Where should you retire in Texas?
Independent research on Texas regions, towns and 55+ communities: what they cost to own, what can go wrong, and who each place suits. Not a brokerage and not a listings site.
Start with what you need to decide
- Lower typical home valuesPlaces where the Census median owner-occupied value is $250,000 or less. A median is not a listing price.
- A hospital in townPlaces up to $400,000 typical value with an inpatient hospital inside the city.
- A 55+ community nearbyPlaces with a 55+ community in our research, with how many have a verified age rule.
- LakesPlaces in or beside a named lake, each with the statement that supports the tag, and the lake guide on who controls the water.
- Gulf and bay coastGulf, bay and island places, with the windstorm and flood insurance questions that come with them.
- Compare two 55+ communitiesSun City Texas and Kissing Tree side by side: age rules, dues and what they cover, size and limits.
- Estimate ownership costsProperty tax from published rates, over-65 school exemptions, HOA and what you must still verify.
Start with the state overview
- TexasA statewide overview of retiring in Texas: no individual income tax, heavy reliance on local property tax, and a wide spread of hazards from Gulf hurricanes to inland drought, hail and wildfire.TX
Then a kind of place
- Austin & Central TexasThe I-35 and US-183 corridor from Georgetown through Round Rock and Austin to Buda, Kyle, San Marcos and Bastrop: a fast-growing, job-rich metro with a major airport, large hospital systems and an age-restricted community in Georgetown, balanced against hail, flood and drought exposure and a layered property-tax structure.TX
- Texas Hill CountryThe limestone Hill Country west of the I-35 corridor, covering Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Boerne, Fair Oaks Ranch, New Braunfels, Wimberley, Dripping Springs, Johnson City and Comfort, where river and creek flooding, wildfire, drought and groundwater rules shape retirement decisions as much as taxes do.TX
- Dallas & Northern SuburbsThe suburban belt north and east of Dallas across Collin, Denton and Rockwall counties: large 55+ master plans, lakes, several competing hospital systems, DFW Airport, and a property-tax picture built from layered city, county, school and special-district rates.TX
- Houston, The Woodlands & NorthwestThe northern and northwestern edge of the Houston metro: the planned township of The Woodlands, Montgomery County cities around Lake Conroe, and Cypress, where retirement choices are shaped by overlapping utility-district taxes, parcel-level flood exposure, large hospital campuses and hot, humid summers.TX
- San Antonio & Surrounding CommunitiesA large metro built around the city of San Antonio, with a medical center cluster, a veterans and military retiree presence, an international airport and a surrounding ring of cities, where the retirement decision turns on school district, special districts, flood and hail exposure and Edwards Aquifer water rules rather than on one region-wide profile.TX
- Corpus Christi & Coastal BendThe Gulf and bay shoreline around Corpus Christi, Rockport and Port Aransas: a large-city hospital and airport hub next to small, older coastal towns, balanced against direct hurricane and storm-surge exposure, a county-wide windstorm-insurance designation and a drought-driven water-supply program.TX
All regions
Featured places
- GeorgetownA Williamson County city on the northern end of the Austin corridor, with a historic town center, a hospital and clinics in town, an age-restricted community on its west side, and a property-tax picture that depends on a layered set of local taxing units.TX
- New BraunfelsA spring-fed river city on the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers between Austin and San Antonio, split between Comal and Guadalupe Counties, with two appraisal districts, two main school districts on the tax rolls and an unusually well-documented water and flood picture.TX
- FredericksburgA Gillespie County city in the Texas Hill Country with a historic downtown square, a population in which about a third of residents are 65 or older, a hospital in town, a tax picture built from a short list of local units, and a groundwater-based water supply that has been under mandatory conservation.TX
- FriscoA fast-growing Dallas-area suburb that straddles the Collin and Denton county line, with three hospitals in the city, a mostly post-2000 housing stock, a high-cost and high-income profile, a lakeside 55+ community on Lake Lewisville, and a property-tax bill that depends on which of several school districts and which of two appraisal districts a parcel falls in.TX
- The WoodlandsA large planned township north of Houston, split between Montgomery and Harris counties, with no city government, a township tax layered on county, school and district taxes, two major hospital campuses in town, and flood and hurricane exposure that depends on the individual parcel.TX
- Corpus ChristiThe largest city on the Texas Coastal Bend, centered in Nueces County, with the area's principal hospital campuses, a city-operated international airport, Gulf and bay shoreline, a county-wide windstorm-insurance designation, and a multi-year water-supply drought that the city reports in published restriction stages.TX
Browse every place
Featured communities
- Sun City TexasA large Del Webb active adult community in northwest Georgetown, marketed as 55+, with three championship golf courses, four fitness centers, eight pools and new single-family homes from $340,990.
- Robson Ranch TexasA gated 55+ golf community on the south side of Denton with a 17,500-square-foot clubhouse, 27 holes of golf, a sports and fitness complex, and a homeowners association that publishes its dues and resale fees.
- Del Webb BridgelandA gated Del Webb community in Creekland Village within the Bridgeland master plan in Cypress, marketed as 55+, with a clubhouse, resort-style pool, indoor and outdoor pickleball and a golf simulator.
- Regency at EsperanzaA Toll Brothers community marketed as 55+ inside the Esperanza master plan in Boerne, with three single-family collections, an on-site clubhouse and quick move-in homes.
All communities
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