What taxing units make up a Harris County tax bill and what does each charge?

What are the county-wide units?

Five units cover essentially every property in the county: Harris County at $0.38096, Harris County Hospital District at $0.18761, Harris County Flood Control District at $0.04966, Port of Houston Authority at $0.0059 and Harris County Department of Education at $0.004798. Together they are $0.628928 per $100, which is $2,013 a year on a $320,000 home before exemptions. A sixth unit, the community college, depends on the district: Lone Star College System charges $0.106 and Houston Community College $0.098802 in 2025, and other colleges have their own rates. To convert to dollars, multiply any line by the taxable value and divide by 100. For example, the hospital district at $0.18761 costs $600 a year on a $320,000 home before exemptions, the flood control district costs $159, the port $19 and the department of education $15. Because the five units are so small individually, they are easy to overlook, yet together they equal about 59% of the median school district rate.

What varies by address, and which bill is yours?

School district: Harris County has 25 districts in the table, from Houston ISD at $0.8783 to the highest at $1.2552, with a median of $1.0641; Cypress-Fairbanks is $1.0669 and Katy ISD $1.1171. City: only addresses inside a city pay a city tax, and the table lists 32 cities from $0.205164 (Hunters Creek Village) to $0.93802 (Galena Park), with the City of Houston at $0.51919. Special districts: 486 water-district units with a rate carry a median of $0.51, up to $1.50, and there are also emergency services districts at about $0.03 to $0.10 and management districts and tax increment zones. All of these add to the total, which is why total rates range from under 1.8% to over 3.5% across the county. Look up the HCAD account: it lists every taxing unit and its code for the address, and the Harris County Tax Office bill shows the amount each unit charged. Our listing pages show the same stack when it is complete, which it is for 89% of active Harris County listings. If you are comparing two homes, compare their totals and the differences by unit, since the county-wide five are the same for both.

Amounts and rules change every year. For the most current and accurate answer, contact the county office directly: the Harris Central Appraisal District (hcad.org, 713-957-7800) for values, exemptions and protests, and the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector (hctax.net, 713-274-8000) for tax bills and payments.

Common follow-up questions

Sources

• Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD)
• Harris County Tax Office

Related questions

• How are property taxes calculated in Harris County?

  A Harris County tax bill is taxable value times each taxing unit's rate, added across the units that cover the address.

  Read answer

• Which Harris County cities have the lowest and highest tax rates?

  Among MLS city labels with at least 40 active listings and a complete 2025 tax stack, the lowest median total rates are Webster at 1.97%, Bellaire at 2.02% and Channelview at 2.04%, and the highest…

  Read answer

• How much of a Cypress tax bill is MUD, school, county and flood-control tax?

  For a typical Cypress home in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD with a MUD, the 2025 rate stack is about 2.66% in total.

  Read answer

• How do I look up a MUD tax rate in Harris County?

  Find your MUD on the HCAD account page, which lists every taxing unit for the address, then read its rate on the Harris County Tax Office bill search or on the district's own tax rate notice.

  Read answer