Moving to Houston: FAQ

No. Texas doesn't tax personal income, including wages, retirement income and capital gains, and a 2019 constitutional amendment prohibits a state income tax.

From our guide: No state income tax in Texas: what moving to Houston saves

Yes. Houston-area rates usually run about 2% to 3.5% of value before exemptions, compared with roughly 1.1% to 1.25% of the purchase price in California. Homestead exemptions lower the bill for owner-occupied homes.

From our guide: No state income tax in Texas: what moving to Houston saves

No. Pensions, Social Security, 401(k) and IRA withdrawals aren't taxed by the state. Homeowners 65 and older also get extra property tax exemptions and a ceiling on school taxes.

From our guide: No state income tax in Texas: what moving to Houston saves

It depends on income and the home you buy. A married couple earning $150,000 saves about $5,600 a year in California income tax, and at $300,000 about $19,400, before accounting for higher Texas property taxes.

From our guide: No state income tax in Texas: what moving to Houston saves

8.25%: the 6.25% state rate plus 2% in local taxes.

From our guide: No state income tax in Texas: what moving to Houston saves

About 28 minutes one way for workers who live in the City of Houston, and about 31 minutes across the metro area, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey. The metro area covers about 10,000 square miles counting its bays and lakes, roughly the size of Massachusetts and close to the size of Belgium, so your own commute depends on where you live relative to work, friends and family, which freeway you drive and the time of day. Map those places before you pick an area, and try the drive at rush hour before you commit to a home.

The metro area is spread out, and jobs are spread across several centers, including Downtown, the Texas Medical Center, the Galleria and Uptown, the Energy Corridor, Greenspoint, The Woodlands, Westchase and the Clear Lake and NASA area. The same price range can mean a 15-minute commute or an hour-plus drive depending on where you work, and toll roads, freeway access and school-day traffic all play a part. Knowing your workplace, and your partner's if you have one, lets us focus on the areas that fit your drive.

There's no official count. The Houston metro area spans 10 counties (Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria, Galveston, Liberty, Waller, Chambers, Austin and San Jacinto) with more than 100 cities and towns, from Sugar Land, Pearland and League City to smaller towns like Fulshear and Tomball, plus large unincorporated areas such as Cypress, Spring and The Woodlands. Our Houston ZIP code map covers 224 ZIP codes within about 50 miles of downtown.

No. Houston is the largest U.S. city without zoning, and voters rejected it in 1948, 1962 and 1993. Land use is shaped instead by deed restrictions that neighborhood associations enforce, the city's development rules on lot size, setbacks and parking, historic district rules, and minimum lot size or building line areas that some neighborhoods adopt. Where no restrictions apply, a townhome project or a business can go up next to single-family homes, so check the deed restrictions and what's around a property before you buy.

Texas law lets developers create municipal utility districts to build water, sewer and drainage systems for new subdivisions outside city limits, where no city provides those services. The district sells bonds to pay for that infrastructure, and homeowners repay them through a MUD tax on their property tax bill instead of paying for it up front in the lot price. A few other states use similar special districts under other names, such as community development districts in Florida and metropolitan districts in Colorado, but Texas relies on them heavily because so much growth happens in unincorporated areas. A MUD's rate often comes down as its bonds are paid off and its tax base grows.

Older neighborhoods were built when overhead lines were the standard and cheapest way to run power, and moving them underground later is expensive and disruptive. Newer subdivisions were usually built with underground utilities from the start, installed while the streets and lots were being developed. Buried lines are protected from wind and falling trees, while overhead lines are easier to reach for repairs but more exposed in storms like Hurricane Beryl in 2024.

Houston has thousands of restaurants serving Gulf seafood, Tex-Mex, barbecue, Viet-Cajun crawfish and cuisines from around the world, often tucked into strip centers as much as fine-dining rooms, and Houston restaurants earned stars when the Michelin Guide launched in Texas in 2024. Our ZIP code and neighborhood guides list local restaurants with their ratings, so you can see the options near any home you're considering.

Two major airports: George Bush Intercontinental (IAH), about 23 miles north of downtown, a United Airlines hub with nonstop flights worldwide, and William P. Hobby (HOU), about 7 miles southeast of downtown, where Southwest Airlines is the largest carrier and some international flights also operate. If you fly often, the drive to your usual airport is worth weighing when you choose between the north and south sides of town.

Galveston is about 50 miles southeast of downtown Houston on I-45, roughly an hour's drive without traffic. The beaches, the Strand, the Seawall and the cruise terminal make it a common day trip, and Bay Area suburbs like League City, Clear Lake and Friendswood put it about 30 to 40 minutes away.

Many do; it's one of the most popular weekend getaways from Houston. Towns like Fredericksburg, Wimberley, Gruene and New Braunfels, Kerrville and Johnson City are about 2.5 to 4 hours away by car, close enough for a long weekend. People go for the scenery, with rolling hills, rivers like the Guadalupe and the Comal, spring wildflowers and state parks, and for the small-town main streets, shops and restaurants.

• Register your car within 30 days. In Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria and Galveston counties, the car needs an emissions test first. Texas ended the separate safety inspection for most passenger vehicles on January 1, 2025. Take proof of Texas liability insurance, your title or out-of-state registration and your ID to your county tax office.
• Get a Texas driver's license within 90 days. You can drive on your out-of-state license until then. Book a Texas DPS appointment early, and bring proof of Texas registration for each vehicle you own.
• File your homestead exemption once you own and live in your home. The address on your license must match the home.

Check the exact address, not the neighborhood name or ZIP code. Use the school district's own attendance-zone lookup. Houston ISD, Humble ISD, Cy-Fair ISD, Katy ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Conroe ISD and the others all have one. If the home is near a boundary, call the district, because zones change and new schools open. Listing descriptions and third-party sites can be out of date, and one ZIP code or city name can include several districts. For ratings, use TEA's official accountability ratings, with the year shown. See our 2026 Houston school ratings.

In most of the Houston area, yes. Where CenterPoint Energy runs the power lines, you pick your retail electricity provider and plan on the state's Power to Choose site (powertochoose.org). CenterPoint still owns the lines and handles outages. Some addresses can't choose. Parts of Montgomery County, including Conroe and parts of The Woodlands, are served by Entergy Texas, and a few areas get power from a city utility or an electric co-op. Check the exact address before you move. Water and sewer come from the city or, in many suburbs, a MUD, so ask the seller who provides them.

METRO runs Houston's buses, three light rail lines (Red, Green and Purple) and Park & Ride commuter buses. Park & Ride buses run from suburban lots to Downtown, the Texas Medical Center, Uptown and Greenway Plaza, using the HOV/HOT lanes. The Woodlands runs its own commuter buses into Houston. Most Houstonians still drive, so our advice is simple: before you make an offer, drive the commute at the time you'd actually make it. See Houston neighborhoods by commute.