Texas Property Tax Guide for Home Buyers

Written by

Arman Javaherian

How Texas property tax actually works

There's no statewide property tax in Texas. Instead, a handful of local taxing units each charge you, and your bill is the sum of all of them:

Your school district (usually the biggest piece by far)
The county
The city
Special districts (a community college, a hospital district, and in newer suburbs, a MUD)

That last one catches new buyers off guard. A MUD, or Municipal Utility District, is common in fresh Houston and Dallas-area subdivisions. It pays for the water and sewer infrastructure, and it can add a full percentage point or more to your rate for years. Two identical houses a mile apart can carry very different tax bills because one sits in a MUD and one doesn't.

Every property gets a value each year from the County Appraisal District. Your tax is that appraised value, minus any exemptions, times the combined rate of all those taxing units.

How much is property tax in Texas?

The average effective Texas property tax rate runs around 1.6 to 1.8 percent of your home's value per year. In plain numbers, a $400,000 home often comes with a $6,000 to $8,000 annual tax bill. That's roughly double what you'd pay on the same home in a low-tax state.

Where you buy matters a lot:

Houston and Harris County: often around 2 percent, higher inside a MUD
Dallas-Fort Worth: roughly 1.8 to 2.2 percent across the metro
Austin and Travis County: around 1.8 percent, though high home values push the dollar bills up
San Antonio and Bexar County: roughly 1.8 to 2 percent
Rural counties: sometimes 1.2 to 1.5 percent, noticeably lower

Two things move your Texas property tax rate: which taxing units you fall under, and your home's appraised value. You don't control the first directly, but you can fight the value, which we'll get to.

How Texas property tax actually works

There's no statewide property tax in Texas. Instead, a handful of local taxing units each charge you, and your bill is the sum of all of them:

Your school district (usually the biggest piece by far)
The county
The city
Special districts (a community college, a hospital district, and in newer suburbs, a MUD)

Every property gets a value each year from the County Appraisal District. Your tax is that appraised value, minus any exemptions, times the combined rate of all those taxing units.

How much is property tax in Texas?

Where you buy matters a lot:

Houston and Harris County: often around 2 percent, higher inside a MUD
Dallas-Fort Worth: roughly 1.8 to 2.2 percent across the metro
Austin and Travis County: around 1.8 percent, though high home values push the dollar bills up
San Antonio and Bexar County: roughly 1.8 to 2 percent
Rural counties: sometimes 1.2 to 1.5 percent, noticeably lower

Texas has no state income tax. It's one of the big reasons people move here. But that money has to come from somewhere, and a lot of it comes from property taxes.

Texas property tax is among the highest in the country. If you're buying here, the tax bill isn't a footnote. It can add hundreds of dollars to your monthly payment and shape what you can actually afford. So before you fall for a house, you should know how the tax works and how to keep it as low as the law allows.

Texas has no state income tax. It's one of the big reasons people move here. But that money has to come from somewhere, and a lot of it comes from property taxes.

How to calculate your estimated tax bill

The math is simple once you have the pieces. Appraised value, minus exemptions, times the combined tax rate, equals your annual property tax.

Say you buy a $350,000 home in a Houston suburb with a combined rate of about 2.1 percent. Before any exemptions, that's about $7,350 a year, or a little over $610 a month folded into your mortgage payment. Apply the homestead exemption (more on that next) and you might bring it down into the $5,500 to $6,000 range.

You don't have to guess. Every County Appraisal District posts the current rates, and most have a Texas property tax calculator right on the site. You can also pull up any listing's address on the appraisal district site and see exactly what the current owner pays today.

The Texas homestead exemption, your biggest lever

If you're going to live in the home, file for the homestead exemption. It's the single best way to cut your bill, and it's free.

The Texas homestead exemption knocks a chunk off your home's taxable value for school district taxes, which is the largest part of your bill. Texas voters approved raising that exemption to $140,000 in late 2025, up from $100,000. So the first $140,000 of your home's value is exempt from school taxes. On a $350,000 home, the school district only taxes you on $210,000. Confirm the current figure with your appraisal district, since the legislature keeps changing it.

A few more things worth knowing:

Homeowners who are 65 or older, or who have a disability, get an extra exemption on top
Once your homestead is in place, there's a 10 percent cap on how much your appraised value can rise each year, which protects you when prices spike
You apply through your County Appraisal District, usually with a one-page form, and you only have to do it once

Don't skip this. A surprising number of new buyers forget to file and overpay for a year before they catch it.

Find your home.
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Find your home.
Get up to 2% back.

Search homes, schedule tours, make smarter offers, and get thousands back at closing with Homa

Find your home.
Get up to 2% back.

Search homes, schedule tours, make smarter offers, and get thousands back at closing with Homa

How to protest your property taxes

Here's the part most Texans don't use enough. You can protest your appraised value every single year, and plenty of people who do it win a lower number.

The appraisal district mails your value notice in the spring. If it looks too high, you file a protest, usually by May 15 or within 30 days of the notice. Then it goes like this:

File the notice of protest online or with form 50-132 from your appraisal district
Gather evidence: recent sales of similar homes that went for less, photos of anything that hurts your value (a cracked slab, an old roof, a busy road), and repair estimates
Take the informal meeting first. An appraiser reviews your evidence, and a lot of protests get settled right there
If you're still not happy, go to the formal hearing in front of the Appraisal Review Board and make your case

You can do it yourself for free, or hire a protest company that takes a cut of your first-year savings. Either way, the worst outcome is usually no change, so there's little reason not to try.

Texas vs Florida property tax

If you're weighing Texas against Florida, the property tax gap is real. Florida's effective rate sits closer to 0.8 to 0.9 percent, while Texas runs nearly double that. On a $350,000 home, that can be the difference between roughly $3,000 a year in Florida and $6,000 or more in Texas.

But it's not the whole story. Neither state has an income tax, so Texas leans harder on property tax to make up the difference. Florida leans on sales tax and, honestly, on insurance, which has gotten brutal in a lot of the state. So a cheaper Texas sticker price can come with a heavier annual tax bill, while a Florida home might flip that math. Run both before you decide.

How to protest your property taxes

Here's the part most Texans don't use enough. You can protest your appraised value every single year, and plenty of people who do it win a lower number.

The appraisal district mails your value notice in the spring. If it looks too high, you file a protest, usually by May 15 or within 30 days of the notice. Then it goes like this:

File the notice of protest online or with form 50-132 from your appraisal district
Gather evidence: recent sales of similar homes that went for less, photos of anything that hurts your value (a cracked slab, an old roof, a busy road), and repair estimates
Take the informal meeting first. An appraiser reviews your evidence, and a lot of protests get settled right there
If you're still not happy, go to the formal hearing in front of the Appraisal Review Board and make your case

You can do it yourself for free, or hire a protest company that takes a cut of your first-year savings. Either way, the worst outcome is usually no change, so there's little reason not to try.

Texas vs Florida property tax

How Homa helps Texas buyers plan around property taxes

Property tax is the cost buyers underestimate most, because it doesn't show up in the list price. It shows up later, every month, inside your mortgage payment.

This is where Homa fits in. Homa is a buyer's brokerage that hands the buyer-side commission back to you instead of giving it to a traditional agent. The AI tools pull comps and, just as important, fold the real property tax and insurance into the true monthly cost before you make an offer, so you're comparing homes on what they'll actually cost to own, not just the price tag.

Homa is live in Florida today and launching in Texas. At closing, the buyer-side commission comes back to you, minus Homa's 1 percent fee. On a $400,000 Texas home, that's around $8,000. You could put it toward most of your first year of property taxes, pad your escrow account, or buy down your rate so the whole monthly payment, taxes and all, lands lower. The county sets the tax. What you do about the rest of your costs is up to you.

The bottom line

Texas property tax is high, but it's manageable if you go in with your eyes open. Know the combined rate for the exact address, not just the county. Check whether it sits in a MUD. File your homestead exemption the moment you close. Protest your value when it climbs. And build the real tax into your budget before you make an offer, not after.

A Texas home is a great deal in a lot of ways. Just make sure the tax bill is part of the math from day one.

How Homa helps Texas buyers plan around property taxes

Property tax is the cost buyers underestimate most, because it doesn't show up in the list price. It shows up later, every month, inside your mortgage payment.