Texas Property Tax Calculator,
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Texas property tax guide

How property tax works in Texas

Texas’s average effective property tax rate is 1.60% of a home’s market value — ranking #7 of 51 states (including D.C.), from highest to lowest. That average masks real county-by-county variation, but it’s the right starting point for budgeting what homeownership actually costs.

Why Texas property tax is so high

Texas is one of nine states with no state income tax, and the tradeoff shows up on the property tax bill: Texas’s average effective rate is among the highest in the country. With no income tax to draw on, local governments and — especially — public school districts lean heavily on property tax revenue; school funding alone typically makes up over half of a Texas property tax bill.

One number makes the tradeoff concrete: a $350,000 home in Texas and a $750,000 home in California land on roughly similar annual property tax bills, even though the Texas home costs less than half as much. Texas homeowners do get one real cushion, though — once you file a homestead exemption, your home’s taxable (assessed) value can’t rise more than 10% in a year, under Texas Tax Code §23.23, even if the market value jumps faster. That cap only protects taxable value, not market value, and only kicks in starting the tax year after you first claim the exemption.

Worked example

A $350,000 home in Texas — a realistic figure for the state’s current median — comes out to $5,600 a year in property tax at the state average rate, or about $467 a month if it’s escrowed into a mortgage payment.

Disclaimer

This calculator uses Texas’s average effective property tax rate (taxes paid ÷ home market value), sourced from Tax Foundation and WalletHub 2024 data. Actual rates vary by county, city, and school district, and exemptions or assessment limitations you qualify for aren’t reflected here. For your actual tax liability, contact your local county assessor’s office.