Texas homestead 10 percent appraisal cap calculator.

What the cap does

Texas appraisal districts appraise a residence homestead at market value, but section 23.23 limits how far the appraised value can rise. The statute says that regardless of whether the appraisal office has appraised the property and determined the market value for the tax year, it may increase the appraised value of a residence homestead to an amount not more than the lesser of two figures. The first is the market value for the most recent year the office determined it. The second is the sum of three parts: 10 percent of the appraised value for the preceding tax year, the appraised value for the preceding tax year, and the market value of all new improvements. In plain terms the ceiling is last year’s appraised value times 1.10, plus new improvements, and the taxed value is whichever is lower, that ceiling or market value.

The chief appraiser still has to appraise the home at market value and must show both the market value and the capped amount in the appraisal records (section 23.23(b)). That is why your notice lists two values. The gap between them is the amount of market value that is not taxed this year because of the limit.

The formula

Cap = last year’s appraised value × 1.10 + market value of new improvements. Appraised value for the year = the smaller of the cap and market value. The calculator applies exactly that and, if you enter a combined tax rate, multiplies the appraised value minus your exemptions by the rate per $100. School district, county, city and special-district rates are all on the tax-rate notice or your county’s tax office site, and exemptions differ by unit, so the tax figure is an approximation for planning rather than a bill.

When the cap starts and stops

Section 23.23(c) says the limitation takes effect on January 1 of the tax year following the first tax year in which the owner qualifies the property for the residence homestead exemption under section 11.13. So if you buy a house and qualify for the exemption in 2026, the first capped year is 2027; in 2026 the home is appraised at market value. The limitation expires on January 1 of the first tax year that neither the owner of the property when the limitation took effect, nor that owner’s spouse or surviving spouse, qualifies for the exemption. An owner who receives the exemption by the late-qualification rule in section 11.42(f) is treated as having qualified as of January 1 of the tax year after the year of acquisition (section 23.23(c-1)).

What counts as a new improvement

Section 23.23(e) defines a new improvement as an improvement to a residence homestead made after the most recent appraisal that increases the market value and whose value is not already in last year’s appraised value. Repairs to, or ordinary maintenance of, an existing structure or the grounds are not new improvements. Section 23.23(f) adds a rule for replacement structures after a casualty or wind or water damage: the replacement is not treated as a new improvement unless it has more square footage than the structure it replaced or its exterior is of higher quality construction and composition, and section 23.23(g) excepts some disaster recovery program rebuilds. Because the value of a real addition resets part of the baseline, enter only the market value of genuinely new work.

Worked example

Last year the appraised value was $300,000. This year the district’s market value is $380,000 and nothing new was built. The cap is $300,000 × 1.10 = $330,000, which is below market value, so $330,000 is the appraised value and $50,000 of market value is not taxed this year. At a combined rate of $2.10 per $100 with $100,000 of exemptions, the tax estimate is ($330,000 − $100,000) × 2.10 / 100 = $4,830.00. Without the cap it would be ($380,000 − $100,000) × 2.10 / 100 = $5,880.00. If market value had been $320,000 instead, market value is below the cap and $320,000 would apply.

What the cap does not do

Section 23.23(d) says the section does not apply to property appraised under Subchapters C, D, E, F or G of chapter 23, which are separate appraisal methods for particular kinds of land. The cap does not freeze your tax bill: tax rates can rise and market value that stays above the cap keeps climbing toward it by 10 percent a year. The limit also applies only to the appraised value of the residence homestead and not to other property you own. Separate rules, outside this page, cover the homestead exemption amounts, the over-65 and disabled school tax ceiling, and the cap for non-homestead property. Those are in other parts of the Tax Code and the Texas Constitution and we did not read them for this page.

Limits of this page

We read the text of section 23.23 on the public mirror texas.public.law, because the official Texas Constitution and Statutes site at statutes.capitol.texas.gov loaded only as an empty application shell for an automated request. The Comptroller’s property tax guidance PDF we tried returned a not-found error. Check your own district’s notice for the numbers to enter. This is general information, not tax advice, and your county appraisal district decides your case.

Sources

Sources opened and read November 2, 2026.

• Texas Tax Code section 23.23, Limitation on Appraised Value of Residence Homestead (public mirror of the statute, read November 2, 2026)
• Texas Constitution and Statutes, Tax Code chapter 23 (official site, opened November 2, 2026; page did not render for an automated request)