Texas Property Tax Protest Statistics (Updated October 2026)

Quick answer: Texas homeowners and businesses file well over a million property tax protests a year. In 2025, Harris County alone logged 567,154 protested accounts, Dallas County 230,276 protests and Travis County 210,038. Most protests never reach a formal hearing: they settle informally or through agreed settlements with the appraisal district. Among TaxDrop clients in 2026, 92% of closed protests ended with a reduction, and the median client cut $10,736 off taxable value, an estimated $236 a year in taxes.¹ This page collects the latest official numbers and is updated as each county publishes new data.

Texas property tax protest statistics at a glance

• 567,154 accounts protested in Harris County in 2025, up 9.77% from 516,674 in 2024 and up 49% from 380,550 in 2016. (HCAD 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report)
• 7.04% average percentage reduction on protested Harris County accounts in 2025 (9.88% in 2024). (HCAD 2025 ACFR)
• 230,276 protests received by the Dallas Central Appraisal District for 2025, up 11.7% from 2024. 79% were filed by tax consultants. (DCAD Annual Report, 2025 appraisal year)
• 62% of Collin County residential protests in 2025 ended with a lower market value (74,112 of 119,256). (Collin CAD protest data, data.texas.gov, TaxDrop analysis)
• 61% of Bexar County protests in 2025 were resolved by informal agreement; 27.5% ended in an ARB order. (Bexar Appraisal District Annual Report 2025)
• 10%: the most a qualified homestead's appraised value can rise in one year (plus new improvements). (Texas Comptroller)
• Monday, May 17, 2027: the general 2027 protest deadline. The rule is May 15 or 30 days after the notice, whichever is later, and May 15, 2027 falls on a Saturday. (Texas Comptroller)
• 92% of TaxDrop clients' closed 2026 protests got a reduction; median taxable-value cut $10,736 (est. $236/yr in taxes).^1–3 (TaxDrop 2026 client data, see below)

Last updated: October 13, 2026. Next scheduled update: April–May 2027, when 2027 notices go out.

TaxDrop 2026 client results

• 92% of closed protests got a reduction (174 of 189 with usable values; 15 no change). Conservative figure: 86% (174 of 202, counting 13 unverifiable cases as losses).¹
• $10,736 median taxable-value reduction per client ($21,806 average), across 168 clients.²
• About $236 median estimated tax savings per year (about $480 average), assuming a 2.2% tax rate.³
• $3.66 million total cut from clients' taxable values ($5.06 million from market values), about $80,600 in estimated first-year tax savings.^2,3

¹ Closed = Settle & Waiver, CAD Offer Accepted or Hearing Decision; protests still undecided are excluded. Reduction = 2026 appraisal district market value minus final value. Consistent with TaxDrop's previously published 91% win rate.
² Savings figures use taxable value, not market value. About 20% of client homes are under the 10% homestead cap, so a lower market value does not always lower their taxable value right away.
³ Estimate only: taxable-value reduction × an assumed 2.2% combined tax rate. Actual rates vary by address.

Statewide: how protests work in Texas

• Who decides: each county's appraisal district sets values as of January 1. If you protest, you can settle informally with an appraiser; if not, an independent Appraisal Review Board (ARB) hears the protest. After the ARB, owners can go to district court, binding arbitration or SOAH. (Texas Comptroller: Appraisal Protests and Appeals)
• Deadline rule: May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal district's notice is delivered, whichever is later. (Texas Comptroller)
• Homestead cap: a qualified homestead's appraised value cannot rise more than 10% a year, plus new improvements (Tax Code §23.23). Most non-homestead real property is capped at 20% a year (§23.231). (Texas Comptroller: Valuing Property)
• School homestead exemption: school districts must exempt $140,000 of a residence homestead's value. On a $300,000 home, school taxes are figured as if the home were worth $160,000. (Texas Comptroller: Property Tax Exemptions)
• Statewide protest count: the Comptroller does not publish a single statewide protests-filed figure, so we total the largest counties below.

Protests filed in the largest Texas counties

Together these six counties logged more than 1.56 million protests in 2025 (Tarrant counts residential only, so the true total is higher).

Harris County (HCAD)

• Accounts protested: 380,550 (2016), 421,819 (2019), 494,918 (2022), 528,812 (2023), 516,674 (2024), 567,154 (2025).
• Average percentage reduction on protested accounts: 11.95% (2023), 9.88% (2024), 7.04% (2025).
• Value of protested accounts in 2025: about $555.1 billion.
• For 2026, HCAD said about 50% of homes rose in value, 37% fell and 13% were unchanged, with an average residential reappraisal increase of about 2.4%. (HCAD news release, May 1, 2026)

Protesting in Harris County? See our Harris County property tax protest page.

Dallas County (DCAD)

• Protests received: 191,859 (2023), 206,170 (2024), 230,276 (2025).
• Filed by tax consultants: 182,524 in 2025 (79%). Online protests by owners: 32,816.
• Informal hearings: 103,731 in 2025, up from 59,571 in 2024. ARB hearings held: 146,815.
• Residential protests: 180,733 in 2025.
• 2026: residential market value on DCAD's first preliminary roll (May 5, 2026) was 10.32% above the 2025 certified roll. This includes 55,168 more residential parcels, so it is not a same-home increase. (DCAD 2025 certified vs 2026 preliminary summary)

Protesting in Dallas County? See our Dallas County property tax protest page.

Travis County (TCAD)

• 2025 appeals: 180,522 filed by agents (86%), 29,038 by owners (14%), 478 other.
• Residential protests: 160,197 (2023), 168,127 (2024), 189,382 (2025).
• Residential outcomes in 2025: 133,748 joint motion agreements/toplines (71%), 24,939 informal agreements and 19,459 formal hearings (10%).
• 2026: TCAD data reported by Community Impact shows the average single-family market value fell 1.8%. (Community Impact, Apr 27, 2026)

Tarrant County (TAD)

• 228,224 residential protests in 2025, with about 50% fewer formal hearings than prior years and all hearings done by July 17. (Tarrant County, Aug 18, 2025)
• Net taxable value rose from $286.5 billion (2024) to $297.2 billion (2025).

Bexar County (BCAD)

• Protests received: 199,589 (2023), 185,211 (2024), 187,238 (2025).
• 2025 outcomes: 114,183 informal agreements (61%), 51,580 ARB orders (27.5%), 16,246 withdrawn or no-show (8.7%).
• Agent-filed: 134,669 (72%); owner-filed: 52,569.
• 2026: BCAD said single-family values fell 0.11% on average, and about 196,000 of 734,000 properties reviewed rose more than $1,000. (San Antonio Report, citing BCAD)

Collin County (CCAD)

• All protests: 98,724 (2022), 114,073 (2023), 117,796 (2024), 137,126 (2025), 168,301 (2026, with 16,754 still open on Oct 13, 2026).
• Residential protests that ended with a lower market value: 47% (2022), 51% (2023), 58% (2024), 62% (2025).
• Across all 2025 residential protests, total market value fell 2.0% from the noticed value.

Protest outcomes: what the numbers say

• Most protests settle before a formal hearing. In Travis County, 71% of 2025 residential protests ended in agreed toplines and only 10% went to a formal hearing. In Bexar County, 61% settled informally.
• Reductions are common but modest on average. Harris County's average reduction on protested accounts was 7.04% in 2025; 62% of Collin residential protests got a lower value.
• Most protests are filed by agents. 79% in Dallas, 86% in Travis and 72% in Bexar in 2025.
• TaxDrop clients: 92% of closed 2026 protests got a reduction (86% conservative), with a $10,736 median taxable-value cut.^1,2

Key deadlines for 2027

• January 1, 2027: values are set as of this date.
• April–May 2027: appraisal districts mail notices of appraised value. Check your district's mailing date.
• Monday, May 17, 2027: general protest deadline (May 15 falls on a Saturday), or 30 days after your notice if that is later.
• July 25, 2027: appraisal rolls are certified to taxing units.

Check your own value

Every Texas county page has an address search. Enter your address to see whether your 2027 value looks high and what a protest could save. Start from the Texas page, or read how TaxDrop's Texas property tax consultants handle protests for 1% of the reduction.

Cite this page

TaxDrop. "Texas Property Tax Protest Statistics (Updated October 2026)." taxdrop.com, October 13, 2026. https://www.taxdrop.com/blog/texas-property-tax-protest-statistics

Journalists and researchers may use the charts on this page with a link back to this URL.

Methodology

We use only official appraisal district, county and Comptroller publications, plus the Collin CAD open protest dataset on data.texas.gov. Counties define "protest" differently: HCAD reports accounts protested, Tarrant reports residential protests only, and others report all protests received. Collin figures are TaxDrop's count of records by appraisal year; "reduced" means the final market value was below the noticed market value. 2026 figures for Collin are partial because some protests are still open.

Sources

• HCAD Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (2025)
• HCAD news release: 2026 property value notices (May 1, 2026)
• DCAD Annual Report, 2025 appraisal year
• DCAD 2025 certified vs 2026 first preliminary roll (May 2026)
• TCAD 2025 Annual Report
• Tarrant County news release (Aug 18, 2025)
• Bexar Appraisal District Annual Report 2025
• Collin CAD ARB protest data (data.texas.gov), pulled Oct 13, 2026
• Texas Comptroller: Appraisal Protests and Appeals
• Texas Comptroller: Valuing Property
• Texas Comptroller: Property Tax Exemptions
• TaxDrop 2026 client data (internal records, October 2026): 168 clients; closed protests only.

Changelog

• October 2026: Added TaxDrop 2026 client results (168 clients, closed protests as of October 2026) with methodology notes.
• October 13, 2026: Page created with 2023–2025 protest data for Harris, Dallas, Travis, Tarrant, Bexar and Collin counties, 2026 notice-season value changes, and the 2027 deadline.