Texas · Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area

Buying a home in Plano, Texas

In Plano, the median value of owner-occupied homes is $465,900, Collin County's effective property tax rate is 1.58%, a purchase mortgage carried a median $8,398 in total loan costs in 2025, and median gross rent is $1,841 a month.

Data as of : Census ACS 2020-2024, Census Vintage 2024, HMDA 2025, HUD FY 2027. Sources

Plano home costs, fact by fact

About Plano

Plano, with 293,286 residents, is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area, ranked 4th in the United States. Median gross rent is $1,841 per month, and 56.9% of homes are owner-occupied.

Reading the Plano figures

Plano's median home value, $465,900, reads clearly against the whole state: the Texas median is $318,100, and Dallas reports $320,700. Frisco reports $642,100. Austin reports $555,300. The Woodlands comes to $511,700, and McKinney to $471,800, so each of them sits above Plano. Allen comes in a little under it, at $464,100. Richardson reports $431,400. Sugar Land and Georgetown report $430,200 and $429,100 respectively. Owners supplied these values rather than closings, but they make Plano a city in the upper part of the 45 covered Texas cities without being the top.

Start the tax read with Collin County, which taxes at 1.58% of value and posts a median annual bill of $7,521, on county homes valued at a median of $475,600. Plano's own median sits a little under the county figure, so the county bill is a close guide to what a typical Plano purchase would face. At that level, the tax is a major line in the monthly budget, and a buyer should compare it with the loan costs below instead of looking at price alone. The dollar bill here is far higher than the loan cost, which is why the county tax deserves more attention than the sticker price.

Renting costs $1,841 a month at the median. Round Rock sits lower, at $1,763. Carrollton's rent is $1,735 while Austin's is $1,729. McKinney runs higher, at $1,901. Allen reaches $1,932, and Frisco $2,014. HUD's Fair Market Rent for the Dallas HUD Metro FMR Area is $1,807 for a 2-bedroom home, with the larger home type listed at $2,275, so the census median sits just above the HUD figure for a 2-bedroom home. HUD publishes a benchmark for rental assistance, not a market median, and the census rent covers every unit size.

Ownership here is a little over the midpoint: 56.9% of households own. McKinney reports 63.8%. Owner shares reach 69.4% in Allen and 65.9% in Frisco, so Plano has more renters than those cities. Richardson shows 50.7%. Lewisville falls to 46.3%, and Austin to 43.4%. Plano therefore sits between the owner-heavy suburbs and the renter-heavy cities, and a buyer sees both kinds of neighborhood economics in the same numbers.

Loan costs in Collin County, where lenders reported 16,816 loans in the 2025 HMDA data, show a median of $8,398, with the middle band running from $5,772 to $12,382. That spread is wide enough that a quote at the high end would cost far more than a quote at the low end, so a buyer should get a written estimate. Plano lies in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area, ranked 4th nationally with 8,344,032 residents, and the city counts 293,286 people across 2 counties.

Calculate for Texas

If you buy

Texas state transfer tax

Texas has no real estate transfer tax. Change the price: the amount is recalculated instantly.

Price$318,100
State transfer tax$0
Share of the price—

Default price: the Texas median value of owner-occupied homes, $318,100 (Census ACS 2025). Rule: No transfer tax exists. Buyers pay county recording fees and a state-set title insurance premium. Who pays: No transfer tax to assign. Recording fees and the title insurance premium appear on the closing statement. Not included: county and city transfer taxes, recording fees, title insurance and lender charges. Texas transfer tax guide · all 50 states.

If you sell

Capital gain and the federal tax on it

Same federal rule in every state: Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code excludes up to $250,000 of gain on a main home ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly).

Capital gain$350,000
Section 121 exclusion$250,000 (limit $250,000)
Taxable gain$100,000
Type of gainLong-term (owned over 1 year), 15% chosen
Federal tax on the gain$15,000

Section 121 excludes $250,000; the rest is taxable.

Gain = sale price minus your adjusted basis (purchase price, buying costs and improvements); selling expenses reduce it (IRS Publication 523). Long-term rates for sales in 2026, by taxable income including the gain (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.03): 0% up to $49,450 single or $98,900 married filing jointly, 15% up to $545,500 single or $613,700 jointly, 20% above. Not included: Texas state income tax on the gain (not computed), the net investment income tax, depreciation recapture on a rental or home office, and the reduced exclusion for an early sale. Agent commissions are negotiated and never set by law. Capital gains on a home sale.

Questions about buying a home in Plano

How much is property tax in Plano?

Homeowners in Collin County pay a median $7,521 a year in property tax, 1.58% of the county median home value of $475,600 (Census ACS 2020-2024). Your bill depends on your assessed value and local rates.

What are closing costs on a mortgage in Plano?

Home-purchase mortgages in Collin County carried median total loan costs of $8,398 in 2025; half of the 16,816 loans fell between $5,772 and $12,382 (HMDA). Total loan costs are the lender and settlement-service charges of the Closing Disclosure; transfer taxes and prepaid items come on top.

Is there a transfer tax when you buy a home in Plano?

Texas has no real estate transfer tax. Article VIII, Section 29 of the Texas Constitution, added November 3, 2015, says no law enacted after January 1, 2016 may impose a transfer tax on a transaction that conveys fee simple title to real property.

Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Plano?

It depends on your mortgage rate, down payment and how long you stay. As a benchmark, the median value of owner-occupied homes in Plano ($465,900) equals 21.1 years of the median gross rent ($1,841 a month), both from Census ACS 2020-2024.

What natural hazards affect home insurance in Plano?

Across Texas, the main hazards for home insurance are flood, tornado, wind and hail, and the insurer of last resort is Texas FAIR Plan Association (TFPA). Texas gets more tornadoes than any other state, according to the Texas Department of Insurance; on the coast, windstorm coverage comes from a separate policy, often from TWIA, in 14 coastal counties plus part of Harris County.

Run your own numbers: rent vs buy calculator · closing costs calculator.

Texas rules that apply in Plano

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Sources

Texas · All states · Federal guides