Fort Worth Property Tax Calculator (2026)
Fort Worth property tax totals about 2.24% of taxable value for a home inside the city in FWISD: Fort Worth ISD at $1.0742, City of Fort Worth at $0.6725, Tarrant County at $0.1874, Tarrant County Hospital District (JPS) at $0.1945, Tarrant County College at $0.1122 — all per $100. On a $325,000 home with homestead, that’s about $5,800 per year.
How Fort Worth property tax is built
Tarrant County debated a rate cut for 2025 and ended up holding closer to flat. The bigger 2025 story was appraised value: TAD’s reappraisal cycle pushed many Fort Worth homes 8–12% higher in market value, which the 10% homestead cap softens but doesn’t neutralize. Suburbs like Southlake and Keller run notably lower thanks to lower ISD and city rates.
| Taxing unit | Rate per $100 | Effective % |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Worth ISD | $1.0742 | 1.0742% |
| City of Fort Worth | $0.6725 | 0.6725% |
| Tarrant County | $0.1874 | 0.1874% |
| Tarrant County Hospital District (JPS) | $0.1945 | 0.1945% |
| Tarrant County College | $0.1122 | 0.1122% |
| Combined typical | — | 2.24% |
The combined rate above assumes you’re inside Fort Worth city limits and in the listed ISD. Cross any of those boundary lines and the math changes.
Worked example: tax by home value in Fort Worth
These numbers use the typical combined rate and apply the $100,000 school-district homestead exemption against the full taxable value for simplicity. Your actual bill may differ by 3–8% depending on your exact taxing units and any additional local exemptions you qualify for.
| Home value | Tax without homestead | Tax with homestead | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $5,600 | $3,360 | $2,240 |
| $400,000 | $8,960 | $6,720 | $2,240 |
| $600,000 | $13,440 | $11,200 | $2,240 |
| $850,000 | $19,040 | $16,800 | $2,240 |
| $1,200,000 | $26,880 | $24,640 | $2,240 |
Real homeowner: Cassidy, elementary teacher in Tanglewood
Cassidy and her husband bought a $355,000 mid-century in Tanglewood. With homestead filed, their 2025 bill will run about $6,300: $2,750 to FWISD (after the $100k exemption), $2,150 to the City of Fort Worth, $610 to Tarrant County, $620 to JPS, $360 to TCC. Without homestead they’d have paid ~$1,000 more.
Estimate your bill
Drop in your home’s value. The estimator uses Fort Worth’s typical combined rate but you can tune it for your exact ISD/MUD. The $100,000 homestead exemption can be toggled.
Estimate only. Actual bill depends on your exact taxing jurisdictions, additional exemptions (over-65, disability, veteran), and your appraisal district's certified value.
Property tax across Tarrant County and nearby areas
Rates vary across Tarrant County based on which ISD, city, and special district your address falls inside. Suburbs often run lower than the central city, primarily because their school district rates are lower.
| City / area in or near Tarrant County | Typical combined rate |
|---|---|
| Arlington | 2.20% |
| Keller | 1.95% |
| Mansfield | 2.30% |
| Southlake | 1.85% |
| Grapevine | 1.90% |
| North Richland Hills | 2.10% |
Local pro tip
Fort Worth’s rate is high, but the city does offer a small optional homestead exemption (currently up to 20% capped at $5,000). Combined with the state $100k school exemption, file as soon as you close. Tarrant Appraisal District accepts applications year-round but the deadline for current-year taxes is April 30.
TAD's reappraisal controversy and what it means for protests
Tarrant Appraisal District went through a turbulent 2024 reappraisal cycle. A software change combined with aggressive market-value updates produced thousands of notices showing 15-30% year-over-year increases. Public outcry led to TAD board changes, leadership departures, and ongoing reform pressure.
The practical implication for Fort Worth homeowners: TAD's 2025 cycle was more conservative, and the 2026 cycle is likely to remain so under new leadership. But the underlying market values are real — Fort Worth saw 25-35% appreciation 2020-2023 and the appraisal district is gradually catching up. Expect 5-8% annual increases through 2027 even in a "calm" environment.
Protest deadline at TAD: May 15 or 30 days after notice. Online iFile at tad.org. Informal hearings are by phone; formal ARB hearings are at TAD's Fort Worth offices on East Weatherford Street. The current TAD administration is responsive to comp-based protests, particularly when you bring evidence that other reappraisal districts (Collin, Dallas) valued similar properties lower.
Fort Worth-specific protest tactics: bring closed comps from the same school district, photos of foundation movement (common on Fort Worth clay), and HVAC age. Note that TAD's "neighborhood codes" sometimes group dissimilar neighborhoods — arguing your specific street should be valued separately from a broader pool can work.
FWISD vs neighboring ISDs — the suburb arbitrage
Fort Worth's tax structure makes school district choice the highest-leverage decision after location. FWISD's $1.0742 per $100 is one of the higher rates in DFW. Neighboring ISDs run materially lower:
- FWISD (Fort Worth): ~$1.07/$100
- Keller ISD: ~$0.99/$100 — Keller, Watauga, parts of Fort Worth
- Northwest ISD: ~$1.03/$100 — Haslet, Trophy Club, Roanoke
- Carroll ISD: ~$0.85/$100 — Southlake — among the lowest in DFW
- Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD: ~$1.04/$100
- Mansfield ISD: ~$1.05/$100
On a $400,000 home, picking Carroll ISD (Southlake) over FWISD saves roughly $880 per year before considering city rate differences. Over a 10-year hold, that's $9,000+ in cumulative property tax saved. Southlake's higher home prices offset some of this, but the per-dollar tax efficiency is real.
Inside Fort Worth city limits, you're committed to FWISD. Cross into Keller, Saginaw, or White Settlement and the ISD changes. This is one reason DFW relocators sometimes target specific suburb-and-ISD combinations rather than zip codes.
A practical worked comparison: same buyer, same $475,000 budget. In Fort Worth (FWISD + City of FW), annual tax ~$8,600 with homestead. In Keller (KISD + City of Keller), about $7,400. In Southlake (Carroll ISD + City of Southlake), about $7,800 (lower ISD rate offsets higher city rate). The differences compound over decades.
JPS Hospital District deep dive
Tarrant County's public hospital is JPS Health Network — the John Peter Smith Hospital system. JPS funds itself partly through a Tarrant County Hospital District property tax of about $0.1945 per $100 (2025), generating ~$340 million per year in revenue. On a $400,000 home, that's about $780 of your annual tax bill going to JPS.
JPS is consistently among the busiest level-one trauma centers in Texas, with 1,500 daily ED visits and a footprint extending across Tarrant County clinics. The district expanded substantially after a 2018 voter-approved $800 million bond. The 2025 rate reflects debt service on those bonds plus operational funding.
Like ISD and city taxes, JPS taxes are subject to your homestead exemption — the same $100,000 state-mandated exemption applies on the school portion of your appraised value, but JPS's own optional homestead exemption is more modest (20% of value, minimum $5,000). For seniors (65+) or disabled homeowners, additional JPS exemptions kick in: $200,000 of exemption is available, which materially reduces the JPS line on the bill.
If you're comparing Fort Worth to Dallas for property tax purposes, the hospital district lines are roughly comparable: Tarrant's JPS at $0.1945 vs. Dallas's Parkland at $0.212. The bigger Dallas-vs-Fort Worth tax differences come from the ISD and city lines, not hospital districts.
Three Fort Worth buyer scenarios
Scenario 1 — Young family, $355k Tanglewood mid-century home, FWISD, 2025 close. Annual tax with homestead: about $6,300. Breakdown: $2,750 to FWISD, $2,150 to City of Fort Worth, $610 to Tarrant County, $620 to JPS, $360 to TCC. Without homestead: about $7,300 — filing matters.
Scenario 2 — Downsizer, $475k Trophy Club home, Northwest ISD. Annual tax with homestead: about $9,800. Trophy Club's town rate is lower than Fort Worth's ($0.40 vs $0.67/$100), but the higher home value drives total tax up. Northwest ISD rate ($1.03) is slightly below FWISD ($1.07), saving a couple hundred dollars per year.
Scenario 3 — Investor, $425k duplex in Fairmount Historic District (FWISD). No homestead because not owner-occupied. Annual tax: about $9,500. Investors should also model property tax loan risk if cash flow tightens — Tarrant County's installment-agreement option is the much better fallback than tax-loan financing.
Senior tax freeze in Tarrant County
At 65, your FWISD taxes freeze at the level of the year you turned 65 (the "school tax ceiling"). The freeze applies to the homestead property and persists as long as you live there or transfers to a surviving spouse aged 55+. The City of Fort Worth and Tarrant County also offer their own optional senior freezes on their portions.
The freeze is one of the most underrated benefits of staying in your Texas home past 65. A long-tenured Fort Worth homeowner who turns 65 in 2025 with a $545,000 capped taxable value would have FWISD taxes locked at roughly $4,900 — the 2025 FWISD rate × the 2025 capped taxable value. Ten years later in 2035, even if home values doubled and FWISD raised its rate by 10 cents, the FWISD line on the bill would still be $4,900.
Tarrant County's separate senior tax ceiling for the county portion locks in similarly. The combined effect: a 65+ Fort Worth homeowner can lock in 80-85% of their total property tax bill for life, with only modest growth on the unfrozen JPS and TCC lines. That's real money over a 20-year retirement.
The over-65 exemption application is separate from the standard homestead. File both with TAD when you turn 65 (or any time after). If you forget to file the over-65 freeze, you can claim retroactively up to two years back in most cases — but you'll have missed the freeze benefit during that period.