Property taxes, MUDs, PIDs and HOAs: what is actually on a North Texas bill

1. The rate is a stack of separate governments

Texas has no state property tax. What you pay is the sum of the rates adopted independently each August and September by every taxing unit whose boundary contains your parcel. In this region that is typically:

• The school district - almost always the largest line, usually 55% to 70% of the whole bill. It is also the unit that most often does not match the city name: Sachse and Murphy homes can be Wylie ISD or Plano ISD, and part of Celina is Prosper ISD.
• The city - the line people assume dominates, and the one they can most easily compare. It is rarely more than a quarter of the bill.
• The county - and in some counties a community college district and a hospital district as well.

2. An owner-occupant does not pay the posted rate

If the home is your principal residence and you file for a residence homestead exemption, part of the value comes off before the rate is applied - but it comes off per taxing unit, against that unit's own rate, and each unit decides for itself.

• School districts must exempt $140,000 of value. This is statutory, statewide, and by far the largest piece for most owners.
• Cities, counties and college districts may adopt up to 20% of appraised value, with a $5,000 floor - and many adopt nothing. Among the cities on this site, Plano and Frisco adopt the full 20%, Prosper 17.5%, Lucas 8%, Melissa 6%, Anna 3%, Lavon and Rowlett 1%, and McKinney, Richardson, Celina, Princeton, Farmersville, Fairview, Murphy, Sachse and Wylie adopt no general exemption at all. Assuming 20% because it is the legal maximum overstates the discount roughly sevenfold in Anna, and entirely in McKinney.
• Year one is not capped. The 10% annual cap on appraised value starts on 1 January of the year afteryou first qualify. Your first bill is at full market value, in the same year the sale resets an appraisal the previous owner's cap had been holding down - which is why so many buyers get a jump they were told could not happen.

Each city guide on this site works this out line by line for that city's actual units. Owners over 65 or with a disability qualify for more, and those interact with tax ceilings in ways worth asking about rather than estimating.

3. MUDs, MMDs, WCIDs and FWSDs: the extra taxing units

When a developer builds roads, water and drainage ahead of a city extending them, the financing often runs through a special district that levies its own rate to repay the bonds. These are real taxing units: they appear on the tax bill, they show up on the appraisal district record, and they are not included in any city-level rate you will read. Their boundaries follow the subdivision, so two houses a mile apart in the same city can differ by a full percentage point.

At the top of that range a district adds 1.20 per $100 - on a $500,000 home, $6,000 a year, on top of everything else. And these districts generally adopt no general homestead exemption, so unlike the city and county lines, that rate applies to your full appraised value.

A MUD is not automatically a bad deal. It is how a community got built at all, its rate typically steps down as the bonds amortise and the tax base grows, and the alternative was often the house not existing. What is unreasonable is finding out about it after closing.

5. An HOA is not a tax, and that changes what it means

HOA dues are a private contract with the neighbourhood association. They are not on the tax bill, not collected by the county, not deductible as property tax, and not touched by any exemption. They also do not replace any of the above - a master-planned community can carry an HOA, a MUD and a PID simultaneously, and that combination is where budgets break.

Ask in writing for the dues and their frequency, the transfer and resale certificate fees, the reserve study, the current balance of the reserve fund, and any assessment already approved or under discussion. An association with thin reserves and ageing amenities is a special assessment waiting to happen, and that is not visible in the monthly figure.

Combined adopted rates, 30 North Texas cities

The 2025 combined ad valorem rate for each city on this site - school district plus city plus county plus any college and hospital district. This is the number before your homestead exemption and before any special district on your parcel, so treat it as the floor rather than the answer.

Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, 2025 Reports of Property Value - the statutory rate filings from every appraisal district (city, school district, county and special district workbooks). Taxing units adopt in late August and September, so 2026 rates will differ. Several cities span county lines; the county named is the one whose rate table this stack was reconciled against.

Before your option period ends

1. 1Pull the appraisal district record for the exact address and read every jurisdiction listed on it. A MUD, MMD, WCID or FWSD will be there as its own taxing unit.
2. 2Ask the title company and the seller's disclosure for any PID assessment: annual amount, remaining term, and payoff figure. It will not be on the appraisal record.
3. 3Get the HOA documents: dues, transfer and resale fees, reserve study, and any approved or proposed special assessment.
4. 4Confirm the school district for the address with the district itself, not with the listing. In this market the city name is not the answer.
5. 5Budget from the un-exempted first-year bill. Your homestead exemption and the 10% cap both start later than most buyers assume.

Common questions