Austin property taxes in 2026: the rates, the homestead exemption and a $560,000 example

How are Austin property taxes calculated?

Austin property taxes are local by design. The Texas Comptroller's property tax basics page states that “Texas has no state property tax,” and it names the four players a buyer will meet: “Appraisal districts, administered by a chief appraiser, appraise your property's value as of Jan. 1 each year”; appraisal review boards “hear disagreements between property owners and the appraisal district about a property's taxability and value”; and “The governing body of each of these local governments determines the amount of property taxes it wants to raise and sets its tax rate.” In Austin those roles belong to the Travis Central Appraisal District, the Travis Appraisal Review Board and each unit's board or council, with the Travis County Tax Office collecting the bill around October 1.

The arithmetic is one line, printed on Travis County's September 4, 2026 hearing notice: “Property tax amount = (tax rate) x (taxable value of your property) / 100.” Three numbers drive it: the market value TCAD assigns as of January 1, the taxable value left after exemptions, and each unit's rate per $100. A home inside the Austin city limits in Travis County typically pays five units: the City of Austin, Travis County, a school district (Austin ISD for most central neighborhoods), Austin Community College and Central Health, the county's hospital district. The units for any address are listed on its TCAD record, and the property research desk shows where to pull it.

The calendar runs a full year. Per the Comptroller, appraisal districts value property as of January 1, notices go out in April and May, “Around May 15, the ARB begins hearing protests from property owners,” rates are adopted in August and September, bills are issued around October 1, payment is due January 31, and penalty and interest begin February 1. The Travis County Tax Office adds a September 29 “Deadline for government entities to vote on and adopt a tax rate for the current year,” which is why the last 2026 rates land in the same weeks as fall listings.

Sources: Texas Comptroller ↗ · Travis County ↗ · Travis County Tax Office ↗

What are the 2026 property tax rates in Austin by taxing unit?

The City of Austin's rate is $0.579948 per $100 of assessed valuation for fiscal year 2026-27, adopted with a $6.6 billion budget, according to the City's August 12, 2026 release. The City estimates the property tax change for its “typical tax-and-ratepayer” at $9.48 a month, or $113.76 a year, alongside $14.34 a month more in “Austin's rates and fees, including electricity, trash service, water, drainage, and the clean community fee,” for a combined $23.82 a month. The Travis County Tax Office rate table lists the City's 2025 rate at $0.524017, so the 2026 rate is $0.055931 per $100 higher, a computed 10.7%.

Travis County's August 5, 2026 notice gave a no-new-revenue rate of $0.378179 and a voter-approval rate of $0.386210, and its September 4 hearing notice proposed the full $0.386210, an “Increase of $0.010365 per $100, or 2.8%” over the 2025 rate of $0.375845. The same notice reports the average homestead's taxable value falling from $515,213 to $502,989, so the county tax on that average home moves only from $1,936.40 to $1,942.59, an “Increase of $6.19, or 0.3%.” The county's August 5 notice page carries the statutory line that “TRAVIS COUNTY ADOPTED A TAX RATE THAT WILL RAISE MORE TAXES FOR MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS THAN LAST YEAR'S TAX RATE,” and the tax office table dated September 25, 2026 records $0.386210 as the 2026 rate.

Central Health, the Travis County Healthcare District, proposed $0.135195 against a no-new-revenue rate of $0.118633 for its September 9, 2026 vote; its September 10 release describes a budget of “nearly $650 million,” $127.5 million for mental health, crisis and recovery care, and an increase of “approximately $36” a year for a homestead valued at $372,638. The tax office table records the district's adopted 2026 rate at $0.132863, up from $0.118023. Austin Community College's 2026 rate is $0.103643, against $0.1034 in 2025. Austin ISD is the open line: the table shows no adopted 2026 rate as of September 25, only a no-new-revenue rate of $0.9452 and a voter-approval rate of $0.9213, with the 2025 rate at $0.9252. The county page says “All rates should be posted by October 3rd.”

Sources: City of Austin ↗ · Travis County ↗ · Travis County Tax Office ↗ · Central Health ↗

How much is the Austin homestead exemption in 2026?

The Austin homestead exemption is really five exemptions, one per taxing unit, and state law sets the floor. The Comptroller's exemptions page states that “Tax Code Section 11.13(b) requires school districts to provide a $140,000 exemption on a residence homestead,” that “Tax Code Section 11.13(n) allows any taxing unit to adopt a local option residence homestead exemption of up to 20 percent of a property's appraised value,” with a $5,000 minimum, and that “Tax Code Section 11.13(c) requires school districts to provide an additional $60,000 residence homestead exemption” for owners 65 or older or disabled. The Travis Central Appraisal District's 2026 exemption listing, dated July 19, 2026, shows what each Austin unit has adopted: the City of Austin, Travis County and Central Health each exempt 20% of value with a $5,000 minimum, Austin Community College exempts 1% with a $5,000 minimum, and Austin ISD applies the $140,000 state amount.

Qualifying is procedural. TCAD's homestead page says the general exemption “is available to taxpayers who own and reside at a property as of January 1st of the year,” and applicants must submit “a driver's license or state-issued personal ID certificate that has the same address as the property.” The Comptroller's application, Form 50-114 (revised February 2026), says the completed application “is due no later than April 30 of the year for which you are requesting the exemption,” that “You may file a late application for a residence homestead exemption, including age 65 or older or disabled, up to two years after the filing deadline,” and that once granted the owner “does not need to reapply annually” unless the chief appraiser requires it.

A buyer who closes after January 1 is not shut out for the year. The Comptroller's homestead guidance says such an owner “may receive the residence homestead exemption for the applicable portion of that tax year immediately on qualification for the exemption if the preceding owner did not receive the same exemption for that tax year.” TCAD takes applications online and staffs an Exemption Helpline at (512) 873-1560.

The age 65 and disability exemptions are larger and come with a ceiling. TCAD's 2026 listing shows an over-65 exemption of $204,000 from the City of Austin, $145,269 from Travis County, $197,000 from Central Health, $75,000 from Austin Community College and, at Austin ISD, the $60,000 state amount plus $25,000 local; the disabled-person amounts match except at Austin ISD, where the local addition is $15,000. TCAD explains that the over-65 exemption “limits the amount of school taxes you will pay every year by establishing a tax ceiling, also known as a tax freeze,” which holds “as long as you do not add any improvements such as a garage or pool to your home.” Our comparison of Tarrytown and Clarksville applies the same five units to two central neighborhoods.

Sources: Texas Comptroller ↗ · Travis Central Appraisal District ↗

How much are property taxes on a $560,000 Austin home?

Unlock MLS's August 2026 Central Texas Housing Report, released September 15, 2026, puts the City of Austin median sale price at $560,000, the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metro median at $412,000 and the Travis County median at $489,000. The table below runs the city median through the five units above with a general homestead exemption, using the 2026 rates for the City, Travis County, Central Health and Austin Community College and Austin ISD's 2025 rate because its 2026 rate was not yet posted. Every figure in it is our computation from the sourced rates and exemptions, not a bill; TCAD sets the appraised value, and it is not the sale price.

The total comes to about $9,384 a year, or $782 a month, on a homestead, against about $11,916 a year with no homestead exemption at all, the position of an investor, a second-home owner, or a buyer in the months before the exemption is granted. The homestead exemption is worth a computed $2,532 a year on this house. For scale, Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.03% for the week of September 24, 2026; with 20% down, the $448,000 loan on a $560,000 purchase carries a computed principal-and-interest payment of about $2,990 a month, so property taxes add roughly 21% to a $3,772 monthly total before insurance. The payment estimator on the homes page lets you run a real asking price with the parcel's own numbers.

The same five units at the metro median of $412,000 compute to about $6,561 a year, and at the Travis County median of $489,000 to about $8,030, but those figures only hold for a home inside the Austin city limits and Austin ISD; a house in Pflugerville, Round Rock or Hays County pays different units at different rates, and the county medians mix them all. Our September 2026 market post runs the principal-and-interest side of the payment for each county in the release.

Sources: Unlock MLS ↗ · Travis County Tax Office ↗ · Travis Central Appraisal District ↗ · Freddie Mac ↗ · Texas Comptroller ↗

Why the seller's tax bill is not your bill: the 10% homestead cap

The seller's last bill describes the seller's ownership, not yours, because Texas caps the annual growth of a homestead's appraised value. The Comptroller's valuing-property page explains that a qualifying homestead's appraised value cannot rise by more than the lesser of its market value or “10 percent of the property's appraised value for the preceding year” plus that prior value and the value of any new improvements, and that new improvements exclude “repairs to or ordinary maintenance of an existing structure.” The limitation “takes effect on Jan. 1 of the tax year following the year the property owner qualifies for the homestead exemption” and “expires on Jan. 1 of the tax year following the year the property owner no longer qualifies.”

For a buyer that timing does two things. A house held for fifteen years can carry an appraised value far below its market value, and its owner's bill reflects the capped figure; when it sells, the cap expires with the seller, TCAD appraises the new owner at market value as of the next January 1, and the buyer's own cap does not begin until the year after the buyer qualifies. The bill can rise sharply between the seller's last statement and the buyer's first, with no change in the rates at all. Model the bill at market value with the current rates, as the table above does, and treat the seller's statement as history. Our note on a Bouldin Creek cottage or a new infill house shows the same reset on two houses on one street.

Non-homestead property has a different, temporary limit. The Comptroller's page describes a circuit breaker for non-homestead real property valued at $5,320,000 or less in 2026, under which appraised value cannot increase by more than 20% of the prior year's appraised value plus new improvements, and states that the limitation expires December 31, 2026. A rental or second home gets no homestead exemptions, which is the $11,916 line in the example, and after this year no cap on appraisal growth unless the Legislature extends the circuit breaker.

Sources: Texas Comptroller ↗ · Travis County Tax Office ↗

When are Austin property taxes due, and how do you protest a TCAD value?

The Travis County Tax Office's important-dates page sets the payment calendar: collection begins October 1, January 31 is the “Last day to pay your property taxes without incurring financial penalties and interest charges,” and on February 1 an owner who has not paid or set up a plan is “officially delinquent.” The penalties page lists the schedule: 6% penalty plus 1% interest, 7% in total, in February, rising each month to 12% penalty plus 6% interest, 18%, in July, and to 24% by the following January. A bill postmarked after January 10 “automatically postpones your delinquency date to give you at least 21 days to pay,” and the office's January 28, 2026 release notes that “Most mortgage companies pay property taxes from escrow accounts.” Owners with qualifying homestead exemptions can enroll in an installment option by February 28 and pay quarterly by March 31, May 31 and July 31.

Protests run on TCAD's calendar. TCAD's protest page gives the deadline as “May 15 or 30 days after your Notice is mailed, whichever is later,” and says “All property owners who file a protest will have access to TCAD's evidence packet via the online portal.” After filing and submitting evidence, an owner becomes “eligible to participate in an informal meeting with a TCAD appraiser,” and an owner who declines a settlement offer gets “the opportunity to be heard by the Travis Appraisal Review Board (ARB),” with hearing notices arriving “at least 15 days before the scheduled formal hearing date.” The Comptroller adds that an owner may request “copies of the information the appraisal district will use at the hearing” and, after the board's order, may appeal to district court or binding arbitration within 60 days.

At closing, the year's taxes are split, not skipped. The tax office FAQ says that “In many cases, the new owner receives a credit from the seller and becomes responsible for paying the entire tax bill in full,” and points buyers to their closing documents and title company for the proration. A buyer who closes in the spring should also check whether a protest was filed for the year, since the value on that year's bill is set by that protest, not by the sale.

Sources: Travis County Tax Office ↗ · Travis Central Appraisal District ↗ · Texas Comptroller ↗

What should an Austin buyer do with these numbers?

Start at the parcel. Pull the TCAD record for the address and note three things: the current market value, which exemptions the seller has on file, and the list of taxing units, because a home two streets over can sit in a different school district or a municipal utility district. Then rebuild the bill at market value with the 2026 rates in the table above, using Austin ISD's 2025 rate until its 2026 rate posts, and put that figure, not the seller's last statement, into the monthly budget beside principal, interest, insurance and any association dues. The payment estimator on the homes page holds all of those lines for a real listing.

After closing, file the homestead application with TCAD as soon as your driver's license shows the new address, before April 30 of the following year, and calendar January 31 for the first full bill. Sellers have their own version of the list: the 2026 notice of appraised value, any protest on file, the exemption status a buyer will ask about, and the escrow proration at closing. Our condo documents guide covers the association charges that sit on top of the tax bill for a unit.

None of this says what any home is worth, or where rates go after this year; the City, the county and the school district each adopt a new rate every fall. If you want the arithmetic run for a specific address, with its actual taxing units, exemptions and 2026 rates, bring the address to David and he can pull the TCAD record and the comparable closed sales alongside it.

Sources: Travis Central Appraisal District ↗ · Texas Comptroller ↗ · Travis County Tax Office ↗