The tax bill on a Houston house is not only a city and a school number. If the house sits in a municipal utility district, or MUD, there is one more line on the bill, and it is often the one buyers learn about last. That line can change what you can afford each month.
This is what a MUD is, why the rate differs from one house to the next, and how to get the real number for the address you are looking at.
A MUD tax pays for the pipes under your street. Where a city does not provide water, sewer and drainage, a developer and the district build them, and the district borrows the money by selling bonds. The tax on the homes in the district pays those bonds back.
Texas creates these districts under Article XVI, Section 59 of the state constitution and Chapter 54 of the Water Code. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality describes them as districts that provide utility service, and the law lets them tax, borrow and issue bonds. Drainage is part of the job, including the detention ponds in many newer subdivisions.
Because the MUD is a separate government with its own boundary and its own debt. Its lines do not follow streets, so neighbors across a fence can sit in different districts and pay different rates.
Each rate has two parts. One part covers maintenance and operations. The other part is debt service on the construction bonds. A broker guide from Harbert Group explains that a young district often has a high debt rate because the bonds are large and few homes exist yet to share them.
The mailing address tells you almost nothing here. A house with a Houston address can sit inside a MUD, outside one, or inside a different one than the house down the block. Check the exact address.
You can read the real numbers on the Harris County Tax Office rate table. These are 2025 adopted rates per $100 of taxable value for six Harris County districts, with the county rate on the same table for comparison.
| Taxing unit | 2025 rate per $100 |
|---|---|
| Baker Road MUD 110 | $0.2790 |
| Harris County MUD 61 | $0.4300 |
| Harris County MUD 109 | $0.4350 |
| Bissonnet MUD 118 | $0.4850 |
| Beechnut MUD 116 | $0.5100 |
| Barker-Cypress MUD 112 | $0.6740 |
| Harris County (for comparison) | $0.38096 |
The spread between the lowest and highest district on that list is real money on a monthly payment. Do not treat any one of these as the rate for a neighborhood. Your house may sit in a different district entirely, and school district, city and county rates come on top.
Planning a purchase in Cypress or Katy? Ask for the full combined rate for the address, not a figure quoted for the general area.
Often they do, but not always. As builders finish homes and values rise, the same debt is spread across more taxpayers, so the rate tends to fall.
Harbert Group, citing a rate history from Bob Leared Interests, gives two Harris County examples. Harris County MUD 502 went from $1.38 per $100 in 2021 to $0.77 in 2025. Northwest Harris County MUD 36 went from $0.645 in 2021 to $0.430 in 2025.
Do not bank on that pattern for the house you are buying. A new bond issue can push a rate back up. Price the house on this year’s rate, and treat any later drop as a bonus.
The seller must hand you a written notice about the district. Texas Water Code 49.452 requires a person selling property in a covered district to give the buyer the notice described in sections 49.452 and 49.4521. HB 2816 updated those rules, and it applies to notices given on or after September 1, 2023.
The notice opens with the title “NOTICE TO PURCHASER OF SPECIAL TAXING OR ASSESSMENT DISTRICT” in large bold type. It must state the current district tax rate per $100, or a projected rate if no tax is levied yet. It also covers bonds approved and issued, standby fees and any overlap with a municipality, and it is dated and signed by seller and purchaser.
TREC Form 59-0, effective February 12, 2024, is the standard version. Use the district’s own notice if it has one. If not, the information comes from the district and goes on the TREC form. Read it before you sign, and read the rate line first.
You can do it in three steps, and none of them cost anything.
For Fort Bend County, use the Fort Bend County Tax Office. The Texas Comptroller also keeps rate spreadsheets by county for 2021 through 2025. If you are comparing new communities, our guide to the best home builders in Houston is a good place to start, and our post on checking a house’s flood history covers the other thing worth verifying by address.
We pull the district and rate for the exact address before you make an offer, so the monthly payment you budget matches the tax bill you will get. The Agency Team is a Houston brokerage led by Broker and CEO Waldina Galeano, TREC Broker License #665052, with 50+ agents and bilingual agents who work in English and Spanish. Call (832) 207-3277 and give us the address.
Have a question about a specific address? Call (832) 207-3277 or send us a message and an agent will get back to you.
MUD stands for municipal utility district. It is a local government unit created under the Texas Constitution and the Water Code to provide water, sewer and drainage where city service is not available. A MUD can tax, borrow money and issue bonds, which is why a house inside one carries an extra line on the property tax bill.
Yes. The MUD is one of several taxing units on the same parcel, next to the county, the school district and the college district. Each unit sets its own rate per $100 of taxable value. Add them together to see the real rate, and ask for that combined number for the specific address before you write an offer.
Not on a schedule you can count on. A MUD rate has a debt service part for the construction bonds and a maintenance and operations part. As homes are built the debt spreads wider and the rate often falls, but a new bond issue can push it back up. Look at the current year, not the trend.
Texas Water Code 49.452 requires a seller in a covered district to give the buyer a written notice. It states the current district tax rate per $100, the bonds approved and issued, and whether the district overlaps a city. TREC Form 59-0 is the standard form when the district has none of its own.
Search the address at the Harris Central Appraisal District and open the taxing jurisdictions list to get the MUD name and number. Then read that MUD's adopted rate on the Harris County Tax Office rates page or the district's own website. For Fort Bend County, use the Fort Bend County Tax Office.
Tell us what you are buying or selling and we will walk you through the numbers for your address. No pressure, no obligation.
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