Katy sits on the Harris, Fort Bend and Waller county line. HCAD appraises only the Harris County portion — 69,762 single-family homes — and this page is about those and only those.
Check your home FREE →| What HCAD's records show | Katy | All of Harris County |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family homes counted (state class A1) | 69,762 | 1,157,293 |
| No homestead exemption on record | 16,943 (24.3%) | 328,310 (28.4%) |
| Median appraised value | $294,228 | $279,813 |
| Median appraised value per square foot | $112.77 | $111.97 |
| Middle 80% of homes, per square foot | $93.03 – $136.51 | $84.36 – $184.69 |
| Median year of the primary structure | 2004 | 1990 |
Against the county: 24.3% here versus 28.4% across all of Harris County (328,310 of 1,157,293 single-family homes) — Katy runs 4.1 percentage points below the county rate.
On the Harris County side, 16,943 of 69,762 Katy-addressed homes — 24.3% — have no homestead exemption on record, about four points better than the county's 28.4%. The median appraised value is $294,228 at a median $112.77 per square foot, both close to the county medians of $279,813 and $111.97.
What sets the Harris side of Katy apart is not the level but the uniformity. The middle 80% of these homes fall between $93.03 and $136.51 per square foot — one of the tightest bands in this entire set, on a median structure year of 2004. Large planned subdivisions produce that. It has a direct consequence for protests: when almost every home in your neighbourhood code is appraised inside a $43 band, being outside it is conspicuous and comparatively easy to demonstrate — and being inside it means the honest answer may be that your value is defensible, which is worth knowing before you take a day off for a hearing.
Everything about a Katy protest starts with one question: which appraisal district issued your notice? It is printed at the top of the Notice of Appraised Value. HCAD's notices come from Harris Central Appraisal District, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77040-6305, and its accounts are searchable at search.hcad.org. If the notice says Fort Bend Central Appraisal District or Waller County Appraisal District instead, that district appraises your home, sets your value, runs your hearing and publishes its own evidence deadlines. Filing in the wrong place does not transfer.
Katy ISD, meanwhile, spans all three counties, so being in Katy ISD tells you nothing about which appraisal district you are in. The $140,000 school-district homestead exemption under §11.13(b) is state law and applies identically whichever county you are in — but you apply for it with your own appraisal district, not with the school district and not with whichever district your neighbour across the county line uses.
There are three ways to file, and all three are held to that same deadline: online through iFile at owners.hcad.org, by mail, or in person at Harris Central Appraisal District, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77040-6305. Online is the only route that connects to iSettle, HCAD's electronic settlement-offer process, which resolves a large share of protests without a hearing.
The full walkthrough lives in our free guides rather than being repeated on every area page: the complete Harris County protest guide, how to file online through HCAD iFile, and what actually happens at an ARB hearing. If the deadline has already passed, §41.44(b) late protests and the other remedies are covered honestly there, including what they do not cover.
Exemptions are separate from a protest, they are free to file, and they are not filed through iFile. For most households they are also the bigger number — a protest argues about value, an exemption takes value out of the tax base outright.
| Exemption | What it does | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| General residence homestead | $140,000 off the value your school district taxes, on a home you own and live in as your main residence | Tax Code §11.13(b) |
| Age 65 or older, or disabled | Another $60,000 off school-district value on top of the $140,000. From any one taxing unit you take the age-65 or the disability exemption — not both (§11.13(h)) | Tax Code §11.13(c) |
| Filing homestead late | A late residence homestead application must be accepted and decided if it is filed within two years of the delinquency date for those taxes; tax already paid is refunded without a separate application | Tax Code §11.431 |
| Filing disabled-veteran late | Disabled veterans get a far longer window — up to five years after the delinquency date | Tax Code §11.439 |
Full detail on each: the homestead exemption guide, the over-65 exemption and school tax ceiling, and the disabled-veteran exemptions.
Look at the top of your Notice of Appraised Value. If it says Harris Central Appraisal District, you are on the Harris County side and this page applies. If it says Fort Bend Central Appraisal District or Waller County Appraisal District, your home is not on HCAD's roll — that district handles your value, your protest and your exemptions, and the numbers on this page do not describe your area.
No. The $140,000 school-district homestead exemption in §11.13(b) is set by state law and applies the same way in every Texas school district. What changes with the county line is which appraisal district you apply to and which one hears your protest — you file with the district that appraises your property, not with Katy ISD.
Texas Tax Code §41.44 sets it at May 15, or the 30th day after HCAD delivered your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is LATER. It is not always May 15 — if your notice arrived late, the later date is the one that governs. You can file online through iFile at owners.hcad.org, by mail, or in person at Harris Central Appraisal District, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77040-6305.
Yes. Checking what HCAD has on record for your home costs nothing and takes about a minute. Filing an exemption — homestead, over-65, disability, veteran, disaster — is also free: HCAD publishes the application as Form 11.13 and the Texas Comptroller publishes the identical form as 50-114, both at no charge. Anyone charging you a fee to file a homestead exemption is charging you for a free government form.
No. We are not attorneys and not tax agents, and we do not represent anyone before HCAD or the Appraisal Review Board. We prepare the forms and the comparable-property evidence; you file it yourself under your own account. iFile requires your own login tied to your own account number and PIN, so the protest stays on your own record.
Last updated: July 31, 2026. Property figures computed from Harris Central Appraisal District's public appraisal roll (single-family state class A1, vacant-lot records excluded), joined to HCAD's exemption records. Sources: Harris Central Appraisal District, hcad.org and owners.hcad.org; Texas Tax Code §41.44, §11.13, §11.431 and §11.439. This page is general information for Harris County homeowners, not legal or tax advice. Appraisal figures reflect the roll as loaded and change every year — verify your own account with HCAD before you rely on anything here.