert levy a secondary property tax. 

On an annual basis cities study whether a rate increase is needed. Listed below is a summary of the adjustments for the typical residential customer as of July 2019.