What is the Texas homestead exemption in 2026?

The Texas homestead exemption removes part of your home's value from property taxation. For 2026, school districts must exempt $140,000 of a residence homestead's value, up from $100,000 after voters approved Proposition 13 in November 2025. You must own and occupy the home as your principal residence on January 1.

The number changed, and it changed recently

The mandatory school district residence homestead exemption is $140,000. It was $100,000 before. Texas voters approved Proposition 13 in November 2025, and the Legislature implemented it through SB 4, 89th Legislature, effective for tax year 2026 (Texas Comptroller).

That matters because most of what is written about Texas homestead exemptions online is older than the change. A page that says $100,000, or $40,000, or $25,000 is describing a prior version of the law. As of September 2026, the school district figure is $140,000.

The exemption is not a discount on your tax bill. It is a subtraction from the taxable value the school district uses. On a home appraised at $500,000 with a homestead exemption, the school district taxes $360,000 instead of $500,000. The dollar savings depend on the school district's rate, which is set locally and changes annually.

The exemption is not one exemption — it is a stack

A Texas tax bill is not one tax. It is a separate tax from every taxing unit whose boundaries include your property: the school district, the county, the city if you are inside city limits, and any special districts. Each unit applies its own exemptions.

The pieces, per the Comptroller:

School district: $140,000 mandatory. Every school district in Texas must grant it on a qualifying residence homestead.
Local option, up to 20% of appraised value. Any taxing unit may adopt a percentage exemption of up to 20% of appraised value, with a minimum of $5,000. This one is percentage-based, so it grows with your appraisal.
County farm-to-market or flood control: $3,000. A county that collects a farm-to-market road or flood control tax must give a $3,000 residence homestead exemption.
Age 65 or older, or disabled: an additional $60,000 from the school district, on top of the $140,000. Other taxing units may adopt a local option of at least $3,000.

Whether your city, county or special district actually adopted a local option exemption is a local decision, and the answer differs by jurisdiction. For a Boerne or Kendall County property, the adopted exemptions by taxing unit are published by the Kendall Appraisal District.

Who qualifies

Two conditions, both of them strict:

You owned the property on January 1 of the tax year.
You occupied it as your principal residence on January 1 of the tax year.

(Texas Comptroller)

January 1 is a snapshot date, not a rolling test. A buyer who closes in March does not meet the January 1 test for that year on that property under the general rule, and a seller who moved out in February was still the January 1 owner-occupant. This is a common source of surprise in a first-year tax bill, and it is one of the reasons a newly purchased home's tax bill often looks nothing like the prior owner's.

"Principal residence" means one home. Not a rental, not a second home, not a lot you are holding. One homestead, the one you actually live in.

The deadline

Applications are due before May 1 — commonly stated as April 30 (Texas Comptroller). You file with the appraisal district for the county where the property sits, not with the city, not with the school district, and not with the tax assessor-collector who mails the bill.

For a home in Boerne or anywhere else in Kendall County, that is the Kendall Appraisal District at kendallad.org. Not Bexar CAD. Boerne is the county seat of Kendall County and is not part of the City of San Antonio or Bexar County, and a Boerne homeowner who files with Bexar has filed with the wrong district.

There is no fee to file a homestead exemption application with an appraisal district. Companies that mail official-looking letters offering to file it for you for a fee are selling a service you can do yourself.

What the exemption does besides lower value

Filing a homestead exemption also turns on the 10% appraisal cap. Once a property has a homestead exemption in place, the appraisal district cannot increase its net appraised value by more than 10% per year, no matter what the market does (Texas Comptroller).

In a market that has moved the way the Hill Country has, the cap is often worth more over time than the exemption amount itself. A homeowner who has held a homesteaded property through several years of appreciation can be taxed on a value well below what the home would sell for. That gap disappears when the property sells and the cap resets, which is the single most common reason a new owner's tax bill jumps.

What it does not do

The homestead exemption is a property tax exemption. It is separate from the Texas homestead protection in the Property Code and Constitution, which is a creditor-protection concept, and separate from the Texas home equity rules that limit borrowing against a homestead. People use the word "homestead" for all three. They are different bodies of law, and a Texas real estate attorney is the right person to sort out which one applies to a specific situation.

It also does not freeze your taxes. The exemption reduces value; the taxing units still set their rates every year, and a rate increase can raise your bill even with the exemption in place and the cap holding.

What actually goes wrong

Never filing. The exemption is not automatic. It has to be applied for once, and homeowners who moved several years ago and assumed it followed them are a recurring find.
Filing with the wrong district. County lines, not mailing addresses, decide which appraisal district you file with.
Losing it in a transfer. Moving a home into a trust or an LLC, adding or removing an owner, or a death in the family can affect exemption status. The appraisal district decides whether the exemption survives the change, and that question should go to them and to a Texas real estate attorney before the deed is signed, not after.
Assuming the prior owner's tax bill is yours. It reflects their exemptions and their capped value, neither of which transfers to you.

Whether a specific property and a specific owner qualify, and what a given exemption is worth on a given bill, is determined by the appraisal district that appraises the property. For the tax consequences of an ownership change, talk to a CPA.

Questions about a specific property?

Call or text 830-446-3847 · Email heath.shepard@kw.com

This page explains how the Texas residence homestead exemption works. It is not tax or legal advice. Exemption eligibility for a specific property is determined by the appraisal district, and tax consequences should go to a CPA.