Guide · Data year 2025 · Published November 2026
Texas property tax rates, county by county
Texas has no state property tax. Each bill is the sum of county, city, school district and special district rates. Across the 254 counties in the 2025 report the median county rate is 0.49%, and across 1,549 school districts the median total rate is 0.96%.
Four bills, four rate-setters
The county commissioners court sets the county rate. The city council sets the city rate. The school board sets the maintenance-and-operations rate and the interest-and-sinking rate that pays bond debt. Special districts — municipal utility districts, emergency services districts, drainage districts, public improvement districts — set their own. Every one of them reports to the Comptroller, which publishes the adopted rates each year in the Statewide Report of Tax Rates.
Because they are separate, a low county rate tells you almost nothing about the total. Collin County levies 0.15%, but a home in Plano also pays the city of Plano at 0.44% and Plano ISD at roughly 1.2% — a combined rate near 1.8%, twelve times the county's own share.
| County | County rate | Largest city (rate) | Highest ISD (rate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harris | 0.3810% | Houston (0.5192%) | Sheldon ISD (1.2552%) |
| Dallas | 0.2155% | Dallas (0.6988%) | Ferris ISD (1.2308%) |
| Travis | 0.3758% | Austin (0.5740%) | Elgin ISD (1.2234%) |
| Bexar | 0.3000% | San Antonio (0.5416%) | Harlandale ISD (1.2575%) |
| Tarrant | 0.1862% | Fort Worth (0.6700%) | Godley ISD (1.2850%) |
| Collin | 0.1493% | Plano (0.4376%) | Lovejoy ISD (1.2552%) |
| Fort Bend | 0.8240% | Sugar Land (0.3588%) | Needville ISD (1.2869%) |
The spread is wider than people expect
County rates in the 2025 report run from near zero to 1.37%, and school district total rates from 0.29% to 1.53%. The extremes are mostly small units with unusual circumstances — a district with bond debt in its first year, or a unit whose adopted rate covers a partial year. The median is the number to carry in your head: 0.96% for a school district, 0.49% for a county.
Two caveats on the raw file, both visible in the data rather than assumed: a handful of records carry a truncated rate because the unit reported a portion of the year, and a few split districts appear once per county they serve. Our calculator shows the record exactly as the Comptroller published it.
How the homestead exemption lands
Texas Tax Code §11.13(b) requires school districts to exempt $140,000 of appraised value on a residence homestead. That exemption applies to school taxes only. Your county and city tax the value down to whatever exemption each has adopted, up to a local option of 20% under §11.13(n).
| Unit | Rate | Taxable value | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheldon ISD | 1.2552% | $260,000 | $3,264 |
| Harris County | 0.3810% | $400,000 | $1,524 |
| City of Houston | 0.5192% | $400,000 | $2,077 |
| Total before special districts | 2.1554% | — | $6,865 |
That is an effective rate of 1.72% on the appraised value even though the sum of the three adopted rates is 2.16% — the difference is entirely the $140,000 school exemption. Remove it and the same house carries $1,757 more.
Protests, caps and the calendar
- Notice: the appraisal district must send a notice of appraised value by May 1, or by April 1 for a residence homestead.
- Protest deadline: May 15 or 30 days after the notice is delivered, whichever is later.
- Appraisal cap: Tax Code §23.23 limits the year-over-year increase in appraised value for a residence homestead.
- Tax freeze: §§11.26 and 11.261 freeze school district taxes for homeowners aged 65 or older or disabled.
The Comptroller does not appraise property and does not set rates. If a rate or a value looks wrong, the correction runs through the appraisal district and the appraisal review board, not through the state.