By Mark Hewitt · Hewitt Group at Real Broker, LLC
Arlington, Texas sits at the entertainment and geographic heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and it attracts homebuyers from a remarkable diversity of origin states — California transplants escaping income taxes and housing costs, Illinois families seeking better value and lower taxes, New York professionals relocating for corporate positions at the dozens of companies that have established DFW operations, and Florida retirees who are surprised to discover that Texas's property tax structure differs more than they expected from what they left behind. Mark Hewitt and the Hewitt Group at Real Broker, LLC work with relocating buyers across Arlington's zip codes on a daily basis, and the property tax conversation is one that every relocating buyer needs to have before they commit to a purchase price — not after. The guide below explains how Arlington property taxes are calculated, how to use current tax rates to determine your actual monthly payment, and how the Texas property tax system compares to the states that are sending the most buyers to Arlington in 2026.
Arlington's Property Tax Rate and How It Is Built
Arlington's combined property tax rate aggregates levies from several taxing entities. The school district component is the largest — Arlington ISD currently maintains a combined rate of approximately $1.04 to $1.10 per $100 of taxable value for most addresses within the district, though buyers in the city's southern zip codes near the Mansfield border may fall within Mansfield ISD whose rate differs modestly. The City of Arlington contributes approximately $0.57 to $0.63 per $100 of taxable value. Tarrant County adds approximately $0.22 per $100. The Tarrant County Hospital District contributes approximately $0.22 per $100, and the Tarrant County College District adds approximately $0.13 per $100. Combined, the total rate for a typical Arlington homeowner in an Arlington ISD-assigned address runs approximately $2.18 to $2.30 per $100 of taxable value — expressed as a percentage, approximately 2.18% to 2.30% of appraised value.
This means that for every $100,000 of appraised value on your Arlington home, you owe approximately $2,180 to $2,300 per year in combined property taxes before exemptions. The homestead exemption — which reduces your taxable value for school district purposes by $100,000 — effectively saves you approximately $1,040 to $1,100 per year in school district taxes alone. After the homestead exemption is applied, the effective annual tax obligation on a $340,000 Arlington home works out to approximately $6,200 to $7,000 per year, or $517 to $583 per month flowing into your escrow account.
A Complete Arlington Monthly Payment Calculation
Take a $340,000 home in Arlington's 76015 zip code, assigned to Arlington ISD, with a combined effective tax rate of approximately 2.25% and the homestead exemption applied. With 5% down and a thirty-year fixed mortgage at 6.75% on a $323,000 loan, the principal and interest payment is approximately $2,096 per month. The annual property tax after homestead exemption is approximately $6,300 per year, or $525 per month in escrow. Homeowners insurance at current North Texas rates runs approximately $230 per month for a home in this price range. PMI on a 5% down conventional loan adds approximately $135 per month. Total monthly payment: approximately $2,986 per month.
Compare this to what a buyer might have estimated based solely on an online mortgage calculator that only shows principal and interest — they would have seen approximately $2,096 and assumed a payment nearly $900 less than the reality. This is the miscalculation that Mark Hewitt and the Hewitt Group at Real Broker, LLC see most frequently in buyer conversations, and it is entirely preventable with the complete payment analysis that should precede every Arlington home search rather than following it.
The school district assignment of your specific Arlington address affects this calculation meaningfully. Buyers in the 76001 and 76002 zip codes who fall within Mansfield ISD rather than Arlington ISD will find that the combined rate differs — verify the specific school district for any address through the Tarrant Appraisal District website before finalizing your payment estimate. A buyer who assumes Arlington ISD rates for a Mansfield ISD-assigned property will miscalculate their tax obligation, potentially in either direction depending on the current rate differential between the two districts.
How Texas Property Taxes Compare to Where Arlington Buyers Are Coming From
California relocation buyers arriving in Arlington represent one of the largest single origin groups in the city's buyer pool, and the California-to-Arlington tax comparison is one that consistently produces a positive reaction once the full picture is presented. California imposes a state income tax with rates ranging from 1% on modest incomes to 13.3% on incomes above $1 million — for a household earning $175,000 in California, the state income tax obligation runs approximately $13,000 to $16,000 per year depending on filing status and deductions. Relocating to Arlington eliminates this obligation entirely. The $6,300 per year in Arlington property taxes on a $340,000 home is the replacement cost for that income tax obligation, and for virtually every California household earning above $100,000, the property tax is less than the California income tax it replaces.
California's Proposition 13 property tax structure creates a specific dynamic that surprises California buyers in Arlington — in California, long-term homeowners pay taxes on assessed values that may be dramatically below current market value due to the 2% annual assessment cap, while new buyers pay taxes on the full purchase price. This means that a California homeowner who purchased fifteen years ago at $300,000 and now owns a home worth $700,000 is paying taxes on approximately $400,000 of assessed value — a dramatically lower effective rate than what a new buyer would pay on the same home. When this California homeowner moves to Arlington and purchases a home at $340,000, they lose the Proposition 13 protection they had built up over fifteen years and pay Texas property taxes on the full $340,000 purchase price. This reset is real, but for most California relocating buyers the income tax elimination more than compensates for it.
Illinois buyers relocating to Arlington are moving from one of the highest combined tax burden states in the nation. Illinois imposes a 4.95% flat income tax — on a $130,000 household income, that is approximately $6,435 per year in Illinois state income tax. Illinois property taxes in the collar counties around Chicago — DuPage, Lake, Kane, Will — routinely run 2.0% to 3.0% of market value on homes that are often worth more than their Arlington equivalents. An Illinois buyer who owned a $350,000 suburban Chicago home at a 2.5% effective rate was paying $8,750 per year in property taxes while also paying $6,435 in state income taxes on a $130,000 household income — a combined state-level tax obligation of over $15,000 per year. Their Arlington equivalent — a $340,000 home at $6,300 in annual property taxes with zero state income tax — represents a combined state-level tax savings of nearly $9,000 per year, or $750 per month. This savings meaningfully expands the monthly payment budget available for housing in Arlington relative to what the same household could afford in suburban Chicago.
New York buyers in Arlington are often relocating from situations involving some of the highest residential property tax rates in the nation combined with one of the highest state income taxes. Westchester County, Nassau County, and similar New York suburban markets regularly produce property tax bills of $15,000 to $30,000 per year on homes in the $600,000 to $1,200,000 range. New York State income tax adds up to 10.9% on high incomes, and New York City residents pay an additional city income tax. The total tax savings from relocating from a New York suburb to Arlington — eliminating state and city income tax and reducing property taxes through a combination of lower home values and a lower effective rate — can run $20,000 to $50,000 per year for professional households, which is why the New York-to-Texas relocation trend has been among the most persistent demographic movements in the country for the past decade.
Colorado buyers moving to Arlington are coming from a state with relatively low property taxes — effective rates in the Denver metro area run approximately 0.5% to 0.7% of market value — and a 4.4% flat income tax. The Colorado income tax savings from relocating to Texas on a $150,000 household income run approximately $6,600 per year. The property tax increase — from approximately $2,000 to $2,500 per year on a $350,000 Colorado home to approximately $6,300 per year on a comparable Arlington home — represents a net annual tax increase of approximately $3,800 to $4,300 before the income tax savings are applied. After the income tax savings, most Colorado households end up in a positive net tax position in Texas, but the margin is smaller than for California, Illinois, or New York buyers, and Colorado relocators should model the comparison carefully for their specific income and purchase price scenario.
Florida buyers moving to Arlington share the no-income-tax structure that Texas offers, which means there is no income tax savings component to offset the property tax increase they will experience. Florida effective property tax rates run approximately 0.8% to 1.2% of market value — significantly lower than Texas. A Florida buyer who moves from a $380,000 Florida home at 1.0% effective rate — $3,800 per year — to a $340,000 Arlington home at 2.25% — $6,300 per year after exemption — experiences a net property tax increase of approximately $2,500 per year with no offsetting income tax savings. Florida relocators to Arlington should specifically account for this increase in their monthly payment planning rather than assuming the Texas tax environment is equivalent to Florida's.
Mark Hewitt and the Hewitt Group at Real Broker, LLC provide every Arlington relocation buyer with a state-specific tax comparison tailored to their origin state and their target purchase price range — so the decision to buy in Arlington is made with full financial clarity rather than a partial picture that produces payment surprises after closing. Reach out today for a complete Arlington property tax and payment consultation.
