What Harris County’s new tax rate adds to your bill
The county, flood control, hospital district, and port together moved from $0.6241 to $0.6715 per $100. See the difference on your home.
Harris County commissioners voted 3–1 on Sept. 17, 2026, to raise the rates they control. County Judge Lina Hidalgo walked out before the final vote. Commissioners Rodney Ellis, Lesley Briones, and Adrian Garcia voted yes. Commissioner Tom Ramsey voted no. The court then adopted a budget of nearly $3.1 billion.
The figure that matters on a tax bill is not one rate. It is four: Harris County, the Flood Control District, the Hospital District, and the Port of Houston. ABC13 reported that those four together climb from $0.6241 to $0.6715 per $100 of value. That is 4.74 cents, a bit under 8% higher than last year’s combined rate.
The calculator below uses that combined change. It is still not your whole tax bill. Houston ISD or any other school district, the City of Houston, and every management district set rates of their own. Those are usually the larger lines.
What a $400,000 home looks like
The budget office told ABC13 that the average homestead appraisal is about $400,000, and that those owners would pay $188 more a year. A $300,000 home was put at $142 more. Those illustrations apply the rate change to the full appraised value, with no exemption taken off.
Run the published rates on $400,000 and the difference is $189.60 a year. On $300,000 it is $142.20. The newsroom figures are that math, rounded.
On a home appraised at $400,000.00, last year’s rate produces $2,496.40. This year’s rate produces $2,686.00. The difference is $189.60 a year, or about $15.80 a month. No homestead exemption is subtracted in this example, so the taxable value is the full $400,000.00.
The Harris Central Appraisal District says the county grants a 20% optional homestead exemption. On a $100,000 home, that takes $20,000 off the value the county taxes. The school district’s $140,000 homestead exemption is separate, and it does not reduce the county, flood, hospital, or port lines.
Check the box in the calculator to apply 20% to the combined rate. On a $400,000 home, that drops the taxable value to $320,000 and the combined increase to $151.68 a year. Use it when your notice shows that exemption on these entities. Turn it off to match the budget office’s full-value examples. Flood control, the hospital district, and the port are separate taxing units. If one of them does not grant the same 20%, your statement will land between the two results.
What commissioners said they were buying
Ramsey argued this was the wrong year, with affordability already the complaint he hears. Garcia called it a painful vote and said the alternative was cutting essential services. Hidalgo had objected to last year’s deputy-pay decision, which she said added more than $100 million, and she did not stay for the rate vote. The majority blamed unfunded mandates from Austin and said the higher rate avoided layoffs this year. Budget officials also told ABC13 the county is leaning on one-time money, including property sales, and that layoffs could be back in the conversation next year.
What this calculator leaves out
Over-65 and disabled homeowners can receive an extra school exemption and a school-tax ceiling. Cities and the county may offer their own senior exemptions. None of that is in the math below. A homestead cap limits how fast appraised value can rise. It does not freeze the tax rate. If your appraisal went up, enter this year’s appraised value. The comparison holds last year’s value flat so you can see the rate vote by itself.
Sources: ABC13, Sept. 18, 2026 (combined rate $0.6241 to $0.6715, the 3–1 vote, the $400,000 and $300,000 examples, and the nearly $3.1 billion budget) and HCAD’s homestead exemption guide (the county’s 20% optional exemption and the $140,000 school exemption).
