32,266 single-family homes with a Tomball mailing address on HCAD's Harris County roll, how many have no homestead exemption on record, and how Tomball compares with the county.
Check your home FREE →| What HCAD's records show | Tomball | All of Harris County |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family homes counted (state class A1) | 32,266 | 1,157,293 |
| No homestead exemption on record | 5,709 (17.7%) | 328,310 (28.4%) |
| Median appraised value | $368,305 | $279,813 |
| Median appraised value per square foot | $121.85 | $111.97 |
| Middle 80% of homes, per square foot | $98.14 – $167.10 | $84.36 – $184.69 |
| Median year of the primary structure | 2007 | 1990 |
Against the county: 17.7% here versus 28.4% across all of Harris County (328,310 of 1,157,293 single-family homes) — Tomball runs 10.7 percentage points below the county rate.
Tomball has the third-lowest share of missing homestead exemptions in this set, behind only Kingwood and the Clear Lake area: 5,709 of 32,266 homes, or 17.7%, against the county's 28.4%. The median appraised value is $368,305 — well above the county's $279,813 — at a median $121.85 per square foot.
The number to look at twice is the spread. The middle 80% of Tomball homes run $98.14 to $167.10 per square foot, a noticeably wider top end than Cypress ($153.07) despite similar median ages. That upper tail is what a mailing area containing both dense new subdivisions and older acreage properties looks like in a single column of data. It also means a plain "my neighbour pays less per square foot" argument needs more care in Tomball than in a uniform subdivision: the comparables you pick have to be genuinely comparable in lot size and land use, not merely nearby, or HCAD will say so at the hearing.
Tomball's roll mixes two quite different kinds of property: newer subdivision housing on standard lots, and older properties on larger tracts. HCAD groups accounts by neighbourhood code for mass appraisal, and the comparables it brings to a hearing come from within your group. That is the practical reason a wide $/sqft spread matters — a comparison against a home in a different land-use pattern is the easiest evidence for an appraiser to set aside.
Two things follow. First, if you are protesting on unequal appraisal, build the comparison from homes that match yours on size, age, condition and lot, not just distance. Second, pull HCAD's own evidence packet through your owners.hcad.org account before the hearing — you are entitled to see what the district intends to use, and reading it is the cheapest preparation available.
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.
Whichever one issued your Notice of Appraised Value. Harris Central Appraisal District appraises only the Harris County portion; homes on the Montgomery County side are appraised by the Montgomery Central Appraisal District and protested there under that district's own procedures. Check the letterhead on your notice before you file anything.
It changes what evidence works, not the process. Land and improvements are valued separately, and a comparison against subdivision homes on quarter-acre lots will not persuade an appraisal review board if your property is a different land use. Pull HCAD's own evidence for your account through owners.hcad.org first and see which comparables the district itself is relying on.
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.