The Texas Affordability Crisis Is Bigger Than Home Prices

Property Taxes, Insurance, Utilities, Rent, and the Real Cost of Staying in Texas

When people talk about housing affordability in Texas, they usually start with the price of the home.

That matters. A median-priced Texas home around $333,000 to $344,000 is already a major financial commitment for the average household. But the purchase price is only the front door to the bigger issue.

The real pressure is the monthly cost of keeping a roof over your head.

For homeowners, that means mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, electricity, natural gas, repairs, HOA dues, and debt. For renters, it means rent renewals, fees, utilities, tighter screening, and fewer affordable choices when the cost of owning rental property keeps rising.

These costs do not hit families one at a time. They hit the same monthly budget.

That is why property taxes cannot be discussed in isolation. They have to be looked at alongside insurance, utilities, school funding, senior income, renter costs, and the gap between what Texans earn and what it actually costs to live here.

The Monthly Payment Is Not Just the Mortgage

Using a Texas median sale price around $333,611, a buyer putting 20% down at a 7.28% mortgage rate would have a principal and interest payment of roughly $1,826 per month before taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, HOA, or debt.

Then property taxes enter the picture.

At a 1.8% property tax rate, that same home would carry about $6,005 per year in property taxes, or roughly $500 per month. At 2.0%, the tax bill is about $6,672 per year, or $556 per month. At 2.3%, it rises to about $7,673 per year, or $639 per month.

That means property taxes alone can consume about 7.7% to 9.8% of Texas median household income before a family pays for insurance, utilities, food, cars, medical care, repairs, or consumer debt.

For older Texans, the pressure is worse. Texas households age 65 and older have a median household income around $56,912. On that income, the same property tax range equals roughly 10.6% to 13.5% of gross income.

And if the reference point is the average Social Security retired-worker benefit, about $2,071 per month, a $6,005 to $7,673 annual property tax bill equals about 24% to 31% of that annual Social Security income before anything else is paid.

A paid-off house is not a free house.

The Full Cost Stack Is the Problem

Average Texas homeowners insurance is estimated around $4,915 per year, or about $410 per month. Average credit-card balances in Texas are also thousands of dollars per household, with one newer Experian figure around $7,383. A simple 3% minimum payment on that balance is about $221 per month.

Put the pieces together and the monthly stack reaches roughly $2,958 to $3,097 before utilities, repairs, HOA, groceries, transportation, phone, internet, child care, or medical costs.

For a household earning the Texas median income, that is about 45% to 47% of gross monthly income. For a 65-plus household earning the median income for that age group, it is about 62% to 65%.

For a senior relying mainly on Social Security, that is not just tight. It is not workable.

Seniors Need More Than a Tax Exemption

Texas has taken steps to help senior homeowners, including the over-65 exemption and expanded school-tax relief. Those exemptions matter. They help real people stay in their homes.

But they do not solve the full affordability problem.

Using a rough 2% total tax rate and a statewide levy split where school districts represent about 48.5% of property-tax levies, a $200,000 senior or disabled school-tax exemption could still leave a rough estimate near $4,731 per year, or about $394 per month, in property taxes.

Add average homeowners insurance around $410 per month, a modest credit-card minimum payment around $221 per month, and electricity. A FRED/BLS series for Dallas-Fort Worth residential electricity showed $0.196 per kilowatt-hour in December 2024, so 1,500 kWh would be about $294 before fixed charges, taxes, and fees.

That means a paid-off senior's housing-related cost stack can approach $1,300 to $1,500 per month before food and medical costs are fully counted.

Senior citizens helped build this state. They deserve more than a technical exemption. They deserve a realistic shot at staying in the state they helped build.

Renters Pay the Cost Too

Renters do not receive the property tax bill in the mail. But that does not mean they are protected from it.

Property taxes and insurance are operating costs for rental housing. When those costs rise, the owner has to absorb them, pass them through, reduce expenses somewhere else, or eventually sell. None of those outcomes are painless for renters.

A renter may feel it as a rent increase at renewal. They may feel it as higher application fees, stricter screening, fewer concessions, delayed repairs, or fewer small landlords willing to stay in the market. In fast-growing areas, renters may also get pushed farther from work, school, family, and the communities they know.

That is the quiet part of the affordability crisis. A family can do everything right, pay rent on time, avoid debt, and still get squeezed because the property owner's taxes, insurance, repairs, and financing costs changed.

So when property taxes rise, the burden is not limited to homeowners. Renters feel it too, even if the bill arrives under someone else's name.

Affordability Is Tied to the Address

Texas property tax bills are not one tax. They are a collection of local taxes from every taxing unit attached to the property.

Statewide levy data from the Legislative Budget Board shows roughly 48.5% of local property tax levies going to school districts, 18.4% to cities, 17.4% to counties, and 15.6% to special districts.

That is why two homes with similar prices can have very different monthly payments. The home price may be the same, but the county, city, school district, hospital district, MUD, PID, exemptions, and appraisal history can be very different.

In Texas, affordability is tied to the address.

The same idea applies to schools. Families care deeply about school quality, and strong schools can support buyer demand and long-term resale value. But higher tax rates do not automatically equal better schools. Money matters when it is targeted well, but simply throwing more money at a system without accountability does not guarantee better outcomes for kids.

The better question is: are taxpayers getting real value for the money, and are students getting a better education because of it?

Texas Powers the Country, but Texans Still Feel the Bill

Energy belongs in this discussion because Texas is not an ordinary energy state.

Texas is the nation's leading crude oil and natural gas producing state. EIA data shows Texas accounted for 28% of U.S. natural gas gross withdrawals in 2024, with about 12.1 trillion cubic feet of marketed natural gas production. Natural gas also made up 55.7% of electric power sector energy consumption in Texas in 2024.

That proves how important natural gas is to the state. But it also raises a fair question: if Texas produces so much energy, why do so many Texans still feel squeezed by utility bills?

The answer is that households do not buy energy at the wellhead. Residential natural gas prices include the commodity, transmission, distribution, taxes, fees, demand patterns, regulation, and supplier competition. Electricity prices also move through generation, grid costs, retail contracts, delivery charges, weather events, and market structure before the bill reaches the kitchen table.

Texas has the resource. That does not automatically mean the household gets the benefit.

A Texas View on Accountability

Texas carries a lot of weight for this country. We power homes, fuel industries, drive jobs, and help keep one of the strongest economies in the world moving. But strength does not remove the need for accountability. Overregulation can choke growth, but underregulation can leave families paying the price.

Families are expected to budget, sacrifice, and make wise decisions with every dollar. Government, utilities, insurers, school districts, and corporations should be held to the same standard. If taxpayers are asked to fund the system, they deserve to know whether that money is being spent wisely, whether it is producing real value, and whether it is helping Texans build a better life instead of making it harder to stay here.

Texas has never been afraid to stand its ground, look a challenge in the eye, and say, "Come and take it." But that spirit is not just about defiance. It is also about courage, responsibility, neighborliness, and pride.

That is the Texas way: stand firm, think forward, and take care of our own.

Why a Good Real Estate Agent Matters

A strong real estate agent can make a real difference because affordability is not just about finding a house or rental. It is about understanding the full cost before you commit.

A good agent helps buyers compare tax rates, exemptions, insurance risk, HOA dues, MUDs, PIDs, utility costs, repair exposure, resale strength, and negotiation leverage.

For renters, a good agent can help compare neighborhoods, find rental options before they disappear, spot lease terms that deserve a closer look, and negotiate where the market allows. In a tight budget, even a better lease structure, a stronger renewal strategy, or the right location can change a family's monthly reality.

For buyers, the right agent can help negotiate seller concessions, closing costs, repairs, rate buydowns, appraisal gaps, timelines, and terms that protect the client. Sometimes the win is not just the price. It is the total deal.

And the work does not stop at the transaction. Texas REALTORS® also advocate at the Texas Capitol for issues that affect property owners, renters, and future buyers. Texas REALTORS® says its members monitor issues including property taxes, home equity, and eminent domain, and that thousands of REALTORS® visit the Capitol during legislative sessions to advocate for legislation that benefits property owners. Texas REALTORS® also describes its consumer advocacy work as focused on housing affordability, property tax reform, private property rights, and policies that benefit current and future property owners.

That matters because affordability is not only a personal finance issue. It is a policy issue too.

The Bottom Line

A home is not affordable because the listing price looks reasonable. A home is affordable when the total cost fits the household.

Texas is still one of the strongest states in America. It is pro-growth, pro-business, energy-rich, and full of opportunity.

But opportunity means less if the people who built the state cannot afford to stay in it.

The future of Texas affordability will not be solved by pretending any one cost exists alone. It will be solved by looking at the whole picture, asking harder questions, demanding better value, and helping Texans make smarter decisions before they sign the lease, buy the house, or vote on the policies that shape the cost of both.

This article is for general real estate education and is not legal, tax, financial, lending, or investment advice. Sources reviewed include U.S. Census Bureau household-income data, Social Security Administration benefit data, Texas housing-price and mortgage-rate modeling, FRED/BLS Dallas-Fort Worth electricity data, U.S. Energy Information Administration Texas energy data, Legislative Budget Board property-tax levy data, and Texas REALTORS® advocacy pages including "At the Capitol" and "Advocacy at the Capitol."