Texans pay the 6th highest real estate property taxes in the U.S., new report finds

deep in the heart of taxes

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It’s that time of year again where Texas homeowners grimace at their tax bills. But here’s some consolation – did you know the Lone Star State doesn’t have the highest property tax rate in the U.S.? Personal finance website WalletHub’s 2023 report says there are five states paying higher property taxes than Texas.

In the report, Hawaii comes in first place with the lowest property tax rate out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia – 0.29 percent. With a median home value of $662,100, that means the average Hawaiian is paying $1,893 in annual property taxes.

Toward the bottom of the list (meaning states with the highest property tax rates), Texas sits at No. 46. The median home value in Texas is $202,600 with a property tax rate of 1.74 percent, which means the average Texan pays $3,520 in property taxes.

States paying higher property taxes than Texas are Vermont at 1.90 percent, New Hampshire with 2.09 percent, Connecticut at 2.15 percent, and Illinois with a 2.23 percent tax rate. Coming in at No. 51 with the most expensive property tax rate on the list is New Jersey, sitting at 2.47 percent. At that rate, New Jersey homeowners pay $6,057 on a median home valued at $355,700.

Dr. Alex Combs, assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia, says people should consider how much they could pay in property taxes when making the decision to move.

"After all, people are sensitive to price, and the property tax is a visible cost of homeownership that funds generally desirable government services like education and public safety," he explains. "If they have the opportunity, people are going to seek the biggest benefit for their property tax buck."

The 10 states that pay the lowest real estate property taxes are:

No. 1: Hawaii – 0.29 percent
No. 2: Alabama – 0.41 percent
No. 3: Colorado – 0.51 percent
No. 4: Nevada – 0.55 percent
No. 5: South Carolina and Louisiana (Tied) – 0.56 percent
No. 7: District of Columbia – 0.57 percent
No. 8: Utah and Delaware (Tied) – 0.58 percent
No. 10: West Virginia – 0.59 percent

While Texas homeowners will feel the sting of their property taxes, at least they can find some comfort in not having to worry about vehicle property taxes. Texas vehicle owners do have to pay a 6.25 percent tax rate on the purchase price of a car with their local tax assessor-collector, but they do not have to pay annual vehicle property taxes.

Plus, it’s not just Texas – WalletHub determined 23 other states and Washington, D.C., also do not have vehicle property tax rates. Louisiana has the lowest rate out of the remaining states who do pay vehicle property taxes, at 0.10 percent. The state with the highest vehicle property tax rate is Virginia, at 3.96 percent.

The full report and its methodology can be found on WalletHub’s website.

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Texas scores top ranking among best states for dating, says new report

Not-so-Lone Star

Couples, step aside – this Valentine’s day is for the unattached. Personal finance website WalletHub released their report of this year’s Best and Worst States for Singles, and the Lone Star State claimed the No. 1 spot in two out of six categories. Coming in at No. 4 overall, Texas ranked behind California (No. 1), New York (No. 2), and Florida (No. 3).

The report’s findings were determined by comparing dating economics, opportunities, and romance and fun across all 50 states. For date opportunities, the top four overall winners tied for No. 1 in the most restaurants per capita category, while Texas and California also tied for highest number of movie theaters per capita

Other categories in the report include online and mobile dating opportunities, median annual household income, share of single adults, gender balance of singles, and crime rate.

Besides holding a No. 1 spot for most restaurants and movie theaters per capita, Texas received the following rankings in other categories:

9^th – Median annual household income (adjusted for cost of living)
17th – Mobile-dating opportunities
23rd – Online-dating opportunities
30^th – Percentage of residents 12+ who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

With the soaring popularity of virtual dating during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, one expert believes it gives people a better understanding of a potential partner before meeting face-to-face.

“People might go into in-person dates with more knowledge about the person and more confidence about who they are,” according to Dr. Andrew High, associate professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Pennsylvania State University. “Still, online dating is only one way to meet people, and there are plenty of opportunities to meet people in person.”

Individual Texas destinations also ranked highly for singles in another recent report from WalletHub comparing 180 U.S. cities. In that study, Austin earned the No. 7 ranking for single people, with Seattle taking the lead. Houston came in at No. 69, with San Antonio taking No. 83 and Dallas coming close behind at No. 87.

The full report and its methodology can be found at wallethub.com.

Photo by Jenn Duncan

3 Texas cities gobble up spots among the best places for Thanksgiving 2022

Feast your eyes

Texans still looking for the best place to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast without breaking their banks might want to head to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Three DFW cities rank highly on a new list of the best places to go for Thanksgiving, while San Antonio comes in in the top third.

The study, published by WalletHub, compares the top 100 largest U.S. cities across 20 key metrics, including the cost of Thanksgiving dinner, number of delayed flights, and even forecast precipitation.

Atlanta, Georgia ranks No. 1 on the list, with Orlando, Florida; Las Vega, Nevada; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Gilbert, Arizona rounding out the top five.

The top-scoring Texas destinations are Plano (No. 7), Irving (No. 9), and Dallas (No. 13). The other cities around Texas to make the list are:

Garland (No. 24)
Corpus Christi (No. 25)
Laredo (No. 31)
San Antonio (No. 32)
Austin (No. 33)
Arlington (No. 44)
Houston (No. 53)
El Paso (No. 64)
Fort Worth (No. 84)
Lubbock (No. 85)

The average American spends about $301 during the five-day Thanksgiving period, according to a list of Thanksgiving fun facts compiled by WalletHub. Annually, Americans as a whole spend an estimated $835 million on Thanksgiving turkeys, with 46 million turkeys killed for the holiday.

In addition to the cities’ overall ranking, WalletHub revealed the cities’ rankings for the individual categories they were evaluated by. Five of those categories include Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions, Affordability, Safety and Accessibility, Giving Thanks, and Thanksgiving Weather Forecast.

Surely the big Cowboys game with Jonas Brothers' halftime show factors into the DFW "celebrations and traditions" score, right?

Dallas and Irving are tied at No. 4 on the list for having the best Thanksgiving Weather Forecast (which calls for a high of 61 this year, according to WFAA).

Other Dallas rankings include:

No. 13 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
No. 18 for Affordability
No. 93 for Safety and Accessibility
No. 37 for Giving Thanks

No. 32-ranking San Antonio has these rankings on the list:

No. 46 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
No. 2 for Affordability
No. 66 for Safety and Accessibility
No. 85 for Giving Thanks
No. 26 for Thanksgiving Weather Forecast

The state’s No. 33-ranking capital, Austin, had an average ranking for each category:

No. 41 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
No. 19 for Affordability
No. 42 for Safety and Accessibility
No. 82 for Giving Thanks
No. 36 for Thanksgiving Weather Forecast.

Houston ranked in the top 10 for Affordability but didn’t score highly in any other category:

No. 48 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
No. 7 for Affordability
No. 88 for Safety and Accessibility
No. 58 for Giving Thanks
No. 43 for Thanksgiving Weather Forecast.

Fort Worth was in the top 5 for weather but hit the bottom 10 for safety:

No. 87 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
No. 31 for Affordability
No. 95 for Safety and Accessibility
No. 52 for Giving Thanks
No. 4 for Thanksgiving Weather Forecast.

You can view the full list and find more information about the 100 best U.S. places for Thanksgiving here.

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Texas punches in as one of best states for working from home, says study

Remote possibilities

The meaning of “going to work” is swiftly changing. The Ladders career platform forecasts that one-fourth of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022.

“This change in working arrangements is impossible to overhype. As big as it is, it’s even bigger than people think,” Marc Cenedella, CEO of The Ladders, said in December. “Hiring practices typically move at a glacial pace, but the pandemic turned up the heat so we’re seeing a rapid flood of change in this space. It’s really rather amazing.”

Given the dramatic shift in what it means to go to work, some folks with remote jobs may be wondering where they should live. It turns out that Texas sits at No. 7 on a new list from personal finance website WalletHub of the best states for working from home. So, if you hold a remote job and already call Texas home, you might just want to stay put.

To identify which places are best for working from home, WalletHub compared 12 key metrics for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Those metrics include the cost of internet service and the size of a typical home. “Together, these metrics show how feasible working from home is in terms of cost, comfort, and safety,” WalletHub says.

Here’s how Texas fares in six categories, with a No. 1 position being best and a No. 25 position being average:

No. 1 for average square footage of homes.
No. 2 for cost of internet service.
No. 19 for share of potential telecommuters.
No. 25 for average price of electricity.
No. 25 for share of population working from home.
No. 29 for household internet access.

New Jersey grabs the No. 1 spot on the list, and Alaska ranks last.

“I believe that working from home will need to become a more viable option for many industries, regardless of the pandemic status, as we continue to see increasing fuel prices,” Sean Walker, professor of behavioral management in the College of Business and Global Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Martin, tells WalletHub.

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San Antonio weighs in as one of nation’s fattest metros in new report

Weight watching

Here’s the skinny on obesity in the San Antonio metro area: The region appears at No. 25 in a new ranking of the fattest places in the country.

Personal finance website WalletHub just released its 2022 ranking of the country’s fattest places. The website compared 100 of the most populated U.S. metro areas across 19 key indicators of weight-related problems. The ranking factors include the percentage of physically inactive adults, projected obesity rates by 2030, and access to healthy food.

Based on those indicators, San Antonio ranks 25th, making it the second-fattest major metro in Texas. The McAllen area ranks first in the U.S. and, therefore, in Texas.

San Antonio shows up at No. 9 in the study’s “obesity and overweight” category, No. 24 in the “health consequences” category, and No. 66 in the “food and fitness” category. (Higher numbers are better than lower numbers.)

The WalletHub-declared fattest metro, McAllen, fares poorly when it comes to many of the individual ranking factors. For instance, it’s got the highest percentage of obese adults and the highest percentage of physically inactive adults, and it ranks fourth for the percentage of diabetic adults.

“There are lots of ideas for policies to combat obesity. So far, most programs have not achieved the gains they have aimed for. Instead, obesity continues to rise,” Kathleen Davis, assistant professor of nutrition and food sciences at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, tells WalletHub.

Here’s how the other major metros in Texas rank in the WalletHub study:

Dallas-Fort Worth, No. 27
El Paso, No. 30
Houston, No. 36
Austin, No. 54

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San Antonio is all smiles with new ranking as one of the happiest cities in Texas and the U.S.

Keep on smilin’

If you smile in San Antonio, the whole world smiles with you. So maybe Alamo City needs another motto: Happiness City.

That’s the idea behind a new study from personal finance website WalletHub that ranks San Antonio among the happiest places in Texas and the U.S.

The study puts San Antonio at No. 13 in Texas and No. 130 in the country in terms of the happiest locales.

To come up with the ranking, WalletHub looked at more than key indicators of happiness for 182 of the largest U.S. cities. Among the factors were depression rate, suicide rate, sports participation rate, separation and divorce rate, and hours worked per day.

WalletHub then placed those numbers into three buckets. Here’s how San Antonio ranked in that regard:

160th in the community and environment category.
116th in the physical and emotional well-being category.
88th in the income and employment category.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a third of Americans to be so stressed that they sometimes find it hard to make basic decisions. Therefore, it’s vital for people to boost their happiness however they can, whether through family, friends, activities, entertainment, or work,” WalletHub says. “What people might not realize is that where they live may also determine how happy they are.”

So, what’s the happiest city in the U.S.? According to WalletHub, it’s Fremont, California, a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. And the unhappiest? WalletHub hands that dubious distinction to Detroit.

Here’s how Texas cities in the study are ranked:

Austin, No. 30
Grand Prairie, No. 83
Irving, No. 89
Garland, No. 97
Fort Worth, No. 103
Arlington, No. 107
Dallas, No. 111
Houston, No. 112
Laredo, No. 115
El Paso, No. 120
Brownsville, No. 125
San Antonio, No. 130
Corpus Christi, No. 139
Amarillo, No. 143
Lubbock, No. 157

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A Night in Old San Antonio returns to enchant locals this April, plus more top stories

Hot Headlines

Editor’s note: It’s that time again — time to check in with our top stories. Here are five articles that captured our collective attention over the past seven days.

1. A Night in Old San Antonio returns to enchant locals with new food and fun this April. This beloved celebration of Alamo City’s rich cultural heritage will be held April 25- 28, offering revelers food, live music, and Fiesta souvenirs.

2. Splash, spin, and swing into San Antonio's best spring activities for the whole family. Sure, Spring Break is coming to an end, but several of our spring activity picks can keep the family entertained throughout the year.

3. Southern Living names Texas Hill Country hot spot a top Southern small town. The magazine dubbed Fredericksburg the No. 4 best Southern small town, but of course, it will always be No. 1 in our hearts.

4. Riverdance stomps into San Antonio for limited summer run. The spectacular touring production is heading to the Majestic Theatre for its 25th-anniversary tour.

5. Cirque du Soleil swings back to San Antonio for first big top show. Cirque du Soleil's BAZZAR is making its Southwest debut in San Antonio this year.

San Antonio rent prices increased 7 percent from 2022, report finds

RENT'S DUE

Apartment rent keeps going up in Texas, and in San Antonio the increase is seven percent more than last year, making it more difficult to afford living in the city. That’s according to a new national rent report from online rental marketplace Zumper.

Despite rent increases showing small improvements month-over-month, overall prices are still on the high side from the previous year. For example, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in San Antonio is $1,430 now, in March of 2023, which is a 1.4 percent decrease from the previous month, but a 4.4 percent increase from 2022. The average rent for a one-bedroom is $1,160, which is a mere .90 percent increase month-over-month, but a whopping 7.4 percent increase from last year.

The report looked at rental data from more than one million active listings in the top 100 cities in the United States to determine the rankings. Zumper ranked San Antonio the No. 66 most expensive rental market across the nation in February of 2023, up three places from the last report.

The report attributes these recent rental increase trends to the nation's rising inflation rate and unpredictable economy. Though unemployment is low (less than 3.4 percent), potential homebuyers are being sidelined with increasing interest rates. This is causing more competition among renters all over the country.

“Many markets continue to either normalize or correct following the steep increases in rent seen in 2021 [and 2022] in the zero interest rate [and] QE environment we went through,” said Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades in the report. “With interest rates expected to rise further in 2023, we anticipate continued deceleration in rent rises as new household formation freezes or is at least postponed.”

Much higher up the list from San Antonio is its Central Texas neighbor Austin, coming in as the No. 25 most expensive rental market, which is a two-place increase from a previous report. Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment stayed relatively flat over the last month, at $1,670, yet is still 7.7 percent higher than it was last year. Two-bedroom apartments saw a higher year-over-year increase at 8.4 percent, with the average rent price at $2,070.

Several cities in the DFW metro area also made the list, as well as Houston (No. 51) and El Paso (No. 95). Most notably, Irving (No. 34) is experiencing a nearly 15 percent year-over-year rent increase for both one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The nine total Texas cities that made the list include:

No. 25 – Austin
No. 34 – Irving
No. 36 – Dallas
No. 40 – Plano
No. 51 – Houston
No. 55 – Fort Worth
No. 66 – San Antonio
No. 67 – Arlington
No. 95 – El Paso

The full data from Zumper’s National Rent Report can be found at zumper.com.

Crafting the perfect sip-and-stay vacay in Lubbock

Bottoms Up

Did you know that around 80 percent of all grapes sourced by Texas wineries come from the High Plains AVA in West Texas? Or that Lubbock has its own signature cocktail? The city's craft beer scene has also exploded in the past five years.

All of this means that the West Texas city is now bubbling up with ideas for a refreshing getaway, whether you're a hophead, oenophile, or even a mocktail maven.

Curious to taste these bevvies for yourself? Here's what's brewing in Lubbock:

Cheers for beers

Two Docs Brewing Co.: The double doctors in the brewery's name are Dr. Eric Cunningham (a veterinarian) and Dr. Tyson Purdy (a family medicine practitioner), cousins who took their love of beer public in 2019. Located in the Cultural District, the environmentally-conscious brewery is known for its Buddy Hoppy IPA, Lubbock Light lager, and Two Docs Bock.

The Brewery LBK: USA Today crowned this newish brewery the Top Brewpub in the Nation, and it's a title head brewmaster Sally Taylor and general manager Mike Nghiem don't take lightly. The beers are a mix of classic profiles and inventive flavors, with plenty of seasonal rotations and nods to Hub City. Try the Low Hanging Fruit, made with Albarino grapes from the local Veesart Vineyards. Wine on the nose with flavors of bright citrus complement a wheat and barley backbone with farmhouse ale notes.

Good Line Beer Co.: What began as a true garage start-up is now a celebrated brewery in the historic Tech Terrace neighborhood, putting out brews with whimsical names like Catastrophe Girlfriend (a raspberry weisse), Range Life (a pilsner), and Bitter Buffalo (an IPA). Owners Chris Troutman and Shawn Phillips are heavy on community, with local artist Dirk Fowler creating the label designs.

Wine time

Syrah is one of the key grape varieties grown here, alongside Tempranillo and Grenache — two other varieties known to perform well in warm, dry climates like the Texas High Plains AVA. White grapes are also grown, but to a much lesser extent, mostly from Viognier, Chenin Blanc, and Sauvignon Blanc..

Seek out your next favorite glass (or bottle!) at Bolen Winery Vineyards, Burklee Hill Vineyards, English Newsom Cellars, McPherson Cellars, La Diosa Cellars, and Llano Estacado Winery, the second-oldest winery in the state. Adelphos Cellars will also open soon, inviting Lubbock into the city's newest winery, tasting room, and event venue.

The famous Lubbock Chilton

Called "a cocktail as bright and pure as the West Texas sun" by Texas Monthly, the Chilton is a refreshing cocktail comprised of vodka, fresh lemon juice, bubbly water, and a salted rim. The story goes that years ago, a parched Dr. Chilton instructed a bartender at the Lubbock Country Club to mix these ingredients together, and a signature sip was born.

You'll spot the Chilton all around town, with variations that range from fruity to spicy and even as the inspiration for a few seasonal beers. Here's a primer if you're not sure where to start.

Zero-proof pours

Alcohol isn't required for a great drink — just ask The West Table Kitchen and Bar and The Nicolett.

Everyone is included in the toast at The West Table with offerings such as the tropical Riki Tiki and "gin" rambler Baby Blue, among others. Each libation feels even more elegant thanks to the restaurant's location within the historic Pioneer Building in downtown Lubbock.

Photo courtesy of Visit Lubbock

Two Docs Brewing Co. was actually founded by two doctors.

At The Nicolett, 2022 James Beard Semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas and owner of The Nicolett, Finn Walter incorporated several non-alcoholic beverages into his cocktail menu to serve a craft experience for all to savor. From the botanical Garden Gimlet to the sweet-tart I Love Yuzu, each showcases an alcohol alternative in the ingredients list.

Where to rest your head

Stow your suitcase at the newly opened Aloft hotel, or check into an Airbnb managed by Home on the Range LBK, which owns four beautifully decorated properties all near Texas Tech University.

Looking forward

In the coming months, Lubbock will see the debut of Milestones Park and a new Dave & Busters. Even if you've visited before, there's always more to discover in Hub City — plan your next visit now.

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