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Property taxes in the Rio Grande Valley

The deadlines, exemptions and protest steps that apply across Texas, and the 2026 tax rates published for taxing units in Hidalgo and Cameron counties, each linked to its official source.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rates, dates and amounts come from the official sources linked on this page, last checked October 25, 2026. Your bill depends on your property’s value, your exemptions and the taxing units where it sits. Confirm with your appraisal district or county tax office.

County rates and offices

Starr and Willacy counties are not covered yet.

Key dates

The statewide rules. Your appraisal district or tax office may post the exact dates for the year.

Before May 1
Apply for a homestead exemption, and most other exemptions, with your county’s appraisal district. If you miss it, you can still apply late for a homestead exemption up to two years after the date the taxes on that home become delinquent.
Tax Code §11.43(d), §11.431(a) · Comptroller: exemptions · Tax Code ch. 11
By April 1 for homesteads, May 1 for other property, or as soon as practicable after
The appraisal district sends a notice of appraised value if your value went up from last year or above the value you reported, if the property is new to the appraisal roll, or if an exemption was canceled or reduced. The notice explains how to protest.
Tax Code §25.19(a) · Comptroller: protests and appeals · Tax Code ch. 25
May 15, or 30 days after your notice was mailed, whichever is later
File a written notice of protest with the appraisal review board (ARB). The statute counts the 30 days from delivery, but a notice sent by first-class mail is presumed delivered on the day it is mailed, and the Comptroller’s protest procedures count from the mailing date, so the safe course is to count from the mailing date. A deadline that falls on a weekend or legal holiday moves to the next business day.
Tax Code §41.44(a)(1), §1.07(c), §1.06; Comptroller Form 50-195 · Tax Code ch. 41 · Tax Code ch. 1 · Form 50-195 · Comptroller: protests and appeals
October 1, or as soon as practicable after
Tax offices mail the tax bills. Taxes are due when you receive the bill. If no bill has arrived by mid-January, contact your tax office: not receiving a bill does not change the deadline.
Tax Code §31.01(a), (g), §31.02(a) · Comptroller: tax bills · Comptroller: paying your taxes · Tax Code ch. 31
Before February 1
Taxes are delinquent if they are not paid before February 1, so January 31 is usually the last day to pay without penalty or interest. When that day falls on a weekend, a legal holiday or a day the tax office is closed, a payment made on the next business day is on time. For the 2026 bills, January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so a payment made on Monday, February 1, 2027 is on time. Paying before the weekend avoids any doubt.
Tax Code §31.02(a), §1.06 · Comptroller: paying your taxes · Tax Code ch. 31 · Tax Code ch. 1
If your bill was mailed after January 10
The delinquency date generally moves to the first day of the next month that leaves you at least 21 days to pay.
Tax Code §31.04(a) · Comptroller: paying your taxes · Tax Code ch. 31
Once taxes are delinquent
For taxes that become delinquent in February, the penalty is 6% in February and goes up one percentage point a month, to 10% in June, then becomes 12% on July 1. Interest adds 1% a month from the start, with no limit. A later delinquency date, after a bill mailed after January 10, starts the penalty later. If the taxes are still unpaid on July 1, a taxing unit that has hired an attorney to collect them can add another penalty of up to 20% of the tax, penalty and interest to cover the attorney’s fee.
Tax Code §33.01(a), (c), §33.07(a), §6.30(c) · Comptroller: paying your taxes · Tax Code ch. 33 · Tax Code ch. 6
If you are 65 or older, disabled, or a disabled veteran
With the over-65, disability or disabled-veteran exemption on your homestead, you can pay its taxes in four equal installments without penalty or interest, if you pay the first one before the delinquency date and tell the tax office you will pay the rest in installments. With a February 1 delinquency date, the other three are due before April 1, June 1 and August 1.
Tax Code §31.031 · Tax Code ch. 31

Exemptions

An exemption removes part or all of a property’s value from taxation. The amounts below are as the Texas Comptroller states them; apply with your appraisal district.

Residence homestead

School districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead’s value. Any taxing unit may add a local option of up to 20% of the value, which cannot be less than $5,000, and counties that collect farm-to-market or flood control taxes must exempt $3,000.

Tax Code §11.13(a), (b), (n) · Comptroller: exemptions · Tax Code ch. 11

65 or older, or disabled

School districts exempt $60,000 more. Any taxing unit may offer its own exemption, which cannot be less than $3,000. Disabled means meeting the Social Security definition for disability insurance benefits. If you qualify for both, you can receive the age and the disability exemption in the same year, but not from the same taxing unit.

Tax Code §11.13(c), (d), (h), (m) · Comptroller: exemptions · Tax Code ch. 11

School tax ceiling

Once you qualify for the over-65 or disability exemption, the school district cannot raise the tax on your homestead above the amount in the first year you qualified, except for tax on improvements other than repairs, such as an addition. The ceiling carries over to a surviving spouse who was 55 or older when the spouse died, if the home was the surviving spouse’s homestead on that date and remains so. Counties, cities and junior college districts may adopt a ceiling of their own.

Tax Code §11.26(a), (b), (i), §11.261 · Comptroller publication 96-1740 · Tax Code ch. 11

Disabled veterans

An exemption from one property’s value, by disability rating: up to $5,000 at 10 to 29%, $7,500 at 30 to 49%, $10,000 at 50 to 69% and $12,000 at 70 to 100%. The exemption is also up to $12,000 for a veteran who is 65 or older with a rating of at least 10%, is totally blind in one or both eyes, or has lost the use of one or more limbs. A veteran awarded 100% disability compensation, with a 100% rating or individual unemployability, owes no property tax on the homestead. Some surviving spouses qualify too.

Tax Code §11.22(a), (b), §11.131 · Comptroller: disabled veterans · Comptroller: 100% disabled veterans · Comptroller: exemptions · Tax Code ch. 11

How to apply

File Form 50-114 with your county’s appraisal district before May 1. The same form covers the 100% disabled veteran exemption on a homestead; the exemption by disability rating uses Form 50-135. Once approved, a homestead exemption generally stays in place until the home changes hands or you no longer qualify, though the appraisal district can ask you to apply again.

Tax Code §11.43(c), (d) · Form 50-114 · Comptroller: exemptions · Tax Code ch. 11 · Comptroller: disabled veterans

How a bill adds up: an example

Each taxing unit figures its own tax. It starts from your property’s appraised value, subtracts the exemptions it gives you, and charges its rate on each $100 of what is left. Your total tax is those amounts added together.

Take a home inside the Edinburg city limits, in the Edinburg CISD school district, appraised at $200,000, with a homestead exemption and an owner under 65. With the 2026 rates on our Hidalgo County page:

  1. Edinburg CISD: $200,000 minus the $140,000 school homestead exemption leaves $60,000. At $0.85560 per $100, the tax is $513.36.
  2. Hidalgo County: $200,000, before any homestead exemption the county gives. At $0.56910 per $100, the tax is $1,138.20.
  3. City of Edinburg: $200,000, before any homestead exemption the city gives. At $0.63000 per $100, the tax is $1,260.00.

Total for these taxing units: $2,911.56.

The Comptroller’s latest study of school district values, for 2025, shows no local option homestead exemption at Edinburg CISD, only the one the state requires. Without a homestead exemption, as on a rental, the district’s tax on this home would be $1,711.20, so the exemption saves $1,197.84. With the over-65 or disability exemption, the district exempts $60,000 more, $200,000 in all, so this home would owe no school tax.

A county or city may give its own homestead exemption, which would lower its line; the rules are under Exemptions above. Other units, such as South Texas College or a drainage district, add their own tax where they cover the property.

Your tax bill, or a statement sent with it, shows for each taxing unit the value, any exemption and the tax. To add up the published rates for your own city and school district, use the tool on the Hidalgo County or Cameron County page.

Tax Code §11.13(b), (c), §31.01(c) · Comptroller: Edinburg CISD, 2025 study · deduction detail · Tax Code ch. 11 · Tax Code ch. 31 · 2026 Tax Rate Schedule (Hidalgo County Tax Office)

How to protest your value

You can protest your value, or other decisions about your property, to your county’s appraisal review board (ARB), an independent board of local residents.

  1. Read your notice of appraised value, or look up your property on the appraisal district’s website.
    Comptroller: protests and appeals
  2. File a notice of protest with the ARB by the deadline. You can use Form 50-132, or any written notice that identifies the property, the owner and what you disagree with.
    Tax Code §41.44 · Comptroller: protests and appeals · Form 50-132
  3. You may ask for an informal meeting with the appraisal district to try to settle the protest before the hearing.
    Comptroller: protests and appeals · Form 50-195
  4. Go to your ARB hearing. You get written notice at least 15 days ahead. You can appear in person, by phone or video, or by sending a sworn written statement. Bring your evidence, such as photos, repair estimates and sales of similar properties.
    Comptroller: protests and appeals · Form 50-195
  5. The ARB sends you its decision in a written order.
    Comptroller: protests and appeals
  6. If you disagree with the order, you can appeal to state district court within 60 days after you receive it. If the dispute is over your property’s value or unequal appraisal, you may instead ask for regular binding arbitration within 60 days after you receive the order, if the property is your homestead or is valued at $5 million or less (a deposit applies), or appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings within 30 days after you receive it, if the order sets the value above $1 million and the property is not industrial property (a $1,500 deposit applies). To appeal, you generally must pay the taxes that are not in dispute before the delinquency date.
    Tax Code §42.21(a), §41A.01, §41A.03(a) · Comptroller: protests and appeals · Tax Code ch. 42 · Tax Code ch. 41A · Form 50-195

Missed the deadline? The ARB can still hear a late protest if you show good cause, but not after it approves the appraisal records for the year.
Form 50-195 · Comptroller: protests and appeals

Where to go

Hidalgo County Appraisal District

Appraisal district (values, exemptions, protests)

4405 S Professional Drive
Edinburg, TX 78539

Phone: (956) 381-8466 · Email: cs@hidalgoad.org

Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Website · Property search · Online portal (protests and exemptions)

Source: appraisal district site · appraisal district contact page

Hidalgo County Tax Assessor-Collector

Tax office (bills and payments)

Administration Bldg
2804 S Business Hwy 281
Edinburg, TX 78539

Phone: (956) 318-2157

Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Other locations:

  • San Juan: 509 E Earling Rd
  • Alamo: 1429 S Tower Rd (Mondays and Tuesdays)
  • Elsa: 708 Edinburg Ave., Ste. B
  • Weslaco: 1900 Joe Stevens Ave., Ste. B
  • Mission: 722 N Breyfogle
  • Pharr: 300 W Hall Acres
  • McAllen: 300 East Hackberry Ave., Ste. 3

Look up and pay your bill · Office locations

Source: county tax office contact page · county online payment page

City of McAllen Tax Office

City tax office

McAllen city taxes are billed and collected by the city, not the county.

311 N. 15th Street
McAllen, TX 78501

Phone: (956) 681-1330

Hours: Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Pay city taxes · City tax office

Source: City of McAllen tax office page

Cameron Appraisal District

Appraisal district (values, exemptions, protests)

2021 Amistad Drive
P.O. Box 1010
San Benito, Texas 78586

Phone: (956) 399-9322, (956) 541-3365, (956) 428-8020

Hours: Monday to Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Website · Property search · Online portal

Source: appraisal district contact page · appraisal district site

Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector

Tax office (bills and payments)

835 E. Levee St., 1st floor
Brownsville, TX 78520

Phone: (956) 544-0800

Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Other locations:

  • Brownsville Motor Bank: 8th and Levee
  • Brownsville Southmost: 3000 Southmost Blvd.
  • Harlingen: 3302 Wilson Rd.
  • Harlingen Motor Bank: 300 E. Van Buren St.
  • San Benito: 1390 W. Expressway 83
  • San Benito Motor Bank: 199 S Sam Houston
  • La Feria: 200 Industrial Way
  • Rio Hondo: 125 W. Colorado (Monday and Tuesday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)
  • Port Isabel: 505 Hwy 100
  • Los Fresnos: 745 W. Ocean Boulevard

Look up and pay your bill · Office locations

Source: county tax office locations · county tax office page

Sources