What is the actual property tax rate in New Braunfels?
For tax year 2025-26, a typical in-city New Braunfels homeowner pays a combined rate of roughly $1.79 per $100 of taxable value. That stacks four layers: City of New Braunfels at $0.4089, Comal County at $0.3050, Comal County lateral road at $0.0360, and your school district, either Comal ISD at $1.0748 or NBISD at $1.0377.
Homes outside city limits skip the city rate entirely, which drops the effective rate below 1.4%. Homes inside a Municipal Utility District add a MUD rate on top. The exact rate depends on your address, not just your zip code, so always pull the Comal County tax estimator for the specific property before making an offer.
How does Austin compare?
Austin and Travis County combined rates typically land between 1.8% and 2.1%, depending on whether you are inside Austin city limits and which school district (Austin ISD, Eanes, Lake Travis, etc.) serves the address. Austin ISD alone runs about $1.05 per $100, and the City of Austin adds roughly $0.45.
The rate difference between New Braunfels and Austin is narrow, sometimes just a tenth of a percent. But the home price difference is not. A $500,000 home in New Braunfels buys what $650,000 to $700,000 gets in comparable Austin suburbs. Lower assessed value times a similar rate equals a meaningfully smaller annual tax bill.
How does the Texas homestead exemption help?
Every Texas homeowner gets a $140,000 school district homestead exemption on their primary residence. That means the first $140,000 of appraised value is exempt from school taxes. On a $500,000 home in Comal ISD, you pay school taxes on $360,000 instead of $500,000, saving roughly $1,500 a year.
Local taxing units can stack additional exemptions on top, typically 20% of value or a fixed dollar amount. Senior homeowners over 65 get an extra exemption and, critically, a tax freeze on the school portion, meaning your school tax bill cannot increase no matter what happens to your appraised value or the tax rate.
How do you protest your property tax appraisal in Comal County?
The Comal Appraisal District mails the Notice of Appraised Value around April each year. You have until May 15 or 30 days after receiving the notice, whichever is later, to file a protest. You can file online through the Comal CAD portal, by mail, or in person.
Most protests settle at the informal review stage with an appraiser. If not, a formal Appraisal Review Board hearing runs between May and July. Beyond the ARB, you can appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings, binding arbitration, or district court. Glen walks every buyer through the protest timeline as part of the closing process.