Last updated: September 2026
22 major Texas cities, ranked by median effective property tax rate — the actual share of a home's market value that ends up as a tax bill, after typical exemptions. Corpus Christi tops the list; New Braunfels sits at the bottom.
| # | City | Effective rate | Median home value | Median annual bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corpus Christi | 2.11% | $213,556 | $4,322 |
| 2 | Waco | 2.09% | $187,270 | $3,563 |
| 3 | Denton | 1.93% | $346,395 | $6,389 |
| 4 | El Paso | 1.87% | $188,359 | $3,369 |
| 5 | Dallas | 1.66% | $266,850 | $4,489 |
| 6 | Fort Worth | 1.62% | $275,062 | $4,319 |
| 6 | Pearland | 1.62% | $351,560 | $5,565 |
| 6 | Killeen | 1.62% | $223,514 | $3,104 |
| 9 | Amarillo | 1.58% | $119,868 | $1,438 |
| 10 | San Antonio | 1.55% | $255,250 | $3,865 |
| 10 | Garland | 1.55% | $262,140 | $4,127 |
| 12 | Irving | 1.52% | $286,805 | $4,536 |
| 13 | Lubbock | 1.51% | $196,384 | $2,567 |
| 14 | Arlington | 1.49% | $295,138 | $4,349 |
| 15 | Round Rock | 1.45% | $419,972 | $6,226 |
| 15 | Sugar Land | 1.45% | $422,266 | $6,017 |
| 17 | Houston | 1.44% | $257,337 | $3,485 |
| 18 | McKinney | 1.28% | $478,257 | $6,411 |
| 19 | Austin | 1.25% | $577,982 | $7,479 |
| 20 | Frisco | 1.17% | $586,078 | $7,572 |
| 21 | Plano | 1.16% | $480,896 | $5,672 |
| 22 | New Braunfels | 1.02% | $392,640 | $3,953 |
Median effective tax rate and median annual bill data via Ownwell's Texas property tax trends, current as of September 2026. Two cities with unusually thin or inconsistent underlying data were excluded from this ranking for reliability.
This isn't the nominal tax rate your city council adopts per $100 of value — it's the median annual tax bill divided by median home market value across each city's actual property records, which already reflects homestead exemptions, the 10% appraisal cap on long-held homes, and whatever mix of school, county, city, and special-district rates applies. That's why a growing suburb like Frisco or Plano can show a lower effective rate than an older, slower-appreciating city like Corpus Christi or Waco, even with a similar nominal rate on paper — fast-rising market values outpace capped taxable values, which mechanically lowers the effective percentage.
It also means your own bill can land well above or below your city's median depending on your specific ZIP code, school district, and whether your property sits inside a MUD or PID (see our MUD & PID guide) — several of the cities above showed a 15–20 point spread in effective rate between ZIP codes on the same underlying data.
Every city on this list sits above the national median effective rate of roughly 1.02% except for New Braunfels, which lands almost exactly on it. That's the tradeoff behind Texas having no state income tax: local governments and school districts lean more heavily on property tax to fund services, and it shows up city by city here rather than in a single statewide number.
Figures are median effective tax rate, median home value, and median annual tax bill as published by Ownwell's Texas property tax trends tool, pulled September 2026, for the primary county of each city listed. Where a city spans more than one county (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin), the figures reflect that city's primary county only — see our Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth city guides for how the other counties they touch compare. Rates and values change year to year with new appraisals and tax-rate adoptions — treat this as a snapshot, not a permanent ranking.
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