Texas has no state personal income tax, while California’s 2025 rates run from 1% to 12.3% plus a 1% surcharge on taxable income over $1 million. Texas collects more through property tax: 2026 combined rates in the Austin area run about 1.65 to 2.12 percent of taxable value, against California’s Proposition 13 base of 1 percent plus voter-approved debt.

We are Ross Speed and Lindsay Neuren, the founders of The Speed & Neuren Group at Compass. This is the framework we use, with every figure sourced and every assumption labeled. It is general information, not tax advice.

Does Texas have a state income tax?

No. Article 8, Section 24-a of the Texas Constitution, added by voters in November 2019, says the legislature may not impose a tax on the net incomes of individuals, including an individual’s share of partnership and unincorporated association income. Changing that would take another constitutional amendment approved by Texas voters.

What is California’s top income tax rate for 2025 and 2026?

The top marginal rate is 13.3%: the 12.3% top bracket plus a 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax on taxable income above $1,000,000. The surcharge was called the Mental Health Services Tax until the Behavioral Health Services Act renamed it for tax years beginning January 1, 2025; the $1,000,000 threshold is the same for every filing status. The 12.3% bracket starts at $742,953 of taxable income for single filers and $1,485,906 for married couples filing jointly in 2025. California indexes the bracket thresholds for inflation each year, and the Franchise Tax Board publishes the 2026 schedules with the 2026 forms.

Two more California items matter to relocators. State Disability Insurance is withheld from wages at 1.3% in 2026, and since January 1, 2024 there is no wage cap, so it applies to every dollar of salary. And California has no lower rate for capital gains; they are taxed as ordinary income.

How much California income tax does a household pay at different incomes?

California taxable income (married filing jointly, 2025)	California income tax before credits	Texas state income tax
$300,000	$20,777	$0
$400,000	$30,077	$0
$500,000	$39,377	$0
$1,000,000	$89,532	$0
$1,500,000	$151,173 (includes $5,000 Behavioral Health Services Tax)	$0

Assumptions. Figures apply the 2025 California Tax Rate Schedule Y (married/RDP filing jointly) published by the Franchise Tax Board to taxable income, before exemption credits and other credits, and add the 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax on taxable income above $1,000,000. They exclude California SDI withholding (1.3% of all wages in 2026), federal tax and any part-year residency or California-source income rules, which can keep some income taxable in California after you move.

How much property tax do you pay in Texas compared with California?

More in Texas, as a share of value. California’s Proposition 13 limits the base property tax rate to 1% of assessed value. Assessed value is reset to the purchase price when a property sells, then rises each year by the lower of 2% or inflation. Voter-approved bond rates and local assessments are added on top of the 1% base, so the full rate varies by address. In Texas there is no statewide rate cap: the county, city, school district and special districts that cover an address each adopt a rate, and the rates add up. In the Austin area the 2026 combined rate before exemptions runs about 1.65 to 2.12 percent of taxable value.

Worked example: $1,000,000 homestead inside the City of Austin and Austin ISD

Taxing unit (2026 rate per $100)	Taxable value	Tax
Travis County (0.386210)	$800,000 after the county’s 20% homestead exemption	$3,089.68
City of Austin (0.579948)	$800,000 after the city’s 20% homestead exemption	$4,639.58
Central Health (0.132863)	$800,000 after Central Health’s 20% homestead exemption	$1,062.90
Austin Community College (0.103643)	$990,000 after ACC’s homestead exemption (1% of value, minimum $5,000)	$1,026.07
Austin ISD (0.9184)	$860,000 after the $140,000 school homestead exemption	$7,898.24
Total		$17,716.47 (about 1.77% of value)

Assumptions. Appraised value equals the $1,000,000 purchase price, the home qualifies as a residence homestead, and the owner is under 65. Exemptions applied: the $140,000 school exemption (Texas Tax Code Section 11.13(b)), the 20% homestead exemptions of Travis County, the City of Austin and Central Health, and Austin Community College’s exemption of 1% of value (minimum $5,000). A new owner’s homestead exemption starts in the first tax year the home is owned and occupied on January 1. TCAD notes a limited exception when the previous owner did not claim the exemption.

Rates are 2026 adopted rates: Travis County, Central Health, Austin Community College and the City of Austin from the Travis County Tax Office, and Austin ISD from its September 24, 2026 board resolution.

Worked example: $2,500,000 homestead in West Lake Hills and Eanes ISD

Taxing unit (2026 rate per $100)	Taxable value	Tax
Travis County (0.386210)	$2,000,000 after the county’s 20% homestead exemption	$7,724.20
City of West Lake Hills (0.174896)	$2,500,000 (no exemption applied in this example)	$4,372.40
Central Health (0.132863)	$2,000,000 after Central Health’s 20% homestead exemption	$2,657.26
Travis County ESD 9 (0.0779)	$2,500,000 (no exemption applied in this example)	$1,947.50
Travis County WCID No. 10 (0.057)	$2,500,000 (no homestead exemption)	$1,425.00
Eanes ISD (0.8254)	$2,360,000 after the $140,000 school homestead exemption	$19,479.44
Total		$37,605.80 (about 1.50% of value)

Assumptions. Appraised value equals the $2,500,000 purchase price, the home qualifies as a residence homestead, and the owner is under 65. The $140,000 school exemption and the 20% homestead exemptions of Travis County and Central Health are applied; the City of West Lake Hills, ESD 9 and WCID No. 10 are taxed on full value in this example. Austin Community College does not tax this area because Eanes ISD outside the City of Austin is not in its taxing district.

What protections do Texas homestead owners have?

After a homestead has qualified for a full year, its appraised value for tax purposes can rise no more than 10% a year, under Texas Tax Code Section 23.23. Owners 65 or older or disabled receive an additional $60,000 school exemption. Any taxing unit may adopt a local-option exemption of up to 20% of value. And every owner can protest the appraised value each spring, which is where Ross’s early training as an appraiser helps: a protest comes down to defensible comparable sales.

Does Texas property tax cancel out the California income tax savings?

For higher earners, usually not; for moderate earners buying an expensive home, it can. The worked example below compares the same household and the same $1,000,000 home in each state.

Annual state and local tax	California	Austin (City of Austin, Austin ISD)
Income tax, $400,000 taxable income	$30,077	$0
Property tax, $1,000,000 home	$10,000 (1% Proposition 13 base only)	$17,716
Total at $400,000 of taxable income	$40,077	$17,716
Income tax, $150,000 taxable income	$6,827	$0
Total at $150,000 of taxable income	$16,827	$17,716

Assumptions. Married couple filing jointly, California 2025 Schedule Y, tax before credits. The California property figure is the 1% Proposition 13 base on a $1,000,000 purchase price and excludes voter-approved bond rates and local assessments, which raise the real California bill. The Austin figure is the 2026 worked example above. SDI, federal tax and the federal deduction for state and local taxes are excluded.

At $400,000 of taxable income the Austin total is about $22,361 lower in this example. At $150,000 of taxable income it is about $889 higher. The crossover depends on your income, the home price and the taxing units at the address, which is why we pull the exact units for every property a client considers.

Where do Californians moving to Austin live, and what does each area cost in property tax?

The seven areas below are the ones California relocators ask us about most. Beyond the tax stack, they differ on drive time to job centers, lot pattern, school district and HOA or MUD structure.

Area	Free-flow drive minutes: Downtown / The Domain / Tesla Giga Texas	Homes and lots	ISD serving the area	2026 combined rate per $100 (taxing units)	HOA / MUD
West Lake Hills (Westlake)	12 / 20 / 32	Detached single-family homes; the city master plan calls for a one-acre minimum lot in its residential area	Eanes ISD	1.6543 (Travis County, Central Health, City of West Lake Hills, Eanes ISD, Travis County ESD 9, Travis County WCID No. 10)	HOAs vary by subdivision; WCID No. 10 in this stack; no MUD
Tarrytown (central Austin)	8 / 14 / 31	City of Austin lots; HOME rules allow up to three units on single-family-zoned lots and small lots down to 1,800 sq ft	Austin ISD	2.1211 (Travis County, Central Health, Austin Community College, City of Austin, Austin ISD)	Varies; read the deed restrictions in the title commitment
Mueller (central-east Austin)	8 / 15 / 22	Planned community on the 700-acre former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport: yard homes, row homes and apartments	Austin ISD	2.1211 (Same stack as Tarrytown)	Community-wide POA created by recorded covenants
Lakeway	34 / 37 / 46	Subdivisions around Lake Travis, a water-supply reservoir that LCRA operates to fluctuate	Lake Travis ISD	1.8157 (1.8688 inside Lakeway MUD) (Travis County, Central Health, City of Lakeway, Lake Travis ISD, Travis County ESD 6)	HOAs vary; parcels inside Lakeway MUD add 0.0531
Cedar Park	26 / 17 / 39	Suburban city spanning Williamson and Travis counties	Leander ISD serves much of the city; confirm by address	2.0200* (Williamson County, City of Cedar Park, Leander ISD, Austin Community College)	HOAs and MUDs vary by subdivision
Leander	33 / 24 / 46	Northern end of the CapMetro Red Line commuter rail (Leander Station)	Leander ISD	2.0594* (Williamson County, City of Leander, Leander ISD, Austin Community College)	HOAs and MUDs vary by subdivision
Round Rock	25 / 15 / 35	Home of Dell Technologies headquarters (One Dell Way)	Round Rock ISD	1.8966* (Williamson County, City of Round Rock, Round Rock ISD, Austin Community College)	HOAs and MUDs vary by subdivision

* Leander ISD’s and Round Rock ISD’s 2026 rates go to November 3, 2026 voter-approval elections.

How to read this table. Drive minutes are off-peak, free-flow estimates from OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data, computed September 28, 2026, from each city’s municipal offices (Tarrytown: Exposition Blvd; Mueller: Aldrich St) to the Texas Capitol, The Domain (Century Oaks Terrace) and Tesla Giga Texas (1 Tesla Rd). Peak-hour trips take longer. Rates are 2026 adopted rates per $100 of taxable value, before exemptions, from the Travis County Tax Office and Williamson County Tax Office rate tables, Austin ISD’s September 24, 2026 board resolution and City of Lakeway Ordinance No. 2026-09-21-04 (Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock use the Williamson County portion). The units listed are the typical stack for that area; the TCAD or WCAD record for a specific parcel lists its exact taxing units. School district boundaries do not follow city limits, so verify any address with the district’s boundary tool. Sellers of property inside a MUD must give buyers a written notice with the district’s tax rate under Texas Water Code Section 49.452.

How do home prices compare between California and Austin?

The California Association of Realtors reported a September 2026 statewide median of $899,720 for existing single-family homes, with $1,325,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area region and $994,670 in Los Angeles County. Unlock MLS reported a September 2026 median residential price of $421,000 for the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro, $570,958 in the City of Austin and $497,400 in Travis County. The two reports define their home sets slightly differently, so read the gap as a range. The mechanism matters more than the headline: equity from a California sale can lower the mortgage on the Austin purchase, while the Austin home then carries a higher property tax rate than the California home did.

How should you build a California-to-Texas relocation budget?

Use three lines. First, the California income tax you stop paying, calculated from your own taxable income rather than the top rate. Second, the Texas property tax on the specific home, using the exact taxing units and the exemptions you will qualify for. Third, the housing change: what your California sale nets and what your Austin purchase costs. We help with the second and third lines, pricing the California sale realistically and pulling the tax stack for each Austin address. For the first line, and for residency timing, equity compensation and capital gains, work with a CPA.

This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Tax outcomes depend on your income sources, filing status, residency dates and the exact property. Consult a CPA or tax attorney before you make a relocation decision based on these figures.

Frequently Asked Questions About California vs Texas Taxes