What is a property tax appeal?

A property tax appeal (also called a protest in Texas) is a formal process where you challenge your county appraiser's assessed value of your home. You file with the county Appraisal Review Board (ARB), present comparable-sales evidence that your home is overvalued, and the board issues a ruling.

When is the Texas property tax appeal deadline?

In Texas, the deadline to file a property tax protest is May 15 each year (or 30 days after your appraisal notice is mailed, whichever is later). The 2026 deadline has passed; the next protest window is April-May 2027.

How much can I save by appealing my property taxes?

Homeowners who appeal save an average of $774 per year in Texas, and you can protest again every year. Success rates range from 80-91% when you bring 3-5 comparable sales as evidence.

What's the difference between AppealMyTax and Ownwell?

AppealMyTax charges a flat $99, one time, for a complete personalized appeal packet you file yourself. You keep 100% of your savings every year. Ownwell keeps a 25-35% contingency on whatever you save and O'Connor keeps about half, meaning a $2,461 reduction costs you roughly $615-$1,230 every year forever. We charge $99 once and keep nothing.

Public records, shown openly

How we compute every number on this site

Every stat we publish comes from county appraisal district public records, computed the same way for every home. This page explains exactly how, so you can check our work.

How comparable properties are selected

The calculator's per-home analysis pulls comparable properties from your county appraisal district's public records. Comps are matched on the appraisal district's own neighborhood code, then scored on living area, year built, and construction class or quality grade. We compare your appraised value against the comp set's values; if there are not enough genuinely similar homes (condos, raw land, new builds, data gaps), we say so instead of forcing a number.

This is the same comparison logic appraisal review boards see in unequal-appraisal evidence under Texas Tax Code section 41.43(b)(3).

How ZIP-level aggregates are computed

For pages like the leaderboard and the homepage trust band, we compute a ZIP-level comparable benchmark: the typical market value per square foot for qualifying single-family homes in each ZIP, from the county roll. Each home is compared against what that benchmark predicts for its size.

ZIP aggregates are a coarser screen than the calculator. The per-home analysis on the calculator uses neighborhood-level comps and is more precise. If the two disagree for your home, trust the calculator.

What “flagged” means

A home is flagged as potentially over-assessed when its appraised value is more than 10% above what the comparable benchmark predicts. The “annual overpayment” dollar figures apply an average effective property tax rate to that excess value (2.15% for Harris County). Your real number depends on your specific ISD, city, MUD, and exemptions, so treat aggregates as estimates.

Flagged does not mean a protest is guaranteed to win. It means the public record shows a gap worth protesting, and the evidence for that protest is what the $99 packet contains.

Data refresh cadence

We work from each district's most recent published assessment roll (currently the 2026 rolls). Counties publish new values once a year, typically March through May in Texas, and we reload each county when its new roll is available. Aggregate stats on the homepage and leaderboard are recomputed from the database at most once a day, which is why they carry a “live from county records” label.

Sources

All property data comes from these Texas county appraisal districts' public records, obtained through their published data downloads and open-records processes:

• Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD)
• Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD)
• Bexar Appraisal District
• Collin Central Appraisal District
• Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD)
• Denton Central Appraisal District
• Fort Bend Central Appraisal District
• Williamson Central Appraisal District
• Nueces County Appraisal District
• Bell County Appraisal District
• Jefferson Central Appraisal District
• Johnson County Appraisal District

Check our math on your own home

The free check shows your appraised value against comparable homes, no signup, no email. You can also download a sample packet to see the evidence format first.

Check my address free