Texas · 171st largest metro area

Buying a home in Waco, Texas

In Waco, the median value of owner-occupied homes is $221,700, McLennan County's effective property tax rate is 1.42%, a purchase mortgage carried a median $7,211 in total loan costs in 2025, and median gross rent is $1,165 a month.

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

Waco home costs, fact by fact

About Waco

Median gross rent is $1,165 a month, and 49.4% of homes are owner-occupied. The city had 146,608 residents in the latest estimate. The place lies in the Waco, TX metro area.

Reading the Waco figures

Waco owners put the value of their homes at $221,700, well below the Texas figure of $318,100. Tyler shows $235,300 and Odessa $223,100, so Waco sits in the lower-value group of covered Texas cities. Killeen reports $215,400, a little lower. Amarillo registers $196,900 and Laredo $193,500, lower still, whereas Dallas climbs to $320,700 and Houston to $277,800. These are estimates by owners and not recorded sales.

Rent is $1,165 a month by the census measure, a figure at the low end: Lubbock rent is $1,182, Pasadena's $1,213, while Tyler asks $1,252 and San Antonio $1,324. Amarillo comes in at $1,092, and Laredo is lower again, with $1,030. HUD lists $1,297 for the smaller bedroom count in the Waco area and $1,693 for the larger. Both sit above the census figure, and they work as benchmarks, not market medians, so a new lease may cost more than the median suggests.

Fewer households own here than in many peers: 49.4%, against 62.8% in Mesquite and 61.6% in Garland. Laredo reports 64.1%. Killeen is close to Waco, at 49.5%, and Dallas and Houston are lower, at 42.4% and 42.1%. A buyer in Waco joins a market where renting remains a large part of the picture, and where owner-occupied homes are fewer than in Odessa, with 59.8%, or Amarillo, with 59.7%.

McLennan County sets the tax. Its effective rate is 1.42%, which produces a median bill of $3,471 a year on county homes valued at $243,600. That county value is above the city's own $221,700, so a typical Waco house may carry a smaller bill than the county median implies.

One more way to read the figures is to set rent beside ownership cost. Waco's census rent is $1,165, while the larger HUD entry reaches $1,693. A buyer who pays the county's median tax of $3,471 a year on top of a mortgage should compare that total with those rent figures, and not only with the median rent, keeping in mind that HUD's numbers are benchmarks rather than medians.

Lenders in the county recorded 2,076 loans in 2025, and the median loan cost there was $7,211. The middle of the field paid between $4,802 and $10,488, a range that leaves room for negotiation. For scale, the Waco metro area ranks 171st nationally with 307,123 residents, while the city counts 146,608. Corpus Christi counts 317,317 and Lubbock 272,086. Among cities with a similar owner share, Killeen shows 49.5% with rent of $1,208, and Waco's own rent of $1,165 is lower still, while its owners estimate $221,700 against Killeen's $215,400. Those pairings show a market that behaves much like its closest peers on value and ownership.

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 Waco

How much is property tax in Waco?

Homeowners in McLennan County pay a median $3,471 a year in property tax, 1.42% of the county median home value of $243,600 (Census ACS 2020-2024). Your bill depends on your assessed value and local rates.

What are closing costs on a mortgage in Waco?

Home-purchase mortgages in McLennan County carried median total loan costs of $7,211 in 2025; half of the 2,076 loans fell between $4,802 and $10,488 (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 Waco?

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 Waco?

It depends on your mortgage rate, down payment and how long you stay. As a benchmark, the median value of owner-occupied homes in Waco ($221,700) equals 15.9 years of the median gross rent ($1,165 a month), both from Census ACS 2020-2024.

What natural hazards affect home insurance in Waco?

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.

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Sources

Texas · All states · Federal guides