Austin, TX · Updated Oct 2026

What a Austin house pays

Property tax, water, trash and energy from public rates. Look up your address to make it yours, and see how to pay less.

Sent only to free public map services to find who serves it. Not stored unless you save your house.

Example · a Austin house

$14,401a year · $1,200 a month

Starts at $471,603 of value before exemptions. Typical use.

Property tax$7,675
2.121% of $471,603, less $140,000 school homestead exemption and less $94,321 20% homestead exemption and less $5,000 austin community college 1% homestead exemption
Electricity and gas$2,078
860 kWh a month $1,449 · 17.63 therms $609 · 1% city sales tax (on the Austin Energy bill) $21
Water and sewer$1,794
6,000 gallons a month on Austin Water (City of Austin): water $45, sewer $57, transportation user fee (single-family home) $22, clean community fee (residential) $11, drainage charge (typical home: 3,100 sq ft of impervious cover) $15 a month
Trash$456
64-gallon, $38 a month
Home insurance$2,397
Typical premium $2,397

A typical Austin house pays about $14,400 a year: $7,680 property tax and charges, $1,790 water and sewer, $460 trash, $2,080 electricity and gas, $2,400 home insurance. Estimated from public rates, not anyone's actual bill.

Rates checked Oct 21, 2026. Insurance: what you enter, or a typical premium until you do. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Ways to pay less

Nothing here applies to every house automatically. These are worth checking:

Switch to the 24-gallon cartUp to $98 a year
Your cart costs $38 a month; the smallest costs $30. Worth it if you rarely fill it.
How: Call 512-494-9400. Downsizing is free; switching to a larger cart costs a $15 one-time exchange fee.
Seniors 65+ and disabled owners: extra $204,000 off city taxable value$204,000 off City of Austin taxable value
The City of Austin exempts an additional $204,000 of assessed value for homeowners 65 or older and disabled homeowners. Owners who already have the general homestead exemption and turn 65 do not need to apply if the appraisal district has their birthday.
How: Apply with the appraisal district for your county (Travis: traviscad.org/homesteadexemptions).
Seniors 65+ and disabled owners: Austin ISD exemption and school tax ceiling$85,000 off Austin ISD taxable value for 65+
School districts must give owners 65 or older or disabled an extra $60,000 homestead exemption; Austin ISD adds a $25,000 local exemption for 65+ ($15,000 for disabled). The over-65 exemption also sets a school tax ceiling (a tax freeze).
How: Apply with the Travis Central Appraisal District.
Seniors 65+ and disabled owners: extra $145,269 off Travis County taxable value$145,269 off Travis County taxable value
Travis County offers an additional $145,269 exemption for homesteads of owners 65 and older or disabled, on top of its 20% homestead exemption.
How: File with the appraisal district in the county where the home is.
Low-income households: Customer Assistance Program discounts
Residential customers on low or fixed incomes who take part in certain state, federal or local assistance programs can get City of Austin Customer Assistance Program (CAP) utility discounts; Austin Water waives its monthly meter minimum charge and tiered minimum charge for CAP participants.
How: See Utility Bill Discounts under Customer Assistance on coautilities.com.
Smart thermostat: Power Partner incentivesUp to $155 the first year
Austin Energy pays $75 when you enroll an eligible smart thermostat in Power Partner, $30 every year it stays enrolled, and a $50 rebate on a new eligible smart thermostat.
How: Enroll at austinenergy.com/powerpartner.

Adjust to match your bills

What you knowTrash cartEvery price includes the $24.90 base fee for recycling, composting, brush, bulk and household hazardous waste collection. Trash is picked up weekly.

Value before exemptionsParts of Austin are in Williamson or Hays County, or in another school district (such as Round Rock, Pflugerville, Leander, Del Valle, Manor or Eanes ISD), or in a MUD or PID: those homes have different rates. Check your tax bill.

I live here and have the School homestead exemption and 20% homestead exemption and Austin Community College 1% homestead exemption

Home insurance, a yearFrom your policy. We start at $2,397, Texas statewide average HO-3 homeowners premium for 2022 (NAIC data via Triple-I; Texas figures from the Texas Department of Insurance).

Your use

Water, thousands of gallons a month

On your water bill. A typical house uses 5,000–8,000 gallons.

Electricity, kWh a month

On your Austin Energy (City of Austin) bill. An electric car adds about 300 kWh.

Gas, therms a month (yearly average)

Money dates

Jan 31in 100 daysProperty taxes are generally due by Jan. 31 of the year after they are billed.
Feb 1in 101 daysPenalty and interest start on unpaid property tax bills.
Apr 30General deadline to file exemption applications: before May 1.
May 15Usual deadline to protest your appraised value (or 30 days after the notice is mailed, if later).

Who serves this house

Water: Austin Water (City of Austin); Austin Water single-family residential rates for bills rendered on or after November 1, 2026: a monthly meter minimum charge and a tiered minimum charge, plus volume rates per 1,000 gallons in five blocks, a $0.05 Revenue Stability Reserve Fund surcharge per 1,000 gallons, and (for customers not in the Customer Assistance Program) $0.30 Community Benefit and $0.15 GoPurple charges per 1,000 gallons
Property tax: 2.12% of value; 2026 tax year, Travis County
Sewer: Austin Water; $11.26 a month plus $7.13 per 1,000 gallons up to 2,000 gallons and $14.93 above that, billed on a three-month wastewater average or monthly use, whichever is lower
Electricity: Austin Energy (City of Austin); $17.35 a month plus an energy charge in four tiers from 4.872¢ to 11.428¢ per kWh, plus power supply, community benefit and regulatory charges
Gas: Texas Gas Service; Austin is one of the incorporated areas Texas Gas Service serves
Schools: Austin ISD; 2026 adopted tax rate $0.9184 per $100 of taxable value

Pay or manage your bills

Your water

Source: Surface water from the Lower Colorado River as it flows through Lake Travis and Lake Austin, treated at the Handcox, Davis and Ullrich plants.
Hardness: Total hardness averaged 93 ppm (5.4 grains per gallon) in 2025, ranging from 70 to 126 ppm.
Lead: In 2024 tap testing, 90% of samples were under 1.0 ppb of lead and none exceeded the 15 ppb action level; Austin Water confirmed in October 2024 that the public system has no lead pipes.
PFAS: Testing found little to no detectable PFAS, and no samples tested positive for E. coli in 2025.

Other TX cities

What a College Station house pays What a Corpus Christi house pays What a Denton house pays What a League City house pays What a Pflugerville house pays What a San Marcos house pays What a The Colony house pays What a El Paso house pays What a Schertz house pays What a Bryan house pays What a Laredo house pays What a Fate house pays What a Kyle house pays What a Benbrook house pays What a Manor house pays

How these numbers are made

The City of Austin bills electricity (Austin Energy), water and wastewater (Austin Water), trash (Austin Resource Recovery), the Clean Community Fee, the Transportation User Fee and the drainage charge on one utility bill. We use the FY 2026-27 rates and fees the City Council adopted with the budget on Aug. 12, 2026 (water and wastewater rates apply to bills from Nov. 1, 2026).
Trash: $29.80, $31.45, $38.00 or $69.05 a month for the 24-, 32-, 64- or 96-gallon cart (each includes the $24.90 base fee); we start at the 64-gallon cart, the city's typical customer. Flat fees added: Transportation User Fee $21.80 (single-family home), Clean Community Fee $10.60 ($5.65 Austin Resource Recovery + $4.95 Austin Code; $127.20 a year in the city's impact statement) and drainage $14.92 a month ($179.04 a year for the city's typical home with 3,100 sq ft of impervious cover; your drainage charge depends on your own impervious cover).
Water (5/8-inch meter): $7.75 meter charge plus the $4.05 tiered minimum charge for 2,001–6,000 gallons, used as a flat $11.80 (the tiered minimum is really $1.40 up to 2,000 gallons, $10.86 for 6,001–11,000, $24.51 for 11,001–20,000 and $37.00 above, so bills outside 2,001–6,000 gallons run lower or higher than shown), plus $3.57, $6.09, $11.24, $18.06 and $22.21 per 1,000 gallons in blocks at 2,000, 6,000, 11,000 and 20,000 gallons, each plus $0.50 of Community Benefit, GoPurple and reserve charges. The page starts at the city's typical 5,800 gallons (7.75 CCF); at that use our formula gives about $44.98 a month, while the city's budget example lists $50.49. Wastewater: $11.26 plus $7.58 per 1,000 gallons for the first 2,000 and $15.38 above (rates plus $0.45 of Community Benefit and GoPurple charges). Austin bills wastewater on a three-month winter average, so we cap the wastewater volume at the city's typical 4,000 gallons; homes with a higher winter average pay more.
Electricity: Austin Energy inside-city residential rates (no summer/winter difference), $17.35 a month plus 11.680, 12.203, 14.709 and 18.236 cents per kWh in tiers at 300, 900 and 2,000 kWh (energy charge plus 6.808 cents of Power Supply Adjustment, Community Benefit and Regulatory charges); typical use 860 kWh, Austin Energy's typical residential customer. The 1% city sales tax shown on Austin Energy's example bill is added, and the page applies it to gas too. Gas: Texas Gas Service Small Residential Rate 10, $23.08 a month plus $0.92086 per Ccf and the October 2026 Austin cost of gas ($0.70729 per Ccf; it changes monthly), converted to therms (1.037 therms per Ccf); typical use 1.7 Mcf (17.6 therms) a month, Texas Gas Service's average small residential bill. Homes using 331 Ccf a year or more are on Rate 15 ($38.58 a month plus $0.35722 per Ccf). Franchise fees and other gas riders are not included.
Property tax: 2026 adopted rates for the five taxing units on a typical Austin tax bill: City of Austin $0.579948, Travis County $0.386210, Austin ISD $0.9184, Austin Community College $0.103643 and Central Health $0.132863 per $100 (2.1213% in all), with the $140,000 school homestead exemption, the 20% homestead exemption ($5,000 minimum) of the city, county and Central Health, and ACC's 1% ($5,000 minimum) exemption from the 2026 Travis Central Appraisal District exemption listing. The starting value is the city's projected FY27 median non-senior homestead assessed value, $471,603; the city's $2,188.04 bill for it equals $0.579948 per $100 x ($471,603 - 20%), so we read $471,603 as the value before exemptions. Senior, disabled and veteran exemptions are tips, not applied.
Not included: homes in parts of Austin that lie in Williamson or Hays County or in another school district (Round Rock, Pflugerville, Leander, Del Valle, Manor, Eanes and others), municipal utility districts or public improvement districts, which have different tax rates; outside-city Austin Energy rates; and gas franchise fees and riders.
Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.

Sources

How Austin compares

A typical Austin house against the 11 Texas cities we cover, using the same default numbers as the total above.

Per year	Austin	Median	Where it falls
Property tax rate	2.12%	2.03%	higher than 7 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover
Water	$540	$553	lower than 6 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover
Sewer and utility-bill fees	$1,254	$696	higher than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover
Trash	$456	$280	higher than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover
Electricity and gas	$2,078	$2,791	lower than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover
Home insurance	$2,397	$2,397	in the middle of 10 other Texas cities we cover
Total	$14,401	$12,323	higher than 9 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover

Cities bill differently (some put trash on the tax bill, some cover more services), so a higher number isn't necessarily worse. The property tax rate is compared instead of dollars because house values differ.

Questions to ask your candidates

Each one starts from a number above. Any candidate can answer them.

1. Sewer and utility-bill fees

The fact: Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here come to about $1,254 a year, higher than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover. Some cities bill sewer on the property tax bill instead, which is not counted here.

Ask: "Sewer and flat utility-bill charges here cost about $1,254 a year, higher than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything?"

2. Trash

The fact: Trash pickup here costs about $456 a year for the standard cart, higher than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover. Where trash is billed through the tax bill or a separate hauler, it is not counted here.

Ask: "Trash pickup here costs about $456 a year for the standard cart, higher than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover. What drives that cost, and would you change anything about the service or the price?"

3. Electricity and gas

The fact: Electricity and gas for a typical house here cost about $2,078 a year, lower than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover. Rates are set mostly by the utility and the state.

Ask: "Electricity and gas here cost about $2,078 a year for a typical house, lower than 10 of the other 10 Texas cities we cover. Which parts of that can the city influence, and what would you do about them?"

See who is running in your city →

Common questions about Austin house costs

What is the property tax rate in Austin?

About 2.12% of the value before exemptions a year (2026 tax year, Travis County), plus flat charges on the same bill.

How much is property tax on a $500,000 house in Austin?

About $8,215 a year on $500,000 of the value before exemptions with the school homestead exemption.

How much is the water bill in Austin?

About $149 a month for water and sewer at typical use (6,000 gallons a month) on Austin Water (City of Austin).

How much does trash pickup cost in Austin?

$30 to $69 a month, depending on the trash cart size (24-gallon, 32-gallon, 64-gallon, 96-gallon).

When is property tax due in Austin?

Jan 31: Property taxes are generally due by Jan. 31 of the year after they are billed. Feb 1: Penalty and interest start on unpaid property tax bills.

Can seniors lower their property tax or bills in Austin?

Yes. Seniors 65+ and disabled owners: extra $204,000 off city taxable value: The City of Austin exempts an additional $204,000 of assessed value for homeowners 65 or older and disabled homeowners. Owners who already have the general homestead exemption and turn 65 do not need to apply if the appraisal district has their birthday.

Where can I get help paying utility bills in Austin?

Low-income households: Customer Assistance Program discounts: Residential customers on low or fixed incomes who take part in certain state, federal or local assistance programs can get City of Austin Customer Assistance Program (CAP) utility discounts; Austin Water waives its monthly meter minimum charge and tiered minimum charge for CAP participants. See Utility Bill Discounts under Customer Assistance on coautilities.com.

How much does a house in Austin cost to run each year?

All Texas cities All cities