Texas Cities Dominate High Property Tax Rankings

Senate Bill 23 would nearly double the homestead exemption on school district property taxes for homeowners who have a disability or are 65 and older.

Texas is known for relatively high property taxes — driven in part by the absence of a state income tax — but the burden varies widely by city.

More than one in four of the 100 U.S. cities with the highest property tax burden are in Texas, according to a study by personal finance website SmartAsset. The analysis examined 343 cities with populations over 100,000 using 2024 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Edinburg ranked highest among Texas cities at No. 14 nationwide. In that South Texas city, homeowners with a mortgage spend about 5.3% of their income on property taxes, with a median annual bill of $4,366.

Among the state’s biggest cities, Fort Worth ranked highest at No. 24 nationally, followed by El Paso (No. 28) and San Antonio (No. 35).

Austin ranked No. 42, with homeowners paying about 4.7% of income toward property taxes. The median annual property tax bill in Austin is $8,172 — among the highest on the list.

Other major cities include:

• Dallas (No. 40): 4.7% of income
• Arlington (No. 65): 4.4%
• Houston (No. 101): 4.1%
• Corpus Christi (No. 114): 4.0%
• Plano (No. 125): 3.9%
• Lubbock (No. 148): 3.6%

In total, 27 Texas cities ranked among the top 100 for property tax burden.

Behind Edinburg, Georgetown (No. 15), Conroe (No. 16) and Grand Prairie (No. 18) were among the highest-ranked in the state.

Closer to Austin, Round Rock (No. 86) and Georgetown (No. 15) also made the list.

At the lower end, Tyler (2.7%), Amarillo (3.2%) and Abilene (3.2%) had the smallest property tax burdens among Texas cities included in the study.

Nationally, Paterson, N.J. ranked No. 1, with property taxes consuming 9.8% of income.

Several Northeast cities dominated the top of the list, including Bridgeport, Conn. (7.4%) and Waterbury, Conn. (7.1%).