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Report Ranks Texas Near Bottom in U.S. Property Taxes

Photo by  Pepi Stojanovski
Photo by Pepi Stojanovski
A growing median home price and existing high property tax rate could spell burdensome bills for Texans.

A new report from WalletHub puts Texas near the bottom of the list in terms of property taxes and affordability. In fact, the report puts Texas sixth-to-last based on how much residents pay for what they own. 

According to the report, a $185,000 home in Texas would cost a homeowner about $3,500 dollars a year. That’s only about $1,000 less than it would cost in New Jersey, the most expensive state to live in, and about $3,000 more than it would cost in Hawaii, which has the country’s lowest property taxes.

Dr. Stephen Lusch, an associate professor of accounting at Texas Christian University and a contributor to the WalletHub report, says some Texans are getting concerned with the double-digit increases in home values, but that as long as Texas remains healthy, a high property tax rate won’t likely turn anyone off from Texas. He says Texas is attractive in terms of job opportunities, and as long as the state continues to have solid "first-order" priorities like good schools and low crime rates, nothing should change.

"If you start losing some of those kind of first-order benefits," he says, then I think taxes becomes more and more of a factor.

Texas’ property tax rate is 1.84 percent. The median home value is $148,000.

Scott Morgan has been an award-winning journalist since 2001. His work has appeared in several newspapers and magazines as well as online. He has also been an editor, freelancer, speaker, writing teacher, author, and podcaster.