73,053 single-family homes with a Spring mailing address on HCAD's Harris County roll, how many have no homestead exemption on record, and how Spring compares with the county as a whole.
Check your home FREE →| What HCAD's records show | Spring | All of Harris County |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family homes counted (state class A1) | 73,053 | 1,157,293 |
| No homestead exemption on record | 16,254 (22.2%) | 328,310 (28.4%) |
| Median appraised value | $304,994 | $279,813 |
| Median appraised value per square foot | $107.57 | $111.97 |
| Middle 80% of homes, per square foot | $87.86 – $140.43 | $84.36 – $184.69 |
| Median year of the primary structure | 2001 | 1990 |
Against the county: 22.2% here versus 28.4% across all of Harris County (328,310 of 1,157,293 single-family homes) — Spring runs 6.2 percentage points below the county rate.
16,254 of the 73,053 Spring homes on HCAD's roll — 22.2% — have no homestead exemption on record, about six points better than the county's 28.4%. Spring is also the largest single mailing area in this set, which makes that figure unusually solid: it is not a small sample being pushed around by a handful of accounts.
The median Spring home is appraised at $304,994 at a median $107.57 per square foot — below the county median of $111.97 despite an above-county median value, which is the arithmetic of a place where houses are simply larger. The middle 80% run $87.86 to $140.43 per square foot. And a median primary structure year of 2001 puts a lot of Spring housing at exactly the age where the original buyer is still in the house and may now be approaching 65 — the point at which the extra $60,000 school exemption and the §11.26 school tax ceiling become available. Both ride on the same free form as the original homestead application.
The Spring mailing area is split across more than one school district — Spring ISD and Klein ISD both serve large parts of it, with Tomball ISD and Cy-Fair ISD reaching into the edges — and school taxes are usually the biggest single line on the bill. That matters for one specific reason: the $140,000 general homestead exemption under §11.13(b) comes off the value your school district taxes, so whichever district you are in, the exemption is doing most of its work on the largest line.
It also means the neighbours you compare yourself against for an unequal-appraisal argument do not have to be in your school district at all. HCAD appraises value; a school district only applies a rate to it. Comparable homes for a protest are chosen on size, age, condition and location — not on which ISD they pay.
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.
No. The Spring postal area crosses the Harris-Montgomery county line, and Harris Central Appraisal District appraises only Harris County property. If your notice is from the Montgomery Central Appraisal District, your protest is filed with MCAD, their deadlines and forms govern, and none of the figures on this page describe your area. The top of your Notice of Appraised Value shows which district issued it.
The Spring mailing area is served by several districts, mainly Spring ISD and Klein ISD. It does not change how you protest — HCAD sets the value and one protest covers every taxing unit that uses it. It does change what your exemption is worth in dollars, because the $140,000 general homestead exemption in §11.13(b) applies to school-district taxable value and every district sets its own rate.
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.