The Public Math

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Where your tax bill goes

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In short

We took a typical home in Leander ISD, worth about $443,000.1 Its 2025 tax bill comes to about $7,320 a year.2 The school district gets about 45% of it. The city gets about 25%. The county gets about 24%, counting its separate road tax. The college district (Austin Community College) gets about 6%.

So what: the school district is the largest line on this example bill.

Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.

The worked example

The home: worth $442,944. That is the middle value of houses in Leander ISD in 2025.1 The owner lives there and is under 65.

Each group takes its own exemption first. Then it uses its own rate.34

WhoExemptionTaxed valueRate per $100Yearly tax
Leander ISD$140,000$302,944$1.0869$3,293
City of Leander$5,000$437,944$0.4173$1,827
Williamson County$22,147 (5%)$420,797$0.3694$1,555
County roads (FM/Rd, a separate county road tax)$3,000$439,944$0.0443$195
Austin Community College$5,000$437,944$0.1034$453
Total$7,323

How one line works: $442,944 minus $140,000 is $302,944. Divide by 100. Times $1.0869. That is $3,293.2

Where each dollar goes

  • School district: 45 cents2
  • City: 25 cents2
  • County and county roads: 24 cents2
  • College district: 6 cents2

Two other homes, same value

These use the same $442,944 home and 2025 rates. They are our math.5

Owner is 65 or older. The school district takes off $203,000 instead of $140,000 ($140,000, plus $60,000 for 65+, plus $3,000 local).46 The school line drops from about $3,293 to about $2,608.5 The other units also give 65+ exemptions; see exemptions you may be missing. A 65+ owner’s school tax may also be held down by a tax ceiling, so it may be lower still.7

Home outside the city, in an emergency services district (ESD). There is no city line. An ESD line is added instead. We use one real ESD as the example: Travis County ESD 7, whose 2025 rate was $0.099967 per $100 (just under 10 cents). Other ESDs near Leander charge less; their 2026 rates run from about 7.8 to 9.9 cents.8 With no ESD exemption, the ESD 7 line is about $443.5 The bill would come to about $5,938, and the school district’s share rises to about 55%.5

Water district (MUD or WCID). Some neighborhoods add one more line. For example, Upper Brushy Creek WCID’s 2026 rate is 1.7 cents per $100, with a homestead exemption.9 On this home that is about $74 a year.5

Your bill may be different

  • Over 65 or disabled? You get bigger exemptions. Your school tax can also be frozen.4
  • Value cap. For a home you live in, the taxed value can rise only 10% a year. So your taxed value may be lower than market value.10
  • Extra districts. Some areas add a water district (a MUD or WCID, special districts that build water and sewer lines). Their rates are on the county’s tax-rate site.3
  • Not in the city? Then there is no city tax line.
  • Travis County side? Part of Leander ISD is in Travis County. Rates there differ.
  • Why one example home? We used the median (middle) value for the whole school district. We could not find a public file of every home’s value. So there is no city-only example yet.

Where to check your own

Look up your home on the county’s tax-rate site, williamsonpropertytaxes.org. It lists every group that taxes your home and its rate. See notice of estimated taxes.

The other side

  • The split depends on where you live. The same home outside the city, in an ESD, sends a larger share to the school district (see above).

  • Our home is a middle value for the whole school district, not just the city.

  • The school line uses the $140,000 school homestead exemption. That amount (and the $60,000 for 65+ or disabled owners) first applied in tax year 2025, after voters approved it in Nov. 2025. Bills for 2024 and earlier used $100,000 and $10,000.11 Owners without a homestead exemption pay school tax on more of their value.4

Questions to ask

  • Where can an owner see which emergency services or water district taxes their home?
  • Will the appraisal district post a public file of home values by area?
  • Where can an owner see how their own bill splits among the taxing units?

Changes to this page

  • Nov. 5, 2026: The emergency services district example now uses one district’s actual rate. Added the year the school exemptions began.
  • Nov. 4, 2026: Added examples for an owner over 65, a home in an emergency services district and a home in a water district.
  • Nov. 2, 2026: Rewrote the questions to ask so each is open, neutral and addressed to the public body.
  • Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
  • Nov. 2, 2026: We checked every figure and rate against its source. We removed a line about water district rates that our saved source does not show, and added a source for the value cap.

What you can do or watch next

  • Check your own bill on how your property tax bill works. For 2026 city and county lines, see tax bill 2026 worked example.
  • Watch each body’s tax-rate hearing in August and September.
  • You can protest your home value; see how to protest your appraisal.

Footnotes

  1. Williamson Central Appraisal District, Annual Report 2025, median appraisal by school district (single-family homes). Report. ↩ ↩2

  2. Our math. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Williamson County Tax Office, 2025 Truth-in-Taxation Summary (2025 adopted rates: Leander ISD 1.086900, City of Leander 0.417282, Williamson County 0.369447, FM/RD 0.044329, ACC 0.103400). https://www.wilcotx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17149/2025-Truth-in-Taxation-Summary (checked 2026-11-01). Your own rates: https://williamsonpropertytaxes.org. ↩ ↩2

  4. WCAD Annual Report 2025, “Exemptions Granted by Taxing Unit,” pp.31-32. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Our math. 65+ school line: ($442,944 - $203,000) / 100 x 1.0869 = $2,607.95. ESD line (Travis County ESD 7, 2025 rate): $442,944 / 100 x 0.099967 = $442.80. Bill outside the city: $7,322.64 - $1,827.46 + $442.80 = $5,937.98; school share $3,292.70 / $5,937.98 = 55%. At the lowest listed rate (ESD #4, 0.078218) the line would be $346.46. WCID line: ($442,944 - $5,000) / 100 x 0.017 = $74.45. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. Texas Comptroller, “Property Tax Exemptions” (school $60,000 for 65+ or disabled, Tax Code §11.13(c); local option of at least $3,000, §11.13(d)). https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/exemptions/ (saved copy, Nov. 2026) ↩

  7. Williamson Central Appraisal District, “Exemptions” FAQ (65+ school tax ceiling). https://www.wcad.org/exemptions-2/ (saved copy, Nov. 2026) ↩

  8. Travis County ESD 7, tax rates page, 2025 total rate 0.099967 per $100 (saved Nov. 4, 2026); Williamson County Tax Office, 2026 list: ESD #11 0.091, ESD #12 0.0987, ESD #4 0.078218. ↩

  9. Williamson County Tax Office, “2026 Tax Rates and Exemptions by Jurisdictions” (Upper Brushy Creek WCID 0.017000; homestead $5,000 or 1%). https://www.wilcotx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/22307 (saved copy, read Nov. 1, 2026) ↩

  10. Texas Tax Code §23.23, limit on the appraised value of a homestead. ↩

  11. Texas House Research Organization, “Constitutional Amendments Proposed for November 2025 Ballot” (Props 11 and 13, each effective for the tax year beginning Jan. 1, 2025), https://hro.house.texas.gov/pdf/focus/amend89.pdf; WCAD Annual Report 2025, exemptions by unit (Leander ISD 140,000 / 60,000 / 3,000); the Comptroller exemptions page states the current amounts but not the year they began. ↩

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