Texas has no state property tax and no state income tax — property tax is entirely local. More than 4,700 local taxing units statewide (school districts, counties, cities, and special districts) each set their own rate independently against the same appraised value, similar in structure to North Carolina's model. County Central Appraisal Districts (CADs) — a separate role from the taxing units — determine appraised value each January 1 and process exemptions; they don't set rates or collect revenue themselves. The relevant CADs in this metro are Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD), Williamson Central Appraisal District (WCAD), Hays CAD, Bastrop CAD, and Caldwell County Appraisal District.
Texas offers a mandatory general residence homestead exemption against school-district taxes, currently $140,000 of appraised value. This is a recent, live number worth knowing if you've seen an older figure elsewhere: it was raised to $100,000 by a November 2023 constitutional amendment, then raised again to $140,000 by Texas Proposition 13, approved by voters November 4, 2025, effective for tax year 2025. Homeowners age 65+ receive an additional mandatory $60,000 school-district exemption on top of the general homestead exemption. Counties, cities, and special districts may separately (and optionally) offer their own homestead exemption of up to 20% of appraised value — confirm with each specific taxing unit, since it isn't automatically $140,000 outside the school-district exemption.
Once a home has qualified for the homestead exemption in both the preceding and current tax year, Texas caps how much its appraised (taxable) value can increase year over year at 10%, regardless of how much market value actually rose. The cap doesn't apply until the year after a property first qualifies for the homestead exemption — so a newly purchased home won't benefit from it in its first year of ownership. It caps the taxable figure used for the bill, not the market value the appraisal district records.
Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs) are a common financing tool in fast-growing, often-unincorporated parts of Williamson, Hays, and Travis counties. A MUD is a political subdivision authorized by the state to fund water, sewer, drainage, and sometimes park infrastructure for a new subdivision by issuing bonds — repaid via a separate property tax line item layered on top of standard county, city, and school rates. Texas law requires a written MUD disclosure notice before a sale closes; ask directly, and check the county appraisal district's own property record, which lists a MUD as its own taxing entity when one applies.
We deliberately don't publish a single "the rate is X" figure — five counties, plus city, school, and sometimes MUD rates layered on top, reset annually through independent local budget cycles, so any combined number would be stale within months. What follows is each county government's own current rate (not the combined bill a homeowner actually pays) — always confirm the full combined rate for a specific address with the relevant county tax office.
| County | 2025/FY26 county rate (per $100) | Reappraisal cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Travis (Downtown Austin, South Congress) | $0.375845 | 3-yr state minimum; TCAD uses a targeted approach, not a full annual sweep* |
| Williamson (Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown) | $0.413766 | Annual, per WCAD's own plan — exceeds the 3-yr minimum |
| Hays (San Marcos, Kyle) | $0.3999 (FY2026) | Not confirmed this pass — check with Hays CAD |
| Bastrop (Bastrop) | $0.42870 (FY2025–26) | Not confirmed this pass — check with Bastrop CAD |
| Caldwell (Lockhart) | $0.4390 (2025) | Not confirmed this pass — check with Caldwell CAD |
*Travis CAD's 2025–2026 reappraisal plan explicitly uses a targeted approach — prioritizing new construction, properties with large value changes, and properties due for their 3-year cycle — rather than a full annual geographic sweep, worth knowing in a fast-growth market where "annual reappraisal" is often assumed. Sources: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (property tax basics, exemptions, valuing property, and protests pages); Travis County official 2025 tax-rate notice (certified Aug. 13, 2025); Williamson County government 2025 tax-rate announcement; Hays County Commissioners Court FY2026 budget adoption; Bastrop County FY2025–26 tax-rate notice; Caldwell County Appraisal District's own "Adopted Tax Rates and Exemptions 2025" document; Travis CAD and Williamson CAD 2025–2026 Reappraisal Plans. County rates above are each county government's own rate only, not the combined bill (which also includes city, school, and any MUD rates) — we could not independently verify a reliable combined-rate figure for any of the five counties in this pass.
The protest deadline is May 15, or 30 days from the date the appraisal district mailed its notice of appraised value — whichever is later. File Form 50-132 (Property Owner's Notice of Protest); an informal conference with appraisal-district staff often precedes the formal hearing. An independent Appraisal Review Board (ARB) then hears evidence from both sides — in person, by phone, by videoconference, or by written affidavit. If the ARB's ruling doesn't resolve it, options include binding arbitration (any homestead, or non-homestead property valued at $5 million or less; file within 60 days, with a deposit scaled to the property), SOAH (State Office of Administrative Hearings — only for properties valued over $1 million), or district court (petition within 60 days; generally requires prepaying the undisputed portion of taxes first).
The structural mechanics in Sections 1 through 4 are set by state law and don't change often, though the exact homestead-exemption dollar figure in Section 2 has changed twice in the past two years via statewide constitutional amendment and is exactly the kind of number worth double-checking before relying on it. The rate table in Section 5 reflects each county's most recently adopted rate as of September 2026 and will drift as new budgets are adopted — we've deliberately flagged what we couldn't independently confirm (Hays, Bastrop, and Caldwell reappraisal cadence; any combined-rate figure) rather than guess. If you spot something on this page that's changed, or notice a broken link, we'd like to know — see our contact information.