Texas taxes and pay, right now.

Income tax

Texas does not tax wages, salaries or retirement income at the state level, and the state constitution bars a personal income tax (Art. 8, Sec. 24-a, added when 74% of voters approved Prop 4 on Nov 5, 2019). In November 2025 voters went further and added bans on a capital gains tax (Prop 2), on taxes on certain securities transactions (Prop 6) and on inheritance taxes (Prop 8) (National Law Review, Nov 13, 2025).

Counting every state and local tax, Texas’s burden is low: 8.6% of income, 6th lowest, against 13.5% in California, 12.9% in Illinois and 15.9% in New York. Older data Those Tax Foundation figures are for calendar year 2022, and we found no newer edition as of Oct 31, 2026.

Sales tax

Grocery food products are not taxable (Comptroller Pub. 96-280). Over-the-counter medicines with a Drug Facts label are exempt, and so are drugs that a doctor must prescribe or dispense (Comptroller Pub. 94-155). Ready-to-eat food is generally taxed, even to go (Pub. 94-117).

Sales tax holidays

The 2026 back-to-school holiday ran Aug 7 to 9, 2026 and covered clothing, shoes, school supplies and backpacks priced under $100. The Comptroller estimated shoppers saved $142.5 million in state and local tax. Texas also runs holidays for emergency preparation supplies, ENERGY STAR appliances and water-efficient products; we will post the 2027 dates once the Comptroller confirms them.

Property tax

Your property tax bill is the sum of rates set by your county, city, school district and any special districts (hospital, college, flood control, MUD), applied to your appraised value minus exemptions. That is why it varies so much by address. Statewide, WalletHub estimates the average effective rate at 1.49%, with a median bill of $4,232 on a median home value of $283,800 (reported Feb 17, 2026).

The homestead exemption only reduces school district taxes. City, county and special-district taxes still apply to the full value unless those bodies offer their own optional exemptions. Other Nov 2025 amendments added exemptions for surviving spouses of veterans who died of service-connected conditions (Prop 7), homes destroyed by fire (Prop 10) and border-security infrastructure (Prop 17) (NLR). The Comptroller confirms the $140,000 and extra $60,000 school exemptions, and appraisal districts are applying the $125,000 business personal property exemption automatically from Jan 1, 2026 (Dallas CAD).

Local rates we have confirmed

• Houston: Harris County $0.41750 per $100 for 2026 (FOX 26), plus city, flood control, hospital and school rates.
• Dallas: Dallas County $0.248650 for 2026, subject to the Nov 3, 2026 election (Dallas County).
• Fort Worth: city rate $0.705650 for FY2027, adopted Sep 15, 2026 (City of Fort Worth).
• Austin: city rate $0.579948 for FY2026-27 (City of Austin).
• San Antonio: city rate $0.56288 for FY2027 (City of San Antonio).

Vehicle taxes and fees

Safety inspections ended for personal vehicles on Jan 1, 2025. Emissions testing still applies in 17 counties around Houston, DFW, Austin and El Paso, and Bexar County joins on Nov 1, 2026 (DPS, TxDMV). If your previous state charged sales tax, TxDMV says the new-resident amount can instead be the difference between that and Texas’s rate.

Pay

Out-of-date numbers you’ll still find online

How we check

Tax figures come from the Comptroller, TxDMV, DPS and local governments wherever possible. Where we relied on a news report or a secondary summary, the source column says so. Read the full methodology.