San Antonio Property Taxes and Your Rental's Break-Even Rent (2026)

A rental house inside San Antonio city limits pays roughly 2.24% to 2.44% of its assessed value in property tax every year, depending on the school district, and it gets no homestead exemption to soften that. On a house assessed at the August 2026 Bexar County median sale price of $280,999, a Northside ISD address owes about $6,435 a year, or $536 a month. That single line item usually decides whether a San Antonio rental works, because it is the cost that sets your break-even rent.

This guide is for the owner who already has a San Antonio-area rental, or is about to. It shows the full Bexar County rate stack entity by entity, what each school district does to the monthly bill, what changed for the 2026 tax year, and how to turn your tax bill into a break-even rent you can check against the market.

The short answer

San Antonio property tax on a rental is the sum of six or seven separate rates, and the school district rate is the biggest of them. For tax year 2025, the official rates certified by the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector produce a combined rate of about $2.29 per $100 of value for a City of San Antonio address in Northside ISD, $2.27 in North East ISD, $2.26 in Judson ISD, $2.24 in Alamo Heights ISD and $2.44 in San Antonio ISD.

Three facts matter more than the exact decimal:

• Rentals pay on full value. The homestead exemptions that make headlines apply to owner-occupied homes only.
• The rate went up for the 2026 tax year. The City of San Antonio raised its total rate to 56.288 cents per $100, and Alamo Colleges and the River Authority also raised theirs. Three school districts asked voters for more in November 2026.
• The investor cap is ending. The 20% circuit breaker limit on appraisal growth for non-homestead property expires December 31, 2026.

The tax bill does not care what the house rents for, which is exactly why it sets your floor. Rent is set by the market; tax is set by the appraisal district and the taxing units. Your job as the owner is to know the gap between the two.

What is the property tax rate in San Antonio?

For tax year 2025, a City of San Antonio rental in Northside ISD pays a combined rate of about $2.29 per $100 of assessed value, made up of seven taxing units. The county, the hospital district, the community college district and the river authority cover all of Bexar County. The city and school district rates depend on the exact address.

A taxing unit is any government body that levies its own property tax on your parcel, and your bill is simply every unit's rate added together and multiplied by your taxable value. Bexar County's Tax Assessor-Collector collects for 66 separate jurisdictions, so the list on your own statement is the only one that is definitively yours.

Taxing unit	2025 rate per $100	Who pays it
Bexar County	$0.276331	All Bexar County property
Bexar County Road and Flood Control Fund	$0.023668	Listed separately by the county
Hospital District (University Health)	$0.276235	All Bexar County property
Alamo Community College District	$0.149150	All Bexar County property
San Antonio River Authority	$0.018300	All Bexar County property
City of San Antonio	$0.541590	Addresses inside city limits
Northside ISD (example school district)	$1.004900	Addresses inside NISD
Combined	$2.290174	City of San Antonio address in Northside ISD

Rates are the 2025 official rates published by the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector. They exclude municipal utility districts, emergency services districts and public improvement districts, which add to the bill in some newer subdivisions, particularly outside the city limits. If your house sits in one, your combined rate is higher than the table shows.

Monthly tax by school district and price

The school district you are in moves the monthly tax bill on a $300,000 San Antonio rental by about $50 a month, from roughly $561 in Alamo Heights ISD to $610 in San Antonio ISD. School district rates are the largest single piece of every Bexar County bill, so they explain most of the difference between two similar houses a few miles apart.

Address (2025 rates)	Combined rate per $100	$250,000 value	$300,000 value	$400,000 value
City of San Antonio, San Antonio ISD	$2.440474	$508/mo	$610/mo	$813/mo
City of San Antonio, Northside ISD	$2.290174	$477/mo	$573/mo	$763/mo
City of San Antonio, North East ISD	$2.267474	$472/mo	$567/mo	$756/mo
City of San Antonio, Judson ISD	$2.264874	$472/mo	$566/mo	$755/mo
City of San Antonio, Alamo Heights ISD	$2.242474	$467/mo	$561/mo	$747/mo
City of Alamo Heights, Alamo Heights ISD	$2.071031	$431/mo	$518/mo	$690/mo

These are Flat Fee Landlord calculations from the Bexar County 2025 official rates: the countywide units plus the city and school district shown, multiplied by the assessed value and divided by twelve. Assessed value on a rental is the appraisal district's market value, subject to the circuit breaker cap below while it lasts, which is not always your purchase price.

Notice the bottom row. The City of Alamo Heights carries a lower city rate ($0.370147) than San Antonio, so the same house value costs less per month in tax there. That does not make Alamo Heights a better rental. As our San Antonio neighborhood investment comparison shows, purchase prices there are high enough that it screens weakest on rent-to-value of the ten areas we compared. A lower rate on a much higher value is still a bigger bill.

What changed for the 2026 tax year

For the 2026 tax year, the City of San Antonio total rate rose to 56.288 cents per $100, up from 54.159 cents, and several other taxing units in Bexar County moved too. The City publishes the new rate as 35.138 cents for maintenance and operations plus 21.150 cents for debt service.

Texas Public Radio's September 28, 2026 tally of local budget decisions reported the rest of the picture:

• Alamo Colleges District: raised to about 16.7 cents per $100, from 14.915 cents.
• San Antonio River Authority: raised to 1.93 cents per $100, from 1.83 cents.
• Bexar County: held its rate flat.
• University Health: held its rate flat.
• School districts: Northside ISD (a proposed 3-cent increase), San Antonio ISD and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD put tax rate elections on the November 2026 ballot, so their final rates depend on voters.

Put together, if Northside ISD's rate stays at its 2025 level, the combined rate for a City of San Antonio address in NISD rises from about $2.290 to about $2.330 per $100. If the NISD increase passes, it is about $2.360. On a house assessed at $280,999, that is the difference between roughly $536, $546 and $553 a month. Small per month, but it compounds every year it is not offset by rent growth, and in 2026 San Antonio rents are not growing. The San Antonio Board of REALTORS reported the average rental listing at $1,832 in August 2026, down 2% year over year. Our San Antonio average rent guide breaks that number down by area and size.

Your 2026 bill uses the 2026 rates applied to your 2026 appraised value. Check the exact figures on the statement from the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector rather than relying on any article, including this one.

Rentals get no homestead exemption

A San Antonio rental pays tax on its full assessed value because Texas homestead exemptions apply only to the owner's principal residence. The Texas Comptroller states that school districts must provide a $140,000 residence homestead exemption under Tax Code Section 11.13(b), plus an additional $60,000 for owners who are 65 or older or disabled. On top of that, Bexar County's published exemption table shows a county homestead exemption of $5,000 or 20%. None of it applies to a house you rent out.

That gap is the most common surprise for owners who move out and keep the old house as a rental. On a house assessed at $300,000 in Northside ISD, the $140,000 school exemption alone shelters about $1,407 a year of school tax at the 2025 NISD rate. Once you no longer live there and the exemption comes off, that tax comes back, along with the 10% annual cap on homestead appraisal increases. If you are making that move, model the rental at full value from day one. Our guide to becoming a landlord in Texas puts taxes and insurance at the top of the to-do list for exactly this reason.

The 20% investor cap ends after 2026

The circuit breaker limitation caps how fast a rental's appraised value can rise for tax purposes, and it expires December 31, 2026. It is the only structural tax break aimed at owners of non-homestead property in Texas, and it has a short shelf life.

How it works, per the Texas Comptroller:

• It limits the increase in appraised value to 20% of the prior year's appraised value, plus the value of any new improvements.
• It applies to non-homestead real property valued at or below a threshold: $5,000,000 for 2024, $5,160,000 for 2025 and $5,320,000 for 2026.
• It takes effect on January 1 of the tax year after the first year you own the property on January 1, so a recent buyer may not have it yet.
• It ends on January 1 after the year you stop owning the property. A buyer starts fresh.
• The program as a whole expires December 31, 2026.

For most San Antonio rentals the cap has not been doing much lately, because Bexar County values are flat to falling. SABOR reported the Bexar County median sale price down 3.1% year over year in August 2026. But if you own in a pocket that is still appreciating, or you are holding through a recovery, 2027 is the first year your appraisal can rise with no investor limit at all. Build that into any hold-period projection. Austin owners face the same change, covered in our Austin property tax guide for landlords.

How do I calculate break-even rent?

Break-even rent is the monthly rent at which a rental covers every cost it carries, after allowing for months it sits empty. Add up the monthly costs, then divide by one minus your vacancy allowance. Anything you collect above that number is cash flow; anything below it comes out of your pocket.

The formula:

Break-even rent = (property tax + insurance + HOA + maintenance reserve + management + mortgage payment) / (1 - vacancy rate)

Here is a worked example on a house assessed at the Bexar County median sale price, inside the City of San Antonio in Northside ISD, at 2025 rates. Property tax and the management fee are real figures. Insurance and the maintenance reserve are placeholders to show the method, not a quote, and you should replace them with your own numbers.

Monthly cost	Example	How it is set
Property tax	$536	$280,999 x 2.290174% / 12 (Bexar 2025 official rates)
Insurance	$175	Placeholder. Get a landlord policy quote for your address.
HOA dues	$0	Many San Antonio subdivisions have them. Add yours.
Maintenance reserve	$234	Placeholder: 1% of value per year, a common rule of thumb
Management	$139	Flat Fee Landlord Basic, annual billing
Costs before mortgage	$1,084
Vacancy allowance	5%	Placeholder. Use your own history.
Break-even rent before mortgage	$1,141	$1,084 / 0.95

Then add the mortgage. Take your monthly principal and interest payment, divide it by 0.95, and add it to $1,141. That is your full break-even rent. A house owned free and clear breaks even at about $1,141 a month in this example. A financed house might need several hundred dollars more, depending on the loan.

Compare the result with the market. At SABOR's August 2026 average rent of $1,832, the example house would collect about $1,740 a month after a 5% vacancy allowance, leaving about $656 a month to cover debt service before it goes negative. The two figures are different measures, a citywide average rent and a countywide median price, so treat this as a sanity check rather than a forecast. The method is the point: run it on your own house, your own tax statement and your own loan.

Three things this exercise usually reveals:

1. Property tax is the biggest lever after the loan. In this example it is half of all non-mortgage costs. A successful protest moves break-even rent more than any other single action.
2. A percentage management fee moves break-even with the rent. On a percentage fee, raising rent raises the fee too. A flat fee stays put, so every dollar of rent increase goes toward closing the gap.
3. Vacancy is expensive. Every month empty costs the full break-even amount, not just the lost rent. Pricing to lease quickly often beats holding out for an extra $50.

How much of San Antonio rent goes to property tax?

On a house assessed at the Bexar County median sale price, property tax takes about 29% of San Antonio's average monthly rent. $536 of monthly tax against SABOR's $1,832 average rent is 29.3%. On a higher-value house in the same tax stack, the share climbs unless the rent climbs with it.

Assessed value (City of SA, NISD, 2025 rates)	Monthly property tax	Share of $1,832 rent
$250,000	$477	26%
$280,999 (Bexar median sale price, Aug 2026)	$536	29%
$300,000	$573	31%
$400,000	$763	42%

A $400,000 house will usually rent for more than the citywide average, so the last row overstates the share for that house. But it shows why higher-priced San Antonio rentals are harder to make cash flow. Tax scales with value, one for one. Rent does not.

A useful rule of thumb for a City of San Antonio address in Northside ISD: every $10,000 of assessed value costs about $229 a year, or about $19 a month, in property tax at 2025 rates. That works in both directions. It is what a higher purchase price costs you every year, and what a successful protest saves you every year.

Protesting your Bexar appraisal

You can protest your rental's appraised value with the Bexar Appraisal District, and in most cases the deadline is May 15 or 30 days after your appraisal notice is delivered, whichever is later. That is the Texas Comptroller's statement of the rule. Protests go to the Appraisal Review Board, an independent panel that hears your evidence and the district's.

The 2026 window has closed, so the time to prepare for 2027 is now. A rental owner's evidence file typically includes:

• Your closing statement, if you bought in the last year or two.
• Comparable sales of similar houses nearby, especially recent sales below the district's value.
• Repair estimates and photos for anything that would lower a buyer's offer: roof, foundation, HVAC, plumbing.
• Your rent roll and vacancy history. For income-producing property, rent evidence can support an argument about value alongside the sales comparison.

Our step-by-step property tax protest guide walks through the hearing process. With 2027 the first year without the circuit breaker cap, a protest matters more next spring than it has in three years.

Property tax on a rental is also a rental expense for federal income tax purposes, reported with your other rental expenses on Schedule E. Our landlord tax deduction guide covers the full list. We manage rental property; we do not give tax advice, so confirm your situation with a CPA.

Where a flat-fee manager fits

You cannot set the tax rate, and you cannot set the market rent. What you can control is everything in between: how fast the house leases, how well it is priced, how well it is maintained, and how much the management itself costs.

Across Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe and Kendall counties, we price from live comparables in your ZIP code and school zone, market the house so it leases in weeks rather than months, screen tenants thoroughly and handle maintenance before small problems become big ones. Every month of vacancy you avoid is a full month of break-even costs you do not pay out of pocket.

We charge a flat monthly fee, starting at $139/mo on annual billing, not a percentage of rent. In a market where property tax is rising and rents are flat, that matters: your management cost should not rise just because your rent did. When you do raise rent, the whole increase goes toward your margin. For how fees compare locally, see what property management costs in San Antonio, and for the full local picture, our San Antonio property management page. For ZIP-level rent benchmarks, see the San Antonio rent report.

The fastest way to check your own break-even math is to start with a real rent number. Request a free rental analysis for your San Antonio-area house, then put it next to your tax statement.

Frequently asked questions

What is the property tax rate in San Antonio?

For tax year 2025, a rental inside the City of San Antonio pays a combined rate of roughly $2.24 to $2.44 per $100 of assessed value, depending on the school district. A Northside ISD address carries about $2.29 per $100, made up of Bexar County, the Road and Flood Control Fund, the City of San Antonio, Alamo Colleges, the Hospital District, the River Authority and Northside ISD.

Do San Antonio rental properties get a homestead exemption?

No. The $140,000 Texas school-district homestead exemption and Bexar County's homestead exemptions apply only to a home the owner occupies as a principal residence. A rental is taxed on its full assessed value.

What is break-even rent on a rental property?

The monthly rent at which a rental covers all of its costs, including property tax, insurance, HOA dues, a maintenance reserve, management and the mortgage, after allowing for vacancy. Add up monthly costs and divide by one minus your vacancy rate.

When is the deadline to protest property taxes in Bexar County?

In most cases, May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal notice is delivered, whichever is later. Protests go to the Bexar Appraisal District's Appraisal Review Board. The 2026 window has closed, so start building your 2027 evidence file now.

Does the 20% circuit breaker cap still apply to Texas rental property?

Only through 2026. The Texas Comptroller states the circuit breaker limitation, a 20% annual cap on appraised-value growth for non-homestead real property at or below $5,320,000 for 2026, expires December 31, 2026.

Did San Antonio raise property taxes for 2026?

Yes. The City of San Antonio's total rate is 56.288 cents per $100 for fiscal year 2027, up from 54.159 cents. Alamo Colleges and the River Authority also raised rates, Bexar County and University Health held flat, and three school districts asked voters for increases in November 2026.

Sources and last reviewed

• Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector - 2025 Official Tax Rates and Exemptions
• Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector - Tax Rates
• City of San Antonio Finance Department - Tax Rate Summary (FY 2027)
• Texas Public Radio - Counting the costs: Here is how the dust settled on local tax increases and fees (September 28, 2026)
• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts - Valuing Property (circuit breaker limitation and homestead 10% cap)
• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts - Property Tax Exemptions (Tax Code Section 11.13)
• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts - Property Tax Protests and Appeals
• San Antonio Board of REALTORS - August 2026 San Antonio Market Statistics report (released September 10, 2026)

Combined rates, monthly tax figures, tax-to-rent shares and the break-even example are Flat Fee Landlord calculations from the sources above. Insurance, maintenance reserve and vacancy figures in the break-even example are illustrative placeholders, not quotes or market data. Rates exclude municipal utility, emergency services and public improvement districts.

Last reviewed October 2, 2026 by the Flat Fee Landlord San Antonio team. This article is general information for property owners, not tax, financial or legal advice.