Property Taxes in the San Antonio Metro (TX)

1. How Texas property tax works structurally

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. 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 across this metro's four counties are Bexar Central Appraisal District (BCAD) — renamed from "Bexar Appraisal District" effective January 1, 2026 — plus the Comal, Kendall, and Guadalupe Appraisal Districts.

2. Texas's homestead exemption -- now $140,000

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 — the City of San Antonio itself does exactly this, offering an optional local exemption of 20% of appraised value (with a $5,000 minimum) against its own city tax rate, per Bexar County's own official tax rate and exemption table. Confirm any city- or county-specific exemption directly with that taxing unit, since it isn't automatically $140,000 outside the school-district exemption.

3. The 10% appraisal cap

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. Worth knowing locally: BCAD's own adopted 2025-2026 Reappraisal Plan is an annual plan, and it carries forward any value a homeowner successfully protested in 2024 as the basis for 2025 (and again for 2026) "unless there is clear and convincing evidence" to change it or there's new construction — in effect, a successful protest can produce something like a 2-year value hold on top of the 10% cap.

4. MUD taxes: a real added cost in parts of this metro

Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs) are a financing tool used in some fast-growing, often-unincorporated parts of Texas: 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. We found specific, documented MUDs in Kendall County (Kendall County MUD #1 and the Miralomas MUD, both with their own adopted rates, plus two related Water Control & Improvement Districts) and Guadalupe County (Guadalupe MUD No. 4) — we could not confirm a specific named MUD in Bexar or Comal County this pass, though fast-growing unincorporated pockets of either are a plausible place to find one. 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.

5. Representative rates by county

We deliberately don't publish a single "the rate is X" figure — four 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.

Bexar County's FY2026-27 rate was only preliminarily voted (holding near $0.30) as of early September 2026, with a final adoption hearing set for September 15, 2026 — worth a re-check if you're reading this after that date. Sources: Bexar County's FY2025-26 Adopted Budget and its own 2025 Official Tax Rates & Exemptions table; Kendall Appraisal District's own adopted-tax-rates document; Guadalupe County Commissioners Court coverage (Seguin Today, Sept. 3, 2026); Texas Public Radio's Bexar County budget coverage (Sept. 2025 and Sept. 2026); BCAD's own public notice of its 2025-2026 Reappraisal Plan. We found two conflicting secondary-sourced figures for Comal County's 2025 rate and are flagging that explicitly rather than guessing — confirm directly with Comal County or Comal Appraisal District before relying on a number for New Braunfels. County rates above are each county government's own rate only, not the combined bill (which also includes city, school, and any MUD rates).

6. Appealing your assessment

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).

7. How we keep this page current

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 (the Comal County rate conflict; Kendall and Guadalupe's reappraisal cadence; any Bexar- or Comal-specific MUD) 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.