El Paso property tax bills will hit the mail over the next few weeks, right at the same time that voters will start casting early votes for the Nov. 3 general election.

Most local governments raised property taxes this year, as both their budgets and those of taxpayers are strained by rising costs. The impact on individual homeowners will vary by how much their valuations increased over last year, and by the exemptions they may be eligible for. But most El Paso homeowners are likely to pay more in property taxes this year than last.

Property taxes are a major issue in the upcoming election, especially in races for City Council and County Commissioners Court. El Pasoans frequently hear that their property taxes are among the highest in the country, and the highest in Texas.

It will come as little consolation when opening their tax bills, but El Pasoans actually pay less on average than other Texas urban areas, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit organization that tracks the impact of various forms of taxation. That’s largely because homes in El Paso are worth far less than other cities in the state.

And Census Bureau data indicates that El Pasoans paid – on average – less of their income in residential property taxes than most other large Texas counties in 2024, the most recent year in which data is available.

In El Paso County, paying the median property tax bill required 6.1% of the median household income, according to an El Paso Matters analysis using Tax Foundation and Census Bureau data. El Paso’s median household income in 2024 was just less than $60,000, which was 17%-51% lower than 10 other large counties in Texas and higher only than another border county, Hidalgo.

So the most accurate way to compare El Paso with other large Texas counties is by the median property tax payment. And that number for El Paso is lower than most of Texas’ 12 largest counties – by a lot.

Among Texas’ 12 most populous counties, only residents of Montgomery County and Harris County in the Houston area and Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley paid a lower percentage of the median household income toward the median residential property tax bill.

In most of the largest Texas counties, the median property tax bill – meaning half were higher and half lower – consumed between 6% and 6.5% of median household income in 2024. The three outliers were Montgomery and Hidalgo counties on the low end and Travis County – home to Austin – on the high end.

El Pasoans pay much higher tax rates than other populous counties in Texas, but they also have – by far – the lowest home values other than Hidalgo County, also on the border.

When media and elected officials say El Pasoans have among the highest tax burdens, they’re generally referring to tax rates. But that focus is incomplete at best, or even misleading.

That’s because property tax bills are determined by two primary factors – the tax rate, and the taxable value of the property. And in Texas, those two factors tend to be inversely related, meaning the higher the property value, the lower the tax rates, and vice versa.

So the most accurate way to compare El Paso with other large Texas counties is by the median property tax payment. And that number for two border counties — El Paso and Hidalgo in the Rio Grande Valley — is the lowest among Texas’ 12 largest counties – by a lot. More than a quarter of Hidalgo County’s population is unincorporated — significantly higher than in other large Texas counties — so those residents pay no city property tax.

The median property tax payment for residents of Harris County, the next lowest among Texas’ 12 largest counties in 2024, was 18% higher than El Paso County. The median property tax payment in Travis County was 111% higher than in El Paso County.

Getting your tax bill is a prominent example of what behavioral economists and scientists call “pain of paying.” The more spending hurts, the less willing people are to part with their money. That’s why taxes of any kind play a major role in politics.

So, El Pasoans will feel pain when they get their property tax bills in October, and again when they pay them in December or January. The only solace might be that Texans in other metropolitan areas are experiencing much worse pain.

9:10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28. This story has been updated with data from Harris County (Houston) and Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley.