Port Aransas Property Tax: The Actual Numbers

The Combined Rate: $1.2303 per $100 of Valuation

Port Aransas property owners pay three overlapping property tax levies, not one: the City of Port Aransas, Nueces County, and Port Aransas Independent School District. Per rate data aggregated by Ownwell from Nueces County and City of Port Aransas sources, those three rates combine to $1.2303 per $100 of assessed valuation -- broken down as $0.2016 per $100 for the city, $0.2898 per $100 for the county, and $0.7389 per $100 for the school district. The school district is by far the largest single component, which is typical in Texas, where school funding leans heavily on local property tax revenue.

To put that in plain dollar terms: on a home assessed at $400,000, the nominal combined rate implies an annual bill of roughly $4,921. On a home at $600,000, roughly $7,382. On a home at $800,000, roughly $9,842. These are nominal-rate calculations using the combined $1.2303/$100 figure, before any homestead exemption, over-65 exemption, agricultural valuation, or appraisal cap is applied -- all of which can lower the effective bill for a qualifying owner-occupant, and none of which typically apply to a second home or a straight rental property.

What Port Aransas Owners Actually Pay: The Median Bill

Independently of the nominal-rate math above, Ownwell reports a median annual Port Aransas property tax bill of $7,821. That figure is broadly consistent with applying the $1.2303/$100 combined rate to the reported 2024 median home value of $588,700 (which implies roughly $7,243 nominally) -- the modest gap between the two figures is typical and reflects the mix of exemptions, appraisal caps, and valuation-year differences across the actual population of Port Aransas properties, rather than a contradiction.

On the effective-rate side -- tax actually paid as a percentage of a home's market value, which is the more useful apples-to-apples comparison figure when you're evaluating Port Aransas against other markets -- reported figures range from about 1.29% (one source's median effective rate) to about 1.54% (another source's reported average, itself below the broader Nueces County average of 1.89%). Texas overall runs among the higher-property-tax states in the country precisely because it has no state income tax, and Port Aransas's effective rate sits in a fairly typical range for a Texas coastal market once that context is factored in.

Median Home Value and What It Means for the Math

The reported 2024 median property value for Port Aransas was $588,700, with a separate ZIP-code-level figure (78373) reported around $599,400 -- the small gap between those two numbers is normal and reflects slightly different geographic boundaries and data-vintage between sources. Either figure puts Port Aransas well above the Texas state median home value, consistent with its identity as a coastal, tourism-and-second-home-driven market rather than a typical inland Texas town.

Waterfront and beachfront-proximate properties carry a further premium on top of that citywide median -- an earlier-2026 Redfin snapshot showed 252 active waterfront listings at a median asking price of $690,000, above the broader citywide figures. For a more current sale-price data point (distinct from the assessed valuation figures above), Redfin's own market data as of this research pass in August 2026 put Port Aransas's median sale price at $763,000, down 24.3% year over year, with median price per square foot up 21.6% year over year to $557 -- a reminder that both assessed values and sale prices move, sometimes sharply, and neither should be treated as fixed or current by the time you're reading this. Real estate values in a small coastal market move noticeably month to month, and the Nueces County Appraisal District's own current assessed-value roll is the authoritative source for any specific parcel, not this page or any aggregator site.

Exemptions, Appraisal Caps, and Why Your Bill May Differ

Texas offers a general homestead exemption for owner-occupied primary residences, an additional exemption for owners 65 and older, and a 10% annual appraisal-increase cap on homestead properties -- all of which can meaningfully reduce the effective bill for a qualifying owner-occupant relative to the nominal-rate math above. None of those protections typically apply to second homes, investment properties, or short-term rental properties held as a business asset, which make up a substantial share of Port Aransas's housing stock given its tourism-driven economy. If you're evaluating this market as a second-home or rental purchase rather than a primary residence, budget closer to the full nominal-rate figure rather than assuming any homestead-level relief.

This page does not attempt to calculate what a specific exemption would save on a specific parcel, since that depends on the property's classification, the owner's residency status, and current Nueces County Appraisal District rules -- all of which should be confirmed directly with the Appraisal District, not estimated from a general guide like this one.

Property Tax Protests and Appraisal Increases

Texas allows property owners to formally protest their annual appraised value with the county appraisal district, and third-party services (including some of the same firms that aggregate the rate data cited on this page) offer to handle that protest process for a fee, typically contingent on achieving a reduction. This page does not evaluate or recommend any specific protest service, and does not state a typical or expected protest success rate for Port Aransas specifically, since that was not independently confirmed. If your appraised value seems out of step with recent comparable sales, the Nueces County Appraisal District's own protest process and deadlines are the authoritative starting point.

The Honest Bottom Line

Port Aransas property owners face a real, meaningful, mid-four-figures-to-low-five-figures annual property tax bill on a typical coastal home here -- this page states that plainly, with sourced figures, rather than deflecting the question. The combined nominal rate is $1.2303 per $100 of valuation; the reported median annual bill is $7,821; reported effective rates run roughly 1.29%-1.54%. What this page does not and cannot state is the exact current bill for any specific parcel, since that depends on that property's exact appraised value, exemption status, and any pending appraisal appeal -- all of which change year to year and require a direct lookup with the Nueces County Appraisal District. Nothing on this page is tax or financial advice.