McAllen, Texas Property Tax Rates and Exemptions

Property taxes in McAllen, Texas are not a single rate; your bill is the sum of what the City of McAllen, Hidalgo County, your school district, and South Texas College each charge per $100 of taxable value. For the 2025 tax year, McAllen ISD adopted a rate of $0.9322 per $100 and South Texas College adopted $0.1620 per $100, with the city and county rates layered on top.¹² A stack of homestead exemptions — starting with a $140,000 school district exemption every Texas homeowner qualifies for — reduces the taxable value those rates apply to.

Who Taxes Your McAllen Property

Most McAllen homeowners pay into four taxing entities: the City of McAllen, Hidalgo County, McAllen Independent School District, and South Texas College. If your property falls within the Edinburg or Sharyland school district boundaries instead of McAllen ISD, that district’s rate replaces the McAllen ISD line on your bill.

Each entity sets its own rate every year and publishes it separately. The Hidalgo County Appraisal District (HCAD) is not one of them — HCAD only determines what your property is worth. It doesn’t set rates and it doesn’t collect taxes.³ The county and city tax offices handle billing and collection.⁴

Current Rates and How to Estimate Your Bill

For the 2025 tax year (bills issued fall 2025, due January 31, 2026), the confirmed adopted rates for two of the four major entities are:

McAllen ISD: $0.9322 per $100 of appraised value, down from $0.9966 the prior year.¹
South Texas College: $0.1620 per $100, split between $0.1393 for operations and $0.0227 for debt service.²

The City of McAllen and Hidalgo County publish their adopted rates annually. You can pull the full rate schedule for your specific parcel — including every overlapping entity — from the Hidalgo County Tax Office or the City of McAllen Tax Office.⁴

To estimate your bill, add the rates from every entity that taxes your parcel and multiply by your taxable value (appraised value minus applicable exemptions) divided by 100. Do it once per entity, because the exemption amounts differ. A home appraised at $200,000 with the $140,000 school homestead exemption has a school-taxable value of $60,000. At the McAllen ISD rate of $0.9322, the school portion works out to about $559. The city, county, and college portions use the same math with their own rates and their own exemption amounts.

Homestead Exemptions That Lower Your Bill

Homestead exemptions reduce the taxable value of your primary residence. You must own and occupy the home as your principal residence to qualify.⁵ The exemptions available to McAllen homeowners stack across the different entities on your bill.

School District Exemptions

Every Texas homeowner with a homestead qualifies for a $140,000 school district exemption, which comes off the value subject to McAllen ISD taxes.⁶ Homeowners who are 65 or older or disabled get an additional $60,000 school exemption on top, for a total of $200,000 off the school-taxable value.⁵

City of McAllen Exemptions

The City of McAllen offers local optional exemptions on the city portion of your bill. Homeowners 65 or older receive a $10,000 exemption, and disabled homeowners receive the same $10,000. Disabled veterans qualify for exemptions ranging from $5,000 to $12,000 depending on their disability rating, and veterans with a 100% disability rating receive a total exemption on their homestead.⁴

Tax Ceiling for Seniors and Disabled Homeowners

Once you turn 65 or qualify as disabled and have your homestead exemption in place, your school district taxes are frozen at that year’s amount. The amount can drop if rates fall or your value decreases, but it won’t go up. If you move to another home in Texas, you can transfer the ceiling to your new residence. Improvements that add square footage or significant value can raise the ceiling proportionally; routine maintenance does not.

How to Apply

File Form 50-114 (Application for Residence Homestead Exemption) with the Hidalgo County Appraisal District to claim any homestead exemption.⁵ The address on your Texas driver’s license or state-issued ID has to match the property address. Mismatched addresses are the most common reason applications get rejected, so update your ID before you file. Over-65 and disability applicants also need supporting documentation, such as proof of age or a disability determination letter.

The 10% Appraisal Cap on Your Homestead

Beyond the exemptions themselves, the homestead status brings a separate protection on how fast your taxable value can rise. Once you have a homestead exemption on your primary residence, the appraised value used to calculate your taxes cannot increase more than 10% per year, no matter how much the market value climbed. The taxable appraised value is capped at the lesser of the current market value or last year’s appraised value plus 10%, plus the value of any new construction.⁷

In a year when market values jump 20%, your appraised value for tax purposes still moves only 10%. The gap between market and capped value carries forward, so the benefit compounds over time. When you buy a new home, the cap resets to full market value in your first year, then applies going forward once your homestead exemption is on file.

Protesting Your Appraised Value

If HCAD’s appraised value looks too high, protesting is free and lowers your bill across every taxing entity for the year, not just one. Every spring, HCAD mails a notice of appraised value showing your current and prior-year valuations.⁸ Review it as soon as it arrives.

The deadline to file a protest is May 15, or 30 days after HCAD mails your notice, whichever is later. You can file in person, online through HCAD’s portal, or by mail. You’re eligible to protest even if you never received a notice.⁸

After filing, you can request an informal conference with an HCAD appraiser and try to settle before a formal hearing. Many protests resolve there. If you can’t agree, the case goes to the Appraisal Review Board, an independent panel that hears the evidence and issues a binding decision.⁹

The strongest protests rely on comparable sales — recent sale prices for homes similar to yours in size, age, condition, and location. HCAD’s own records and real estate sites are reasonable starting points. Condition issues like foundation problems, an aging roof, or deferred maintenance help too; photograph them and bring the photos. Check HCAD’s records for factual errors as well. Wrong square footage, wrong lot size, or the wrong bathroom count inflates your value, and errors like these are often the easiest to correct because the evidence is straightforward.

Property tax consultants handle protests on contingency, typically charging 25% to 50% of the first-year tax savings. That can make sense for high-value properties or owners who don’t want to run the process themselves; for a standard residential protest, doing it yourself is realistic.

If Paying the Full Bill Is Difficult

Beyond exemptions, a few programs help homeowners manage the timing of what’s owed.

If a taxing unit has adopted the split-payment option, you can pay in two halves: the first by November 30 and the second by June 30, with no penalty or interest as long as both are on time.¹⁰ Check with the Hidalgo County Tax Office to confirm which entities on your bill offer it.

Homeowners who are 65 or older, disabled, or qualifying disabled veterans can pay homestead taxes in four equal installments. You must make the first payment and submit a written request before the February 1 delinquency date; the remaining payments are due before April 1, June 1, and August 1.¹⁰

The same group — 65 or older, disabled, or qualifying disabled veterans — can defer property taxes entirely for as long as they own and occupy the home. You file an affidavit with HCAD stating your eligibility, and once the deferral is in place, taxing entities cannot foreclose or sue for delinquency. Deferred taxes still accrue interest at 5% per year, and the lien stays on the property. When the homeowner sells, moves out, or passes away, all deferred taxes plus interest come due, which reduces the equity available to heirs.¹¹

1
McAllen Independent School District. McAllen ISD School Board Lowers Property Tax Rate
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South Texas College. History of Tax Rates FY25
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Valuing Property
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McAllen.Net. Tax Office
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 23.23 – Limitation on Appraised Value of Residence Homestead
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Hidalgo County Appraisal District. Hidalgo CAD Official Site
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Appraisal Protests and Appeals
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Payment Options
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 33.06 – Deferred Collection of Taxes on Residence Homestead of Elderly or Disabled Person