Travis County property tax 2026: the county adopts $0.386210, and the median homestead's county bill falls $30.64

What did Travis County adopt on September 29, 2026, and what does it change for your property tax?

Travis County property tax for the 2026 tax year is now set. On September 29, 2026 the Commissioners Court adopted the county's fiscal year 2027 budget, which the county's Planning and Budget Office posts alongside a tax rate of $0.386210 per $100 of taxable value. That is the county's voter-approval rate, the highest it can adopt without an election, and it is 2.8% above the 2025 rate of $0.375845, an increase of $0.010365 per $100, according to the county's September 4, 2026 Notice of Public Hearing on Tax Increase. The no-new-revenue rate, the rate that would have raised the same revenue from the same properties as last year, was $0.378179.

The Travis County Tax Office's rate list splits the 2026 rate into $0.339737 for maintenance and operations and $0.046473 for debt service. The county's notice puts the total 2026 levy on all properties at $1,247,649,058, up $21,616,665, or 1.8%, from $1,226,032,393 in 2025. All five members of the Commissioners Court, County Judge Andy Brown and Commissioners Jeffrey W. Travillion Sr., Brigid Shea, Ann Howard and George Morales III, are recorded in that notice as voting for the proposal, and the public hearing was held September 15 at 700 Lavaca Street.

KUT reported on September 29 that the adopted budget totals $2.3 billion, 4% more than the year before, and puts $15 million toward a mental health diversion program, $2 million toward affordable housing for people at risk of homelessness, $3 million toward lawyers for indigent clients and $200,000 toward an Austin-to-San Antonio passenger rail study, while raising the county's disaster reserve from $18 million to $35 million. Austin Current, previewing the vote on September 22, noted a 3% wage increase for county employees. None of that changes how a Travis County bill is calculated: it is still the rate times your taxable value, divided by 100.

Sources: Travis County Planning and Budget ↗ · Travis County ↗ · Travis County Tax Office ↗ · KUT, September 29, 2026 ↗ · Austin Current, September 22, 2026 ↗

Why does the county rate go up while the median Travis County homestead's bill goes down?

Because taxable values fell. Travis County's Fiscal Year 2027 Taxpayer Impact Statement estimates that the average taxable homestead in the county fell 2.37%, from $515,213 to $502,989, and that the median taxable homestead fell 4.71%, from $391,064 to $372,633. At the 2026 rate, the county's portion of the average homestead's bill rises $6.19, from $1,936.40 to $1,942.59, while the median homestead's county bill falls $30.64, from $1,469.79 to $1,439.15. The two move in opposite directions only because the median value fell by more than the rate rose.

Those figures are net of the county's exemptions. Travis County offers a 20% homestead exemption, the maximum state law allows, with a $5,000 minimum according to the Travis Central Appraisal District's 2026 exemption listing, plus $145,269 off for owners 65 and older or disabled. The impact statement's average homestead is assessed at $644,016 and the median at $488,830 before the 20% comes off. TCAD's March 26, 2026 release measures something different, the whole roll rather than the county's certified homesteads, and put the 2026 median market value of a residential homestead at $493,449 and the median taxable value at $384,747; it also said single-family homes lost 1.8% of market value on average.

The county's statement also shows what the no-new-revenue rate would have cost: $1,409.22 on the median homestead instead of $1,439.15, a difference of $29.93 a year. Every example row in the table assumes a 2026 taxable value 2.37% below 2025, the average change, so a home whose value rose, or one that lost its homestead exemption in a sale, will not follow it. And the county line is only about a fifth of a typical Austin bill, which is why a $30 county decrease can sit inside a total that still goes up.

Sources: Travis County ↗ · Travis Central Appraisal District ↗ · Travis Central Appraisal District (Substack), March 26, 2026 ↗

What are all the 2026 Travis County property tax rates on an Austin homestead?

A homestead inside the Austin city limits and Austin ISD pays five taxing units through one bill from the Travis County Tax Office: Travis County, Central Health (the hospital district), the City of Austin, Austin Community College and Austin ISD. Four of the five have adopted 2026 rates on the tax office's rate list as of September 30, 2026. Austin ISD's line is still blank there; the district's Taxpayer Impact Statement lists a proposed 2026 rate of $0.9184 per $100, down from the adopted 2025 rate of $0.9252, and estimates the median homestead's school tax falls from $3,525 to $3,461.

Three of the four adopted rates went up. The Austin City Council adopted $0.579948 on August 12, 2026, up from $0.524017 and the most allowed without an election after the earlier Proposition Q tax rate election failed; Community Impact reported that the city tax on a median homestead of $471,603 rises from $2,074 to about $2,190, more than 8%. Central Health's Board of Managers adopted $0.132863 on September 9, below the $0.135195 in its notice but up from $0.118023; the district says the increase, about $36 a year on the median homestead of $372,638, pays for $54 million of new mental health investment, and the Commissioners Court approved its budget on September 15. ACC's trustees adopted $0.103643 on September 14, barely changed from $0.1034, with a homestead exemption of $5,000 or 1% and a further $75,000 for owners 65 and older or disabled.

Added together with Austin ISD's proposed rate, the five-unit 2026 rate is $2.121064 per $100, up from $2.046485 in 2025, a computed increase of 3.6%. That sum is only a shorthand, because each unit applies different exemptions to the same house, which is why the worked example below runs unit by unit. A home outside the city or in another school district swaps two of the five lines; the table of school district rates further down covers those, and the Austin property tax guide covers exemptions, protests and deadlines.

Sources: Travis County Tax Office ↗ · Austin ISD ↗ · City of Austin Budget and Organizational Excellence ↗ · Community Impact, August 12, 2026 ↗ · Central Health ↗ · Central Health, September 10, 2026 ↗ · KUT, September 14, 2026 (updated September 21) ↗ · Austin Community College, September 16, 2026 ↗

How much is Travis County property tax on a $500,000 Austin home in 2026? A worked example

Take a $500,000 homestead inside Austin and Austin ISD, owned by someone under 65 with a homestead exemption on file. Travis County, the City of Austin and Central Health each take 20% off, so they tax $400,000. ACC's exemption is the greater of $5,000 or 1%, so it taxes $495,000. Austin ISD applies the state's $140,000 school homestead exemption shown in TCAD's 2026 exemption listing and taxes $360,000. Each line is then that unit's rate times its taxable value, divided by 100, which is the formula printed on every Travis County tax notice.

At the 2026 rates the five lines total $8,215.35, or 1.64% of the $500,000 value; at the 2025 rates, with the same exemptions, the same house paid $7,914.09, or 1.58%. That is a computed increase of $301.26, and $3,306.24 of the 2026 total, about 40%, is the school line at Austin ISD's proposed rate. What the example does not do: it holds the value at $500,000 in both years, while TCAD says single-family values fell 1.8% on average; it leaves out the over-65 and disabled exemptions and the school tax ceiling those owners get; and it has no municipal utility district, public improvement district or emergency services district line. The homestead exemption guide covers who qualifies, and the payment estimator on the home search page folds a tax figure into a monthly payment.

Sources: Travis County Tax Office ↗ · Travis Central Appraisal District ↗ · Austin Community College, September 16, 2026 ↗ · Austin ISD ↗ · Travis County ↗

What if the home is in Travis County but outside Austin ISD or the city limits?

Travis County property tax bills differ mostly by school district and city, not by the county line, which is the same $0.386210 everywhere in the county. The Travis County Tax Office's 2026 rate list shows adopted rates for the other school districts that reach into the county, and the spread is wide: Eanes ISD at $0.8254 per $100, Round Rock ISD at $0.9484, Del Valle ISD at $1.0328, Lake Travis ISD at $1.0329, Manor ISD at $1.0755, Pflugerville ISD at $1.1069 and Leander ISD at $1.1169. Del Valle's rate rose from $0.9489 and Round Rock's from $0.8931; Eanes, Lake Travis and Manor edged down; Pflugerville's is unchanged.

Three of those rates sit above the voter-approval rate printed beside them on the same list: Leander ISD's $1.1169 against $1.0869, Round Rock ISD's $0.9484 against $0.8884, and Del Valle ISD's $1.0328 against $0.943125. The Texas Comptroller's Truth-in-Taxation guidance says a school district that adopts a rate above its voter-approval rate must hold a tax rate ratification election, so a buyer in any of those districts should read the district's own notice for the election date and for the rate that applies if voters say no. Cities add their own line: for 2026 the list shows Pflugerville at $0.5436, Round Rock at $0.423, Leander at $0.417282 and Manor at $0.847548. Most of the county's emergency services districts charge $0.10 per $100, and the municipal utility districts with a 2026 rate on the list run from $0.26 to $0.935. The suburb pages for Pflugerville, Round Rock, Leander and Manor list each city's taxing units.

Sources: Travis County Tax Office ↗ · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts ↗

When do Travis County property tax bills go out, and how do you pay?

The Travis County Tax Office's calendar says the property tax collection period for the current year begins October 1. The Texas Comptroller's payment guidance says taxing units start mailing tax bills in October and payment is due on receipt, and the Austin American-Statesman reported in April 2026 that most Travis County homeowners receive their bills in October, once every unit's rate is final and any tax elections are decided. January 31, 2027 is the last day to pay without penalty and interest. On February 1 the account is delinquent, and the Comptroller's schedule adds a 6% penalty plus 1% interest that day, with the penalty growing 1% a month to 12% on July 1 and interest continuing at 1% a month with no maximum.

Owners 65 and older, disabled owners, disabled veterans and their unmarried surviving spouses can pay the homestead bill in four equal installments without penalty or interest. The tax office's installment page says enrollment must happen by January 31 (its calendar shows February 28 as the last day to enroll), and the calendar lists the remaining quarterly deadlines as March 31, May 31 and July 31; a late installment carries a 6% penalty plus 1% interest for each month it stays unpaid. Anyone can prepay next year's taxes into an escrow account with the tax office, including by an automatic bank draft on the 5th of each month, once the prior year's taxes are paid.

The tax office accepts payment by mail, online, electronic funds transfer, drop box, phone and in person. Its calendar adds one more date: pay by December 31 if you want the paid receipt to fall in that tax year for federal income tax purposes. To see a bill before it arrives, look up the address on the tax office's account search, listed in the sources below, which shows every taxing unit on the parcel and the exemptions applied; the property research desk walks through that lookup alongside the TCAD record.

Sources: Travis County Tax Office ↗ · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts ↗ · Austin American-Statesman (via Yahoo News), updated April 8, 2026 ↗

What should an Austin buyer or seller do with the 2026 Travis County tax rates?

A buyer should budget from the 2026 rates and the home's market value, not from the seller's current bill. TCAD says the general homestead exemption goes to a taxpayer who owns and lives at the property on January 1, that a new purchaser may file the application right away and have it applied to the year they qualify, and that exemptions do not simply carry over with a sale; an owner 65 or older keeps a school tax ceiling that a younger buyer will not inherit. So the first year's bill on a house bought from a long-time owner can be higher than the number in the listing, even at the same rates. In the $500,000 example above, the school line alone is $3,306.24 at the proposed rate.

A seller listing this fall will have the 2026 bill in hand by the time most buyers ask. Pull the account statement from the tax office once it posts, confirm the exemptions on it match what the listing claims, and be ready to explain a bill that looks low because of an over-65 ceiling or a value that fell. Buyers comparing districts can use the rate tables here: on $360,000 of school-taxable value, the gap between Eanes ISD at $0.8254 and Leander ISD at $1.1169 is a computed $1,049.40 a year before either district's exemptions.

Property tax is the one housing cost in Austin that changed by a known amount this week, and the September 2026 market post covers the ones that have not settled, mortgage rates and prices. If you want the exact 2026 taxing units, exemptions and rates for one address before you write an offer or set a list price, send the address to David and he will pull the parcel's tax office and TCAD records.

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