Sedgwick County Appraiser's Office

✅ The County Appraiser:

• Ensures fairness and equity in the valuation of all real property across Sedgwick County.

• Determines fair market value for each property to support an equitable distribution of the property tax burden.

• Applies professional appraisal standards and statistical analysis to maintain accuracy and uniformity in property assessments.

❌ The County Appraiser DOES NOT:

• Set tax rates — these are established by local governing bodies such as cities, school districts, and other taxing entities.

• Collect taxes — that responsibility belongs to the Sedgwick County Treasurer’s Office.

• Determine tax amounts — our focus is solely on establishing fair and accurate property values, not on tax revenue.

1). The three recognized approaches to value

Standard Appraisal Practice recognizes three approaches to value:

• Sales Comparison Approach (Looking at recent sales of similar homes)
• Cost Approach (Land value, plus the cost to replace the home, less depreciation)
• Income Approach (Primarily for income-producing properties)

For most owner-occupied residential properties, the County primarily uses the Sales Comparison and Cost approaches (income is typically not applicable).

2). What a "Comparable Sales Report" is (And what it is not)

A Comparable Sales Report is a list of five (5) sold properties that our appraisal system identifies as the most similar available sales to the subject property using standardized selection criteria. Those sold properties are what we call “comps.”

Comps are chosen based on items such as:

• Location/Market area
• Living area (Size)
• Age and design/Style
• Quality and condition (As recorded)
• Basement type/Finish and other key features

If the subject property itself sold recently in a qualified open-market sale, it may also appear.

Important clarification: The report is part of the mass appraisal workflow. It is not a guarantee that all five sales are “ideal,” and it does not mean those five sales were manually chosen or “hand-picked” to support a predetermined value.

3). Our "recent sales" time window for 2026 sales

For 2026 appraisals (as of January 01, 2026), we looked for:

• Five (5) sales and
• Sales occurring within 18 months of the valuation date: July 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025

Sales are valuable because they reflect what buyers actually paid. That said, the sales approach is only as strong as the available data—there must be enough recent, qualified and truly similar sales to support it.

4). We develop both approaches- even if one is ultimately more reliable

For residential properties with a dwelling, the County develops:

• A Cost Approach value and
• A Sales Comparison (Comparable Sales) value

Even when the market does not provide strong matches, the system will still generate a Comparable Sales Report. Generating the report is not the same thing as relying on it as the best indicator of value. In some cases, the Cost Approach provides a more stable and consistent result for that property or neighborhood.

5). How comps are selected (Consistent rules, not property-by-property “picking”)

Sedgwick County appraises a very large number of residential properties, so we use an automated, rules-based selection process in our CAMA system. That helps keep the process consistent and scalable across the county.

This does not mean there is no human oversight—staff maintain the property records, maintain the selection rules and review outcomes—but under normal mass appraisal workflow, comparable sales are not individually hand-selected one property at a time.

6). What the "comparability points" mean (How similar a sale is to your home)

Each comp is assigned a comparability score/points to show how different it is from the subject property. The score reflects differences in things like:

• Neighborhood/Market area
• Living area
• Age
• Quality
• CDU (Condition-Desirability-Utility)
• Style/Construction details
• Basement type and finish
• Other key characteristics

How to interpret the score:

• Lower points = more similar (fewer/smaller adjustments typically needed)
• Higher points = less similar (more/larger adjustments typically needed)

General guideline used by the County:

• 0–50: Excellent comps
• 51–100: Good comps
• Over 100: Weaker indicators; another approach may be more reliable

As a practical matter, for the sales comparison approach to be a strong foundation, we prefer sales from the same neighborhood with lower comparability scores (Typically under 100).

7). Why the report shows more than one "price" for each comp (the adjustment steps)

A sales comparison analysis has two main parts: (A) time adjustment and (B) feature/characteristic adjustments.

A). Time-adjusting the sale price

The report shows a Time Adjusted Sales Price to reflect market change between the sale date and January 1 of the valuation year. This allows a late-2024 sale to be compared fairly to a mid-2025 sale using the same “as-of” date.

B). Adjusting for differences between the homes

After time adjustment, we adjust for differences such as:

• Living area
• Basement area
• Lot characteristics (Where applicable in the model)
• Condition/quality differences (As recorded)
• Other significant features

After those adjustments, the report shows a Market Adjusted Sales Price—meaning what that sale would indicate for the subject property, as of the valuation date, after accounting for time and property differences.

Because each comp differs from the subject in different ways, the market-adjusted indications can vary from one comp to another.

Where do the adjustment rates come from?

They are market-derived using large numbers of qualified sales and statistical analysis (including regression). For 2026, market areas were stratified by school district, grouping neighborhoods within each district to reflect how buyers typically price differences like size, condition, and other various property data characteristics.

8). Why some Comparable Sales Reports don't "look good"

Sometimes the “best available five sales” still don’t look like great matches. Common reasons include:

• Not enough recent sales in the immediate neighborhood during the required time window
• The area has highly varied housing (few truly similar homes)
• The subject property is more unique in size, style, quality, condition, or basement characteristics
• To reach five sales, the system may pull from a wider area, which usually increases the comparability score

In short: the system is designed to find the best available sales under standardized criteria, but the market does not always provide five strong, low-score matches for every property.

9). How we decide whether to rely more on Sales Comparison or Cost

Because mass appraisal is meant to be uniform and consistent across similar properties, we look closely at how reliable the sales evidence is for that property and that market area.

A key factor is the comparability score:

• Lower scores: the comps are more similar, so the sales comparison approach is usually dependable
• Higher scores: the comps are less similar and require more adjustment, so the sales comparison approach may be a weaker indicator

When the comparable sales evidence is strong under our standards, we place more weight on the Sales Comparison Approach. When it is not, we will typically place more weight on the Cost Approach so that homes are valued using a consistent method—especially in areas with limited recent sales or limited truly similar sales.

10). Cost Override and Market (Sales) Override - what "override" means

In our mass appraisal process, an “override” means we take the value estimate determined to be the best indicator for the property—either the Cost Approach or the Market (Sales Comparison) Approach—and apply a standard 95% calculation (with rounding).

For 2026, the County valued improved residential properties (generally excluding new construction) using a 95% override of either estimate:

• If the Cost Approach is the better indicator, we apply a Cost Override = 95% of the cost estimate (rounded to the nearest ten).
• If the Sales Comparison approach is the better indicator and meets the criteria, we apply a Market Override = 95% of the market/sales estimate (rounded to the nearest hundred).

Example: A $100,000 estimate results in a $95,000 override value
Because the word “override” can mean different things in other settings, it may sound like a special adjustment made case-by-case. In this process, however, it is a consistent percentage calculation applied uniformly once the County determines whether cost or market is the better indicator for that property.

Why the 95% override is used

The 95% override helps the County be conservative and consistent while still meeting state compliance expectations. It also helps account for the fact that properties that sell are often in more market-ready condition, while not every property being appraised is in the same condition as the homes that happened to sell.

Mission: To provide quality customer service to the citizens of Sedgwick County, while providing a fair and equitable appraisal roll to our client and intended users; in accordance with the requirements of the statutory compliance review used in the formulation of funding for quality public services in our community.

Vision: To provide annual appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes while building public trust and educating stakeholders while implementing innovative solutions to fairly and equitably appraise taxable and exempt real and personal property in Sedgwick County.

Search Property Appraisals

Use this online property appraisal search tool to find appraisal amounts for real and personal properties in Sedgwick County.

How do I know if a county appraiser is in my area or at my home?

Due to the high volume of property inspections the Appraiser’s Office must complete each year, scheduling inspections with individual property owners is not conducive to the annual revaluation timeline. However, county appraisers are easily identified. Our appraisers drive personal vehicles but are provided with Sedgwick County Appraiser magnets to display on the vehicle. In addition, they have a county photo ID and wear clothing with the county logo.

Below is a map for Residential Annual Field Maintenance by location. Property owners can expect to see appraisers in their area during the designated time. We will be conducting Residential Annual Field Maintenance Inspections throughout 2026 in Area 4. Along with Annual Field Maintenance, Residential and Commercial appraisers could be in any area of the county for sales validation, building permit inspection or general field inspection.

For additional information, please call the Sedgwick County Call Center at 316-660-9000.

If a residential appraiser was recently at your home and missed you, click the inspection questionnaire link below to complete the questionnaire.

2026 Real Property Valuation Notices

Property valuation notices will begin arriving in property owners’ mailboxes on March 1^st. Property owners who did not receive a notice in the mail may view the notice and appraisal information for their properties online. Property owners also may print their notice from the website, which will include appeal information. This alternative method of notification does not change a property owner’s right to appeal their value or classification.

When are values mailed and taxes due?

View the Tax Calendar for value notices, and filing, tax and appeal deadlines.