Texas rental market data for real estate investors

Rental vacancy rate

13.3% (±1.5 percentage points)Second quarter of 2026 · U.S. Census Bureau (CPS/HVS)

Median gross rent

$1,403 per month (±$4)Rent plus utilities and fuels paid by the renter; renter-occupied homes paying cash rent · Census table B25064

Median home value

$283,800 (±$738)Owner-occupied homes; the value is the owner's estimate · Census table B25077

Median household income

$78,476 per year (±$263)All households; in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars · Census table B19013

Median real estate taxes paid

$4,232 per year (±$19)Owner-occupied homes · Census table B25103

Effective property tax rate

1.49%Calculated by MyInversorAI: median real estate taxes paid ÷ median home value. An approximation from two medians, not the tax rate of any one home.

• As of the second quarter of 2026, the rental vacancy rate in Texas was 13.3% (margin of error ±1.5 percentage points), according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS).
• At 90 percent confidence, the Census estimate for the second quarter of 2026 puts the rental vacancy rate in Texas between 11.8% and 14.8%.
• That means about 13 of every 100 units in the rental inventory of Texas were vacant and available for rent in the second quarter of 2026.
• Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the estimate for Texas ranked 1st of 51 from highest to lowest in the second quarter of 2026 (median of the 51 estimates: 6.7%); because each estimate has a margin of error, small differences between states may not be statistically significant.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2020-2024), the median gross rent in Texas was $1,403 per month (±$4).
• The median value of owner-occupied homes in Texas was $283,800 (±$738) in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2020-2024).
• The median household income in Texas was $78,476 (±$263, in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars), according to the American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2020-2024) of the U.S. Census Bureau.
• In the American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2020-2024), the median real estate taxes paid on owner-occupied homes in Texas were $4,232 a year (±$19), about 1.49% of the median home value (an approximation calculated by MyInversorAI from the two Census medians).

Vacancy is a statewide estimate

The rental vacancy rate is the share of the rental inventory that is vacant and for rent. A statewide figure hides local differences: use a vacancy assumption for the neighborhood and property type when you have one.

The margin of error matters

Census publishes each state estimate with a 90 percent margin of error. When two states differ by less than their margins, the difference may not be real.

Estimates are quarterly

Census publishes the state rental vacancy rates once a quarter. Each figure on this page carries its own quarter: it describes that quarter, not the current month.

Five-year estimates describe a period

The American Community Survey figures pool responses collected from 2020 through 2024. They are steadier than a single year of data, but they describe that period, not today's rents or prices. Census releases a new five-year period once a year.

Medians of different groups

Rent covers renter-occupied homes, home value and property taxes cover owner-occupied homes, and income covers all households. Ratios between them, such as the indicators above, are rough state-level comparisons, not the numbers of any one property.

How the ZIP area pages are built

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, not ZIP codes

The Census Bureau publishes its figures for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), which approximate the areas USPS ZIP codes serve. A ZCTA and a ZIP code do not always cover the same homes, and ZIP codes for post office boxes or single buildings have no ZCTA.

Which ZIP areas have a page

A page exists only when the area has a published median rent, home value and household income, at least 2,000 occupied homes, an estimated 300 or more renter homes and a rental vacancy rate above zero, plus a HUD fair market rent, a current FHFA house price index, or both.

Uncertain estimates are left out

Census medians with a coefficient of variation above 30%, or that Census top- or bottom-codes, are not shown. Rents are rounded to $10, home values to $1,000 and incomes to $100. The rental vacancy rate is shown only above zero and when it rests on about 300 or more renter homes.

Fair market rents are a HUD benchmark

HUD's Small Area Fair Market Rents are ZIP-level estimates at the 40th percentile of gross rents paid by recent movers. Housing agencies base Housing Choice Voucher payment standards on them where HUD makes them mandatory (its designated Small Area FMR areas) or where an agency opts in; elsewhere the metropolitan or county fair market rent applies. They are neither the typical rent nor a market rent, and they are often higher than the ACS median, which includes long-time tenants.

The house price index is developmental

FHFA publishes its ZIP-level House Price Index as a developmental series that can be revised. A page shows it with its year, and only when it is at most one year older than the newest year available.

The county is the one with the largest part of the area

Each ZIP area is placed in the county that holds the largest part of its land and water area, from the Census 2020 ZCTA to County Relationship File; that part may be less than half, and it is not necessarily where most residents live. The page's main heading (H1) and its structured data name the county only when it holds at least 90% of the area, and so does the page title when the county's name fits in it; below that, the page says which county holds the largest part. Counties keep their official Census names and types: parishes in Louisiana; boroughs, census areas and municipalities in Alaska; independent cities in Virginia and in Baltimore, St. Louis and Carson City. A ZIP area that crosses a state line has its page only under the state of its main county.

Values MyInversorAI calculates

Gross yield, price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios, ranks within the state and ZIP-to-state differences are calculated by MyInversorAI from the published medians and labelled as such. They are not official statistics, forecasts or the numbers of any property. A rank is left out when more than half of the state's ZIP areas with a published value share the area's value.

• Rental vacancy rate and margin of error: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS), Table 1, rental vacancy rates by state. Census HVS state tablesWorkbook used
• Median gross rent, median home value, median household income, and median real estate taxes paid, with their 90 percent margins of error: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 (released January 29, 2026; retrieved October 21, 2026). Public domain (U.S. government work). Table B25064Table B25077Table B19013Table B25103Release notes
• Homebuyer programs: MyInversorAI directory, linked to each agency’s official page.

Figures are copied from the sources without adjustment, except rounding to the precision each source publishes. Values marked as calculated by MyInversorAI (the effective property tax rate and the indicators box) are ratios of the Census medians, computed with the formula shown next to each and rounded (the tax rate to two decimals, the indicators to one); they are not official statistics. The sentences on this page are written from the figures by fixed rules, so the same data always gives the same text. Internal planning defaults appear only in the box labelled as such.

Not shown: figures whose source terms or dates we have not verified, such as insurance averages, third-party listing statistics and internal scores.

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