Texas Property Tax 2026:
The Complete Homeowner Guide

Proposition 13 raised the school-district homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000. Almost every Texas homeowner uses this exemption, so the savings are broad. Proposition 11 added another $60,000 for homeowners 65 or older, or with a qualifying disability. Stacked together, that's $200,000 off the school-tax portion of an assessed value.

What that means in plain dollars

Take a home assessed at $400,000 in a district with a $1.00 school-tax rate per $100 of value. The old exemption saved you $1,000 a year. The new $140,000 exemption saves you $1,400. A senior stacking Prop 11 pulls another $200,000 out of the school-tax base on top of that.

This is the biggest exemption jump in Texas in nearly a decade. The Lt. Governor's office estimates $1,762.87 in average annual savings for all homesteaded owners. Seniors save closer to $1,933.23 once Prop 11 layers on top.

City, county, hospital, and community-college rates still apply to the full assessed value, minus any local exemptions they offer. That's why a $140,000 exemption isn't a flat $140,000 off your bill. It's $140,000 off the taxable base used to calculate the ISD line.

Worked example: $400,000 home in Mansfield

That's the school-tax piece alone. The bigger chunk of your bill still comes from the combined city, county, and hospital rates. But first, let's talk about a common shock for new buyers.

Every realtor has this conversation with a first-year homeowner. You bought in the fall. The seller had a homestead exemption and a long-held appraisal cap. Your October statement looked fine. Then in February, your lender sends a letter saying your escrow is short and your monthly payment is going up $300 or $400. Sometimes more.

Three things are usually happening at once. The prior owner's capped assessed value reset to full market value the moment title transferred, so the taxable base jumped. The homestead exemption is tied to the owner, not the property — when the previous owner sold, their exemption ended, so as the new owner you have to file your own Form 50-114 to claim it. And your initial escrow used the old owner's tax bill as an estimate, which means your lender is now catching up to the real number plus twelve months of under-collection.

There's no way around the one-time reset. But you can soften the blow. File your homestead exemption the week you close, not the year after. Ask your lender for an escrow analysis as soon as the new tax bill lands. And request a spread on the shortage so the shortfall amortizes across 12 months instead of hitting as a lump adjustment.

When a builder finishes your home in, say, July, but the county's January 1 assessment date was six months before the house existed, the CAD only taxes the land that first year. That might be a few hundred dollars for former-farmland, or a few thousand for raw residential dirt. Your lender sees that low first-year tax bill and may offer to set your escrow based on the unimproved value. The next January 1 rolls around, the CAD picks up the full improvement value (the $400K house sitting on what used to be $75K of land), and your escrow shortage jumps $5,000 to $15,000.

For former-farmland subdivisions (common across Ellis and Johnson counties, where cities keep absorbing ag land), there's a twist. If the seller was claiming 1-d-1 agricultural valuation, converting the land to residential use triggers a three-year rollback tax: three years of back-tax on the difference between productivity value and market value, plus interest. It usually settles at closing, but some builders try to pass it to the buyer, so ask your title company to show you exactly where it appears on the closing disclosure.

There's a simple fix. Ask your lender to escrow based on the fully improved value of the finished home, not the unimproved land. Higher monthly payment up front. No year-two surprise.

Stack them together and you get the effective rate: what you actually pay after the homestead exemption.

Here's how the math breaks down across South DFW for 2026, using the combined statutory rates each taxing entity filed as of March 2026:

Scroll horizontally to see all columns

Sources: city budgets, Ownwell 2026 rate compilation, Tarrant Appraisal District, Ellis CAD. Effective rates assume homesteaded primary residences after the $140K exemption.

The city spans three counties: Tarrant, Ellis, and Johnson. Each one runs its own school district, county rate, and hospital-district rate.

Take a $500,000 home as the worked example. On the Tarrant-county side of town the effective rate is 1.67%. On the Johnson-county side it's 2.39%. That's roughly $3,300 more per year for the same-priced home, sometimes in the same subdivision, sometimes across the street. The Johnson-county premium comes mostly from higher hospital-district and MUD rates, not the ISD.

Most people don't file them all. Here's the full stack, grouped by who qualifies. For the complete list of statutory exemptions and eligibility rules, the Texas Comptroller's exemptions page is the authoritative reference.

The Homestead Appraisal Cap (Automatic)

Once your primary-residence homestead is active, your appraised value can't rise more than 10% per year, no matter what the market does. If your neighbor sells for 20% more, the county can bump your market value but not your taxable appraised value.

The catch: new homeowners lose this protection in year one. The cap kicks in on January 1 of the year after you file your homestead exemption.

Over-65 and Disabled-Person Exemptions

When you turn 65, or if you meet Social Security's definition of disabled, three benefits stack on your homestead.

A $60,000 additional school-tax exemption (Proposition 11, November 2025) stacks with the $140,000 homestead. That puts $200,000 of your assessed value out of reach of the school-tax rate.

A school-tax ceiling, often called "the freeze." Your school-tax bill can't rise above the amount you paid the year you qualified, even as the market climbs around you. It's one of the best-hidden benefits in Texas property tax.

Optional local add-ons from your city or county layer on top. Tarrant County offers an extra $51,600. Ellis County and Johnson County each add $3,000. Every city sets its own number; check your county's exemption page.

You can't stack the over-65 exemption with the disabled-person exemption on the same property. Pick whichever is higher. The benefits are close to identical, but the paperwork differs. You can layer either one on top of a disabled-veteran exemption.

Disabled Veteran Exemptions: Two Separate Programs

This is the most-confused area of Texas property tax, because Texas runs two completely different disabled-veteran exemptions side by side. Most veterans qualify for one or the other, not both.

§11.22 — Partial Disabled Veteran Exemption (10–99% rating)

A flat dollar amount comes off the appraised value of any one property the veteran chooses. It doesn't have to be the homestead. It doesn't have to be a home the veteran owned before moving to Texas. But the veteran has to be a Texas resident. Tier amounts are set by VA disability rating:

• 10%–29% rating (DV1): $5,000 off assessed value
• 30%–49% rating (DV2): $7,500 off assessed value
• 50%–69% rating (DV3): $10,000 off assessed value
• 70%–99% rating (DV4): $12,000 off assessed value

Veterans 65 or older with any disability rating of 10% or more qualify for the top-tier $12,000 exemption regardless of their rating. So do veterans who are blind in one or both eyes, or who have lost use of a limb. Apply with Form 50-135 at your county appraisal district.

§11.131 — 100% Disabled Veteran Homestead Exemption (FULL)

A veteran rated 100% service-connected disabled by the VA owes zero property tax on the homestead. Veterans rated less than 100% schedular but awarded Individual Unemployability (TDIU) at 100% compensation qualify too. No cap on home value. No income test. Every taxing jurisdiction is zeroed out: school, city, county, hospital, junior-college. Not just the school portion.

Bring the VA award letter showing either a 100% rating or the TDIU designation. Apply with the homestead application (Form 50-114) and attach the VA letter.

Clarifications Real Texas Veterans Ask

Surviving Spouse Exemptions

Texas preserves several exemptions for surviving spouses who haven't remarried.

Surviving spouse of a 100% disabled veteran (§11.132). The full exemption transfers on the same homestead. If the spouse moves, they can carry the dollar amount of the exemption they received at the previous property. That isn't necessarily a full exemption on the new home, but the original savings stay with them.

Surviving spouse of a service member killed or fatally injured in the line of duty (§11.133). Full homestead exemption. Transfers to a new homestead at full value.

Surviving spouse of a veteran who died from a service-connected condition. This one is brand new. Voters approved it on November 4, 2025 as Proposition 17. The implementing statute took effect January 1, 2026. The exemption follows the spouse to a new homestead if they remain unmarried.

Surviving spouse of a first responder killed in the line of duty (§11.134). Full homestead exemption. Transferable to a new property.

Agricultural and Wildlife Valuations

Technically not an exemption, but a different valuation method. Land used primarily for agriculture, timber, or wildlife management can be appraised at its productivity value instead of market value. Productivity value is usually a tiny fraction of what the land would sell for. Ag valuations are common on Ellis- and Johnson-county parcels over five acres.

One warning: converting the land to residential use later triggers a rollback tax. You pay back five years of tax savings plus interest. Ag valuations aren't a free ride if you're planning to develop.

What Auto-Renews and What Doesn't

The homestead exemption auto-renews until you move or sell. Every other exemption requires a separate application with your county appraisal district, and most require you to re-file when you move.

The disabled-veteran exemption has the most forgiving late-filing rule: five years after the delinquency date. Most other exemptions expire after one to two years if you miss them.

The notice isn't a bill. It's the district's opinion of what your home is worth, and it determines your taxable value later that fall.

Three numbers matter:

• 1 Market Value — what the district thinks a buyer would pay today. This is the number you protest if it's too high.
• 2 Assessed Value — what you'll actually be taxed on, after the homestead cap. For primary residences, this value can't rise more than 10% a year, no matter what the market does.
• 3 Protest Deadline — usually May 15 or 30 days from the notice date, whichever is later. Miss this and you wait until 2027.

Under HB 1533, which took effect for the 2026 protest season, your appraisal district must share its evidence packet at least 14 days before your hearing. Request it in writing when you file your protest. That's how you see which comparable sales they used.

If your market value rose more than 10% year-over-year, a protest is almost always worth the hour.

Most charge 30–50% of your first-year savings with no upfront fee, and they handle every step from filing through the ARB hearing. The big names in DFW are Texas ProTax, Property Tax Reduction Consultants, and Ownwell.

The breakeven math is simple. If your expected savings are $500 and the service charges 40%, you keep $300 and they keep $200. On a straightforward protest you could have filed yourself in 45 minutes, the math favors DIY.

Services earn their fee in four specific cases:

• Homes with unusual characteristics (condition issues, acreage, bed/bath mismatches with comps)
• Multiple properties where scale pays off
• Homeowners who routinely miss filing deadlines or feel intimidated by hearings
• Situations where you think the savings could hit four figures

A reasonable rule of thumb: if your appraised value rose more than 8% and the house is straightforward, file yourself. If the house is unusual or you don't want to deal with it, hire out.

En noviembre de 2025 los votantes de Texas aumentaron la exención de vivienda principal a $140,000 (Proposición 13), con $60,000 adicionales para personas de 65 años o más (Proposición 11). Los ahorros aplican al año fiscal 2025 — las primeras cuentas con la nueva exención ya están llegando.

Para aplicar: descargue el Formulario 50-114 del sitio de su distrito de tasación (TAD para Tarrant, DCAD para Dallas, Ellis CAD, Johnson CAD). Adjunte una copia de su licencia de conducir con la dirección de su casa. El plazo para protestar su tasación es el 15 de mayo.

Guía completa en español: Exención de Vivienda Principal Texas 2026.

I've walked a lot of buyers through their first Texas tax bill. The pattern is always the same. People move here assuming property tax is the tradeoff for no state income tax, then get surprised by how big the number actually is. After Prop 13, that number is meaningfully smaller. But it's still the single biggest ongoing cost of owning a DFW home, and the appraisal math matters more than the rate.

If you're buying in 2026, three things will save you the most money. File your homestead exemption the week you close. Protest every year your market value rises more than 8%. And know which county your address sits in before you sign the contract. That last one catches a surprising number of Mansfield buyers because nobody told them the Johnson-county slice exists.