What Is the Property Tax Rate in Denton, TX?

If your home is inside the City of Denton and within Denton ISD, the combined base rate for tax year 2025 is 1.99% of your assessed value. Here’s what that includes:

Denton County: $0.1859 per $100 of assessed value, the lowest in the county since 1986 and second-lowest among Texas’s 15 most populated counties. The rate dropped 17.4% since 2020 as rising property values expanded the tax base.

City of Denton: $0.5954 per $100, up 7.4% for FY 2025-26 between general fund operations and debt service.

Denton ISD: $1.2069 per $100. In November 2025, Denton ISD voters approved Proposition A, a 5-cent M&O increase that generates about $26 million per year. That money goes toward teacher salaries ($16 million), safety and security ($5 million), and student programs ($5 million). Even with this increase, Denton ISD’s total rate has dropped more than $0.38 since 2018-19.

The 1.99% combined rate applies to properties inside city limits served by Denton ISD. If your address falls outside Denton city limits but within Denton ISD, you won’t pay the City of Denton rate, but you still need to check what city you’re actually in. Some nearby cities have lower rates than Denton’s $0.5954, and some are comparable. Argyle‘s city rate is about $0.3431 per $100, which would bring your combined rate down to roughly 1.74%. Corinth’s city rate is about $0.5670 per $100, which puts you almost exactly where Denton is. Unincorporated addresses skip the city portion entirely, dropping the base rate to about 1.39%. If you’re in a different school district altogether, such as Northwest ISD or Argyle ISD, the ISD portion changes, and so does the total. For a breakdown of what each area offers, see the Denton TX zip codes guide.

Your rate is tied to your specific address, not the city name on your mailing label. Always verify by address at the Denton Central Appraisal District.

How Is Your Property Tax Bill Calculated in Denton?

The Denton Central Appraisal District (Denton CAD) sets your property’s assessed value each year. That value, minus any exemptions you qualify for, gets multiplied by the combined rate of every taxing entity that covers your address.

In 2026, the average home value in Denton County is roughly $510,000. Inside the City of Denton, the median sale price as of January 2026 is $380,000, according to Redfin. Taxes are based on assessed value, not sale price, but the two track closely for recently purchased homes.

Your tax bill typically arrives in October, and payment is due by January 31 of the following year. If you pay through a mortgage escrow account, your lender usually handles the timing automatically.

What Are MUD and PID Districts, and How Do They Affect Your Taxes?

Most relocating buyers don’t think about MUDs or PIDs until after closing. A Municipal Utility District (MUD) or Public Improvement District (PID) is a special taxing district that funds the infrastructure a newer development needs to function, including roads, water lines, parks, and drainage systems. Instead of the city paying for these upfront, the district issues bonds and homeowners pay them back through higher property taxes.

In Denton County in 2026, MUD rates range from $0.20 to $1.00+ per $100 of assessed value. FWSD (Fresh Water Supply District) rates range from $0.19 to $0.65 per $100, and all these rates are added on top of your base rate.

So on a $380,000 home at the 1.99% base rate, you’d pay about $5,900 per year. Add a MUD at $0.50 per $100, and the bill jumps to roughly $7,800. Or if that MUD rate is at $0.93 per $100, you’re looking at about $9,400 per year.

MUD and PID districts are usually concentrated in new construction. If you’re buying a resale home in an established Denton neighborhood, you’re less likely to be in one. If you’re buying new construction along the I-35W corridor or in a newer master-planned community, you need to verify and know your true numbers before you make an offer.

To see how tax rates differ across specific Denton neighborhoods from $320,000 to $730,000, check our best neighborhoods in Denton by median home value breakdown.

How MUDs and PIDs differ: MUD taxes show up as a line item on your property tax bill and have no set end date, though rates can decrease as more homes are built and the bond debt is paid down. PID assessments are a fixed lien against your property, typically $15,000 to $40,000 paid over 20 to 30 years through annual installments. You can pay off a PID assessment in full at any time, and once it’s paid, it’s gone permanently.

How to check: Search your address at dentoncad.com. Your property record lists every taxing entity, including MUDs and PIDs. For PID balances specifically, companies like MuniCap and P3Works administer most North Texas PIDs and allow address-level searches.

How Much Property Tax Will You Actually Pay in Denton? Examples by Price Point

These examples assume a home inside the City of Denton, within Denton ISD, with the school district homestead exemption applied and no MUD or PID.

The school district column reflects the $140,000 homestead exemption, which reduces the taxable value for school taxes only. City and county taxes are calculated on the full assessed value unless your local jurisdiction offers additional exemptions.

If the home is in a MUD or PID, add $760 to $3,800+ depending on the district rate. Your total could push into the $7,000 to $12,000 range on a $500,000 home.

What Is the Homestead Exemption in Denton County?

Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, but it leans heavily on property taxes. The homestead exemption is the state’s main tool for offsetting that burden.

In 2025, the school district homestead exemption increased to $140,000, up from $100,000. Texas voters approved Proposition 13 in November 2025, and Governor Abbott signed SB 4 into law. This is the largest homestead exemption in Texas history.

If you own and occupy a home as your primary residence, $140,000 of your assessed value is exempt from school district taxes. On a $380,000 home, that means Denton ISD only taxes you on $240,000 instead of the full value. That saves you roughly $1,690 per year in school taxes alone.

For homeowners 65 or older or with a qualifying disability, the exemption is even larger, up to $200,000 combined.

Besides that, once your homestead exemption is in place, your assessed value for tax purposes can’t increase by more than 10% per year, regardless of how much the market moves. That cap only applies to your primary residence.

How to apply: File with the Denton Central Appraisal District by April 30 of the tax year. You’ll need a Texas driver’s license or state ID matching your homestead address. It’s free to apply, but if you miss the deadline, you can file a late application up to two years after the delinquency date. The North Texas Relocation Guide walks through all the post-move steps, including exemption filing.

How Do You Protest Your Property Tax Appraisal in Denton?

If your assessed value looks too high, you can protest it. In 2024, about 27% of Denton County’s property parcels were protested, up from 20% in 2020. Formal protests resulted in $226 million in total tax savings across the county.

The deadline: File by May 15 or within 30 days of receiving your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later. Missing the deadline means waiting until the following year.

What to bring: Recent comparable sales in your neighborhood, photos of any condition issues that affect value, and documentation of any errors in the appraisal (wrong square footage, incorrect lot size, features that don’t exist). The more specific your evidence, the stronger your case.

You can file and attend your hearing yourself at no cost, or hire a property tax protest firm that works on contingency, meaning they only get paid if they save you money.

What Are the Cons of Denton’s Property Tax Situation?

The 1.99% base rate is lower than many North Texas cities, but it’s well above the national median of 1.02% since Texas leans on property taxes to fund many of the services typically covered by income tax. That tradeoff hits every homeowner differently depending on what they were paying before they moved. If you’re still weighing whether Denton is the right fit, the full Denton relocation overview covers the bigger picture.

The MUD/PID situation is the biggest wildcard. Two homes at the same price in the same zip code can have annual tax bills that differ by $3,000 or more, depending on whether one is located inside a special district. This isn’t something most buyers think to ask about until after they’ve made an offer, and by then it’s a line item they’re stuck with.

Assessed values in Denton County have been rising over the past few years, and while the 10% homestead cap protects you from sudden jumps, it doesn’t prevent steady increases year after year. If your home’s market value jumps 15% in one year, your assessed value still goes up 10%, and it doesn’t come back down when the market corrects.

The city rate increased 7.4% this year, and Denton ISD added 5 cents through a voter-approved increase. Rates can move in either direction, and the trend for the city portion has been upward.