Travis County Just Turned On the Tool That Shows Your FY2027 Austin Property Tax Bill
What Travis CAD actually posted
The appraisal district didn’t change anyone’s value or send a bill. It announced that the property tax database at TravisTaxes.com is live for the 2026 rate season, and it’s directing owners there to see the estimated taxes each taxing unit would impose under its proposed rate. Texas law requires this. Under Section 26.17 of the Tax Code the chief appraiser has to build and maintain a database, searchable by address, that shows what every overlapping government would collect from your specific parcel. Section 26.04 requires each taxing unit to point you to it, in bold type, at Texas.gov/PropertyTaxes.
The reason this matters is timing. The database updates through August and September as the City of Austin, Travis County, your school district, and the smaller districts each propose and then adopt their rates. Right now it shows proposals. Nothing on it is final. That’s the point: the whole truth in taxation system exists to give you the estimated bill while there’s still a public hearing left to attend, not after the rate is set and the bill is in the mail.
The proposed City of Austin rate, and what it would cost
Here’s the number driving the local conversation. The City of Austin’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, released July 10, carries a property tax rate of 57.953 cents per $100 of value, up from 52.4017 cents in the current year. City staff estimate the median non senior homestead would owe roughly $2,248 in city property tax, an increase of about $174, or 8.4 percent. Final adoption starts August 12, and the council can amend the rate before it votes.
Two properties on the same street can see very different swings, because the appraised value moves independently of the rate. A rate can hold flat while your bill climbs on a higher appraisal, or the rate can rise while a corrected value pulls the bill the other way. The database separates those two forces for your address, which is why it’s worth looking up your own parcel rather than reading the citywide averages and assuming they’re yours.
Why this window is the one that counts
Property owners tend to engage with their taxes twice: when the appraisal notice arrives in the spring, and when the bill arrives in the fall. The rate setting that happens in between is where the real money moves, and almost nobody watches it. The database plus the hearing calendar is your seat at that table. You can register for notifications on the site and get told when a taxing unit posts a new proposed rate or schedules its adoption hearing.
The appraisal fight and the rate fight are separate, and they run on different clocks. If you thought your value was too high, that protest deadline has passed for most owners this year. What’s open now is the rate side, where showing up to a hearing or writing your council member is the lever that’s still live. For a client who relocated to Austin partly to escape a high income tax state, the property tax is the cost that replaced it, and this is the season to actually look at what it’s becoming.
Who this reaches
Owners who relocated to Austin for the tax math
A lot of our clients moved to Texas for the zero state income tax and made peace with a higher property tax in exchange. That trade only works if you actually watch the property tax. An 8.4 percent jump in the city portion, stacked with county and school levies, is the kind of increase that quietly eats the savings you moved for. Pull your parcel, see the full stack, and decide whether the FY2027 proposal changes your calculus.
Out of state owners of Austin rental property
If you own a rental in Travis County and live somewhere else, you’re the owner most likely to miss this entirely, because the notices go to a property you don’t sit in front of every day. The database is searchable from anywhere. For a rental, the proposed rate feeds straight into your FY2027 expense modeling and your rent decisions, and the numbers are available now rather than when the bill hits your management statement in the fall.
High net worth owners with Austin holdings
For clients holding higher value Austin property, the dollar swings are larger and the planning is worth doing. The proposed rate lets us model the FY2027 carrying cost before it’s adopted, which matters for anyone weighing a sale, a refinance, or how a property sits inside a broader plan. We handle that kind of modeling as part of tax strategy work rather than treating the property tax as a fixed cost you find out about in December.
What to watch next
The rates on the database today are proposals, and they can move before adoption. Austin’s council begins its budget votes August 12, Travis County and the school district run their own hearings on their own dates, and the database keeps updating through September as each rate is finalized. Don’t treat a July proposal as a settled bill. Check back after the adoption hearings, because the number that ends up on your parcel is the adopted rate, not the proposed one.
This is also a distinct event from the City budget proposal itself, which we covered when it landed. We wrote about the FY2027 Austin budget and the proposed rate increase on its own, and about the flood related tax relief that hit Travis County this summer. The database going live is the piece that lets you translate those headlines into a dollar figure for your own address.
How The Reed Corporation works with clients on this
For clients with Texas property, we treat the rate season as a planning event, not a bill to react to. That means pulling the parcel level numbers off the database, stacking the proposed rates across every taxing unit, and modeling the FY2027 cost while the rates are still proposals. When a client owns Austin property inside a larger picture of investments and out of state income, that work runs through tax strategy and consulting, and for owners whose Austin holdings are part of a bigger estate it connects to how we serve high net worth clients and real estate investors and landlords. The goal is simple: know the number before the hearing, not after the bill.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Travis County truth in taxation database?
It is a searchable online tool, hosted at TravisTaxes.com, that shows what each local government would charge your specific property if it adopts its proposed tax rate. Texas Tax Code Section 26.17 requires the Travis Central Appraisal District to build and maintain it, and Section 26.04 requires each taxing unit to direct owners to it. You look up your parcel by address and see the estimated tax from the City of Austin, Travis County, your school district, and every other overlapping district, along with the dates of the public hearings where those rates get adopted. It went live for the 2026 rate season on July 24, 2026, and it keeps updating through August and September as officials propose and finalize their rates. It is the single best place to see your projected bill before it becomes final.
What is Austin’s proposed property tax rate for FY2027?
The City of Austin’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, released July 10, 2026, sets a property tax rate of 57.953 cents per $100 of taxable value, up from 52.4017 cents in the current year. City staff estimate the median non senior homestead would pay about $2,248 in city property tax, an increase of roughly $174, or 8.4 percent, over the current year. This is a proposal, not a final rate. The City Council can amend it, and final adoption votes begin August 12, 2026. Remember that this figure is only the City’s portion of your bill. Travis County, the school district, and other districts levy their own rates on top of it, which is why the database, not the City rate alone, tells you your projected total.
How is the appraised value different from the tax rate?
They are two separate inputs that multiply together to produce your bill, and they move on different schedules. The appraised value is what the appraisal district says your property is worth, set in the spring, with a protest deadline that has already passed for most owners this year. The tax rate is what each taxing unit charges per $100 of that value, set in late summer through the truth in taxation process that is happening now. Your bill can rise because the value went up, because a rate went up, or both. It can also fall on one side while rising on the other. The database shows you the current proposed rates applied to your current value, so you see the combined effect for your address rather than guessing from citywide averages.
I own an Austin rental but live out of state. Why should I care now?
Because you are the owner most likely to miss the rate season, and the property tax is usually the largest single expense on an Austin rental. The database is searchable from anywhere, so you do not need to be in Texas to pull your parcel and see the proposed FY2027 tax. Getting that number now, rather than when your management statement reflects it in the fall, lets you build it into your expense modeling and your rent decisions for next year. It also gives you time to weigh in at a rate hearing or register for notifications if a proposed increase would change how the property pencils out. For nonresident owners, planning around the property tax is often the difference between a rental that works and one that quietly stops working.
Can I still lower my Travis County property tax this year?
The two levers work on different clocks. The value protest, where you argue your appraisal is too high, had a deadline that has passed for most owners this year, so that door is largely closed until next spring. The rate side is what is open now. You cannot unilaterally lower a rate, but the truth in taxation process gives you a public hearing for each taxing unit before it adopts, and that is where owners and their representatives make the case against an increase. Beyond that, confirm you have every exemption you qualify for, such as the homestead or the senior exemption, because a missing exemption is a common and fixable reason a bill runs high. If you are unsure which exemptions apply to your situation, that is worth a conversation before the bills are calculated.
Does a higher city tax rate erase the benefit of Texas having no income tax?
Not by itself, but it narrows the gap, and the answer depends on your numbers. Texas has no state income tax, which is a real and permanent saving for high earners who relocated from a state like New York or California. The offset is a property tax that runs higher than in many states, and a proposed 8.4 percent increase in the city portion, stacked with county and school levies, chips at the trade. For a renter or a modest homeowner the income tax saving usually still wins comfortably. For someone holding a high value home or several properties, the property tax can grow large enough that the comparison is worth running carefully rather than assuming the move still pays off. That calculation, across both states, is exactly the kind of thing to model before the rates are adopted.