Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Arizona shields up to $400,000 of home equity (the January 2024 base figure), adjusted every January 1 for inflation and rounded up to the nearest $100. Only one $400,000 exemption exists per married couple or single person, not one per spouse.
This is protection against an ordinary money judgment creditor under Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 33-1101, 33-1103, a different question from a property tax bill or exemption, which this page does not cover.
Arizona homestead exemption at a glance
| Protected amount | Arizona shields up to $400,000 of home equity (the January 2024 base figure), adjusted every January 1 for inflation and rounded up to the nearest $100. Only one $400,000 exemption exists per married couple or single person, not one per spouse. |
|---|---|
| Filing/declaration | Not required: No recorded declaration is required, the exemption attaches automatically to a qualifying owner-occupied home. |
| Married couples / joint owners | A married couple gets only one combined $400,000 exemption between them; if they later divorce while both remain in the home, their combined exemption still cannot exceed $400,000. |
| If you sell the home | Sale proceeds automatically keep their exempt status for 18 months after the sale, or until the person buys a new home with them, whichever comes first, but this does not extend to cash taken out through refinancing. |
How it works in Arizona
- No filing required. No recorded declaration is required, the exemption attaches automatically to a qualifying owner-occupied home.
- Married couples and joint owners: A married couple gets only one combined $400,000 exemption between them; if they later divorce while both remain in the home, their combined exemption still cannot exceed $400,000.
If you sell the home
Sale proceeds automatically keep their exempt status for 18 months after the sale, or until the person buys a new home with them, whichever comes first, but this does not extend to cash taken out through refinancing.
What it does not protect against
The exemption does not block a mortgage or other consensual lien, a contractor’s/materialman’s lien, or a lien for unpaid child support or spousal maintenance arrears.
Read it yourself
Verbatim from Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 33-1101, 33-1103: “Any person who is at least eighteen years of age, married or single, and who resides within this state may hold as a homestead exempt from attachment, execution and forced sale, not exceeding $400,000 in value, any one of the following: 1. The person’s interest in real property in one compact body on which exists a dwelling house in which the person resides.” Read the full official text before relying on any figure here. A second citation, the companion exceptions section, A.R.S. 33-1103, same domain, is available here. Exemption law is fact-specific, and this is a source-backed planning guide, not individualized legal advice.