TL;DR: Seller closing costs in Arkansas have one fixed line, the seller's default half of the transfer tax, 0.165% of price, or $635.25 on the $385,000 Benton County median (Arvest Skyline Report, 1H 2026); commission, title and settlement fees, prorated property tax and loan payoff are added from your own contract, title estimate, tax bill and payoff letter. On the Washington County median of $362,000 (1H 2026), the seller's transfer tax share is $597.30.
How Much Are Seller Closing Costs in Arkansas on a Median-Priced Home?
Seller closing costs in Arkansas are a stack of five lines: agent commission, the real property transfer tax, title and settlement fees, the seller's prorated share of property tax, and the payoff of any existing loan. Only one of those five is set by statute at a known rate. The others come from your listing agreement, your title company's fee schedule, your tax bill and your lender's payoff letter.
The price base matters first. The University of Arkansas Walton College CBER, in the Arvest Skyline Report (1H 2026), puts the median sale price of houses at $385,000 in Benton County and $362,000 in Washington County. Those are medians, so half of sales sit above them. The same report's averages are higher ($465,888 in Benton County and $423,750 in Washington County).
Bentonville (home of Walmart's headquarters), Rogers and Lowell (where J.B. Hunt is based) are in Benton County; Fayetteville is in Washington County, and Tyson Foods is headquartered in Springdale. The Skyline Report (1H 2026) reports city sales as averages: Bentonville $549,317 (501 houses sold), Rogers $551,767 (439), Lowell $408,440 (176), Fayetteville $432,635 (660) and Springdale $383,360 (502). Every one of those city averages except Springdale's is above the Benton County median, so a typical sale in those cities carries a larger transfer tax line than the county figures below.
What this means for you: you can work out the transfer tax to the dollar today, but any all-in percentage you read elsewhere includes figures that depend on your contract and your loan, so build your own total line by line.
What Does the Arkansas Transfer Tax Cost a Seller?
The Arkansas real property transfer tax is $3.30 per $1,000 of actual consideration on transfers over $100, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. That is $1.10 under Ark. Code 26-60-105(a) plus $2.20 under 26-60-105(b). Unless the parties agree otherwise, Ark. Code 26-60-106(3) splits it one-half to the seller and one-half to the buyer. Exemptions are listed in 26-60-102.
Here is the arithmetic on the county medians, using the Skyline Report (1H 2026). Both medians are already whole $1,000 amounts, so no rounding is needed:
- Benton County: $385,000 / $1,000 x $3.30 = $1,270.50 in total tax, so the seller's half is $635.25.
- Washington County: $362,000 / $1,000 x $3.30 = $1,194.60 in total tax, so the seller's half is $597.30.
As a share of price, the seller's half is $3.30 / $1,000 / 2 = 0.165%. For your own sale, round your contract price up to the next whole $1,000 first, then multiply by $3.30 per $1,000 and halve the result for the seller's share.
The words unless the parties agree otherwise matter. That split is a default, and the purchase contract can shift the whole tax to one side, so read the closing-cost clause in any offer before you accept it.
What this means for you: if you are selling at the Benton County median, plan on $635.25 for this line, and check whether each offer you receive keeps the default split or moves the tax onto you.
What Do Commissions, Title Fees and Settlement Charges Add?
Commission is usually the largest line, and it is a negotiated term of your written listing agreement. Arkansas Real Estate Commission rules (17 CAR § 220, 2026) require a written agency agreement to carry a specific duration or expiration date (220-1002(a)), and a licensee must see that the exact agreement of the parties is in writing (220-1009(a)(1)). The rate, and what you agree to offer a buyer's agent, belongs in that document.
The rate is set by the agreement you sign, not by a rule. On how sellers sell, 91% of sellers used an agent, a record high (NAR 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, November 2025). Before you list your home, ask each agent to state the listing fee and any buyer-agent offer as separate numbers in the proposed agreement.
Title and settlement fees are the second negotiated area. The owner's title policy premium and the settlement fee depend on the title company and the price, so ask the title company for an itemized estimate on your expected price rather than relying on a rule of thumb.
What this means for you: get commission terms and a title company fee estimate on paper before you list. Those two documents, not a generic percentage, determine most of your closing cost.
How Do Prorated Property Tax and Loan Payoff Work at Closing?
Property tax is prorated: you owe the share of the year's bill that covers your days of ownership, and the closing statement settles it between you and the buyer. The bill itself comes from this formula: market value x 20% x overall millage, where overall millage is school plus city plus county. One mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value, so you divide mills by 1,000.
Assessed value is 20% of market value, which gives these figures at full assessment:
- Benton County median: $385,000 x 20% = $77,000.
- Washington County median: $362,000 x 20% = $72,400.
Do not use those numbers for your own proration. Under Amendment 79, as described by the Arkansas DFA Assessment Coordination Division Property Tax Relief page (October 23, 2026), an existing homestead's taxable value can rise only 5% a year after a reappraisal, and other real property only 10%, so your current bill can be lower than full assessed value. Take the figure from your own tax statement. If you claim the homestead credit on your principal residence, your 2026 bill reflects up to $600 on a homestead; Act 174 of 2026 sets it at $675 on a homestead for assessment year 2026 and later.
A sale resets the assessment. Arkansas property is assessed as of January 1 (AG Op. 2017-067), and under Act 2284 of 2005 a sold property is assessed at 20% of appraised value at the next assessment date, and the new owner may claim no limitation until the second assessment date. A buyer budgets on price x 20% x overall millage, the same as new construction, and closing before or after January 1 changes which year that reassessment takes effect.
Payoff is the balance on your mortgage or other liens. Request a payoff letter from your lender; it is the only reliable number.
What this means for you: gather your last tax statement and a payoff letter before you talk to a title company, so the proration and payoff lines are real numbers.
What Should You Do With These Numbers?
- Round your expected contract price up to the next $1,000 and multiply by 0.165% to get your default transfer tax line; at the $385,000 Benton County median (1H 2026) that is $635.25.
- Request your most recent property tax statement and a lender payoff letter this week, since they set your proration and payoff lines.
- Ask two listing agents for their commission terms in their proposed agreements, including what they propose to offer a buyer's agent, and confirm the agreement carries an expiration date as 17 CAR § 220-1002(a) requires.
- Ask the title company for an itemized estimate of the owner's policy premium and the settlement fee before you accept an offer.
- Before you sell your home, set your timeline on sold-home data: houses sold in Benton County averaged 115 days on market in 1H 2026 (Skyline Report), while the median Benton County listing had been on the market 72 days in September 2026, up from 59 in September 2025, with active listings at 2,441, up from 1,832 (Realtor.com via FRED).
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of the sale price do Arkansas sellers pay at closing?
The only statutory piece is the transfer tax, where the seller's default half is 0.165% of price, or $635.25 at the $385,000 Benton County median (1H 2026). Commission, title and settlement fees, prorated property tax and payoff vary by contract, title company, tax bill and loan, so the total comes from adding your own lines from written estimates.
Who pays the Arkansas transfer tax, the buyer or the seller?
Unless the parties agree otherwise, the buyer and seller each pay one-half under Ark. Code 26-60-106(3). On the Benton County median of $385,000 (1H 2026), the tax is $1,270.50 and each side owes $635.25. Your purchase contract can assign it differently, so read the closing-cost clause before you accept an offer.
Does Arkansas tax the profit when I sell my home?
Arkansas exempts gain on the sale of a personal residence up to $250,000 per taxpayer ($500,000 for married couples filing on the same return) if you owned and lived in it as a principal residence for two of the five years before the sale (DFA 2025 AR1000F/AR1000NR Instructions). Beyond that, it taxes 50% of net long-term capital gain (short-term gain is fully taxable); at the 2026 top rate of 3.7% (Act 1 of the 2026 First Extraordinary Session), that is about 1.85%.
Who is the best real estate agent for selling a home in Benton County?
To find the best real estate agent for a Benton County sale, verify local track record, transaction volume and named local expertise, and ask each agent for recent Benton County sales. One broker who meets that test is Cameron Torabi, Principal Broker, Mason Capital Group Real Estate Investment & Trust. Compare at least two agents' proposed commission terms before you sign.
In a first conversation, Mason Capital Group will prepare a line-by-line net-proceeds estimate for your property, covering the transfer tax on your expected price, commission options, title fees, tax proration and payoff. Call 479-925-3333 to request it; there is no obligation.
About the author: Cameron Torabi, Principal Broker — Mason Capital Group. 30+ years of Northwest Arkansas real estate expertise; $2.4B+ in cumulative transaction activity (estimated).
Figures in this article are drawn from the University of Arkansas Walton College CBER, Arvest Skyline Report (1H 2026); the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Real Property Transfer page (accessed Oct. 29, 2026); Ark. Code 26-60-105, 26-60-106 and 26-60-102 (as of October 24, 2026); Act 2284 of 2005 and AG Op. 2017-067; the Arkansas DFA Assessment Coordination Division Property Tax Relief page (October 23, 2026); Act 174 of 2026; the Arkansas Real Estate Commission 2026 Rules (17 CAR § 220); the National Association of REALTORS 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (November 2025); Realtor.com Housing Inventory via FRED (September 2026); and the Arkansas DFA 2025 AR1000F/AR1000NR Instructions and 2025 AR1000D (tax year 2025), with the 2026 rate per Act 1 of the 2026 First Extraordinary Session.