Arizona
Buying Land in Navajo County, Arizona
Navajo County runs from the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest in the north to the White Mountains near Show Low in the south -- and by the county's own figures, about two-thirds of its land is tribal trust land, not private fee land available to buy. The county does have a genuine zoning ordinance covering the private-land portion, but before zoning even applies, the first question for any parcel here is land status -- and in parts of the county, that status is still actively changing.
Land status first: roughly two-thirds of the county is tribal trust land
The single most important fact about buying land in Navajo County has nothing to do with zoning -- it's land status. According to the county's own published land-ownership figures, roughly 66% of Navajo County is tribal land, compared with about 18% individual or corporate private ownership, 9% federal (U.S. Forest Service and BLM combined), and 6% state land. Three separate tribal nations have land within county boundaries: the Navajo Nation, whose reservation covers much of the county's northern and eastern reaches; the Hopi Reservation, a smaller reservation entirely surrounded by Navajo Nation land; and part of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, home to the White Mountain Apache Tribe, whose roughly 1.6-million-acre reservation spans Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties (Whiteriver, the reservation's largest community, sits in Navajo County).
As with McKinley County, New Mexico, this is not a historical footnote -- it directly determines what "buying land" means for a given parcel. Tribal trust land is held in trust by the federal government and administered by the relevant tribal government and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, not Navajo County, and generally cannot be conveyed to a private buyer in fee simple. What's available instead, for someone seeking to use trust land, is a lease -- most commonly a residential Homesite Lease administered through the relevant tribal nation's own land department, a fundamentally different transaction from a private-land purchase, with its own approval process, survey requirements, and environmental review. Never assume a parcel is ordinary private fee land because it appears in a listing or has a mailing address -- confirm actual land status through the County Assessor/Recorder (for fee land) and, if there's any indication of reservation proximity, the relevant tribal government directly.
A land-status question that's still actively changing: the Hopi Tribe's federal land-into-trust transfer
Land status here isn't only a matter of historical reservation boundaries -- it's actively shifting in parts of the county right now. Congress's 1996 Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act authorized the Hopi Tribe to acquire up to 500,000 acres in northern Arizona to be taken into federal trust, including both private land purchased from willing sellers and interspersed State Trust land. Under that authority, the Hopi Tribe has already purchased over 161,000 acres of private land from willing sellers (now held in trust by the United States), and, together with the State of Arizona, has identified an additional roughly 110,000 acres of interspersed state trust land -- much of it long leased to the Hopi Tribe for ranching -- for transfer into federal trust across Navajo and Coconino counties. The U.S. Department of Justice and the federal government filed to formally effect that transfer, and a Federal Register land-acquisition notice covering this Hopi Tribe transaction in Coconino and Navajo counties was published as recently as December 30, 2024.
The practical implication for a buyer: if you're evaluating land in the northern part of the county near existing Hopi or Navajo lands, particularly anything that was previously state trust land, don't assume its land-status classification from even a couple of years ago is still current -- the acreage figure itself has already grown since the initial December 2024 notice. This is a genuinely live, multi-year federal process, not a completed one. See this site's dedicated tribal trust land status page for Navajo County for how the transfer mechanism actually works, the Hopi Tribe's own distinct land-tenure system, and the county-level tax offset -- and confirm a specific parcel's present status directly with the Navajo County Assessor's office and the Arizona State Land Department rather than relying on this page or any general description.
For the private-land portion: a real zoning ordinance, not a McKinley-style absence of one
Unlike some heavily tribal-land New Mexico counties in this site's coverage that have no general zoning ordinance at all, Navajo County does maintain a real, mapped zoning code for its private/fee land, administered by Planning & Development Services. The A-General Zoning District serves as the default designation for unincorporated areas not otherwise assigned a specific zone -- and critically, no subdivision is permitted within the A-General district without the land first being rezoned. Rural Zoning (RU) districts exist specifically to conserve open land, discourage premature small-lot subdivision in areas without adequate public facilities or emergency-response access, and prevent conflicts between rural and urban-style land uses. More conventional residential zones also apply near incorporated areas -- for example, the R1-10 Single-Family Residential district requires a minimum 10,000-square-foot parcel with at least 60 feet of lot width.
Zone changes and special-use permits go through a two-step public-hearing process -- first before the Planning and Zoning Commission, then a final decision by the Board of Supervisors. Confirm your specific parcel's zoning designation, and whether the land needs to be rezoned before any subdivision is possible, directly with Planning & Development Services before making assumptions based on the general A-General or RU framework described here.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Navajo County
For anything touching Hopi Reservation trust land or the ongoing Hopi land-into-trust transfer described above, contact the Hopi Tribe's own land or realty office directly -- a sovereign tribal government, not a Navajo County department, and not listed here as this research pass could not confirm a current direct public contact line for it. For land touching the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, contact the White Mountain Apache Tribe directly. Well permitting is a state function through the Arizona Department of Water Resources, not a county department; Navajo County sits outside any AMA. This research pass could not confirm a direct public phone line for the county GIS office separate from its web page.
Planning & Zoning
Navajo County Planning & Development Services
Confirming a parcel's zoning district (A-General, RU, or residential zones), rezoning requirements before subdivision, and special-use permit applications.
Building & Permitting
Navajo County Planning & Development Services
Building permits and construction regulation for unincorporated parcels.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
Navajo County Planning & Development Services
Septic system design review, permitting, and installation approval for both conventional and some alternative onsite wastewater systems.
GIS / Parcel Records
Navajo County GIS
Pulling a specific parcel's zoning, boundaries, and location relative to reservation or state-trust land before relying on a listing description.
Assessor / Property Tax
Navajo County Assessor
Current assessed value, ownership records, and a starting point for confirming whether a specific parcel is on the county tax rolls as private fee land (trust and reservation land generally is not).
Recorder / Clerk / Land Records
Navajo County Recorder
Recorded deed, easement, and plat history for a specific parcel -- the starting point for confirming fee-simple title status.
Other
Navajo Land Department -- General Land Development Department (GLDD)
Leasing (not buying) land within Navajo Nation trust boundaries -- Homesite Lease applications and other land-use permits on Navajo trust land. This is the Navajo Nation's own government office, not a Navajo County department.
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Sources
- About Navajo County — Navajo County, Arizona Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Planning & Development Services — Navajo County, Arizona Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Article 3 -- A-General Zoning District — Navajo County, Arizona Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Article 4 -- Rural Zoning Districts (RU) — Navajo County, Arizona Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Navajo County, Arizona — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Fort Apache Indian Reservation — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Hopi Reservation — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Land Acquisitions; Hopi Tribe, Coconino County and Navajo County, Arizona (Federal Register, Dec. 30, 2024) — Federal Register / U.S. Department of the Interior (accessed 2026-09)
- Arizona agrees to transfer 110,000 acres of state trust lands to the Hopi Tribe — KJZZ (Phoenix NPR affiliate) (accessed 2026-09)
- United States and Arizona File to Effect Transfer of Land to Be Held in Trust for the Hopi Tribe — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs (accessed 2026-09)
- Senate Report 104-363 -- Providing for the Settlement of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute — U.S. Government Publishing Office / U.S. Senate (accessed 2026-09)
- Contact Assessor — Navajo County, Arizona Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Recording Information Contacts — Navajo County, Arizona Government (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09