Same house, different city: what property tax really costs around Houston

Why the rate is not the bill

A Texas property tax bill stacks several taxing bodies: the city, the school district, the county, and county-wide districts such as flood control, the hospital district and the community college. Add their rates and you get the combined rate per $100 of taxable value. Then exemptions lower the taxable value before the rates apply, and each body sets its own.

So two numbers matter: the combined rate, and the value of the house it is applied to. Baytown is high on the first and low on the second.

How we compared

For each city, we added the tax year 2025 adopted rates a typical homestead inside the city pays, using county tax office tables and appraisal district rate sheets. We then estimated the bill two ways: on the same $250,000 home in every city, and on each city's own median home value from the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey. Both estimates apply the state's $140,000 school homestead exemption and the local homestead exemptions the appraisal districts list. They leave out over-65 and disability exemptions, value caps, municipal utility districts and emergency service districts, which vary by street.

The rates

Combined 2025 rate per $100 of value, highest first:

• Deer Park: $2.64.
• Baytown: $2.58.
• La Porte: $2.56.
• Pasadena: $2.42.
• Pearland: $2.34.
• Mont Belvieu: $2.26.
• Friendswood: $2.13.
• Houston: $2.13.
• Bellaire: $2.02.
• League City: $1.92.

Baytown's stack: Goose Creek CISD $1.07, the city $0.69803, Harris County and its districts about $0.63, and Lee College about $0.19.

Baytown is high on the rate and low on the value of the house it is applied to.

The same $250,000 house

On an identical $250,000 homestead, Baytown's estimated bill of about $3,938 is the second highest on the list, behind Pearland's $4,012. Deer Park ($3,737), La Porte ($3,672), Mont Belvieu ($3,605) and Pasadena ($3,599) follow. Friendswood ($3,340) comes next. Houston ($3,028), League City ($2,851) and Bellaire ($2,825) are lowest.

Pearland's combined rate is lower than Baytown's, yet its bill on the same house is higher. The reason is exemptions. In Baytown the city, the county units and Lee College each take 20 percent off a homestead's value, and Goose Creek CISD takes 10 percent, before any rate applies. In Pearland the county units also take 20 percent, but the city takes 2.5 percent and the school district adds nothing beyond the state exemption. The two bills are only $74 apart.

The house people actually own

Most Baytown homeowners do not own a $250,000 house. The Census median value of an owner-occupied Baytown home is $197,300. Baytown is high on the rate and low on the value of the house it is applied to.

Estimated bill on each city's own median home:

• Bellaire: about $15,596 on a median home worth $1,037,500.
• Mont Belvieu: about $6,876 on $411,000.
• Friendswood: about $6,594 on $420,100.
• Pearland: about $6,393 on $356,300.
• League City: about $4,702 on $360,000.
• Deer Park: about $4,048 on $264,600.
• Houston: about $3,502 on $277,800.
• La Porte: about $3,354 on $234,600.
• Baytown: about $2,792 on $197,300.
• Pasadena: about $2,752 on $209,600.

Texas against the rest of the country

Texas has no state income tax, and property tax carries much of the load. In the Census Bureau's 2024 survey, the median Texas homeowner paid $4,108 in real estate taxes on a median home worth $313,200, about 1.31 percent of value (median tax divided by median value). The national median was $3,211 on $360,600, about 0.89 percent.

Some states trade the other way, and some tax both. California's median homeowner paid $5,369 on a $759,500 home, near 0.71 percent, and its top income tax rate is 13.3 percent, which applies to income above $1 million. New Jersey's median was $9,358 on $496,000, with a top income tax rate of 10.75 percent, also above $1 million. Illinois homeowners paid a median $5,399 on $280,700, about 1.92 percent, plus a flat 4.95 percent income tax on everyone. Florida, like Texas, has no income tax, and its median homeowner paid $2,993.

The fair way to judge any place is the whole bill: property tax, income tax, utilities and insurance together. On property tax alone, Texas is expensive. On income tax, it charges nothing at all.

Read the fine print

• Several cities sit in more than one county. We used the stack for the part where most residents live: Harris County for Baytown, Galveston County for League City and Friendswood, Brazoria County for Pearland.
• For League City and Friendswood we included College of the Mainland, and for Pearland, Alvin Community College, based on their service areas. If College of the Mainland does not tax those areas, League City's combined rate falls to about $1.66 and Friendswood's to about $1.87.
• Bellaire and Houston use the Houston ISD part of each city.
• We left out the Trinity Bay Conservation District for Mont Belvieu and the Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District for parts of League City, because we could not confirm which homes they cover. Including them would raise those cities' bills, and Mont Belvieu could pass Baytown on the same $250,000 house.
• Bellaire's median home, about $1 million, makes its bill an outlier on the median list.
• These are estimates for a homestead, not anyone's actual bill. Your appraisal district's notice is the real number.
• 2026 rates are being set now. Baytown's adopted rate stayed at $0.69803; our explainer covers what that means for a Baytown bill.

Before you go

• File your homestead exemption with the appraisal district the first year you can.
• Compare the whole monthly cost of a move, not the tax rate alone.
• Read your appraisal notice each spring and protest the value if it looks high.

See what the city and private builders are putting up, and who pays: Baytown is building.

More Baytown by the numbers: Baytown's sales tax is up 41 percent since 2019. The plants still pay more.; Homes cost less here. Renters feel the same squeeze as everywhere.; Baytown's water bill vs. the neighbors: where $96.10 lands.

Sources

• Harris County Tax Office, Jurisdiction Tax Rates (https://www.hctax.net/Property/JurisdictionTaxRates)
• Harris Central Appraisal District, jurisdiction exemption list (https://public.hcad.org/resources/jurlist.asp)
• Galveston Central Appraisal District, 2025 tax rates (https://galvestoncad.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025_Galveston_Tax_Rates.pdf)
• Brazoria Central Appraisal District, 2025 tax rates (https://brazoriacad.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025-Tax-Rates.pdf)
• Chambers County tax rates, Texas Tax Transparency (https://texastaxtransparency.com/chambers/Search/TaxRates)
• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, tables B25077 and B25103 (https://data.census.gov/)
• Tax Foundation, State Individual Income Tax Rates 2026 (https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates-2026/)

En español

Entre las 10 ciudades del área de Houston que comparamos, Baytown tiene una de las tasas combinadas de impuesto a la propiedad más altas, unos $2.58 por cada $100 de valor. Pero como las casas en Baytown cuestan menos, la factura estimada sobre una casa típica de Baytown, unos $2,792 al año, es la segunda más baja de las 10 ciudades que comparamos. Sobre una misma casa de $250,000, en cambio, Baytown quedaría segunda más cara. Texas cobra más impuesto a la propiedad que la mayoría de los estados, pero no cobra impuesto estatal sobre el ingreso. Estas cifras son estimaciones; el aviso de su distrito de tasación tiene la cifra real.