How to choose a Texas retirement town: a step-by-step framework with worked examples

Summary

Texas is too large and too varied for a single ranking of retirement towns. A Hill Country river town, a coastal bay town, a Valley city and an Austin-corridor suburb differ in tax stack, insurance exposure, hospital type, airport reach and weather, and the cheapest or the most popular choice on one list may be the wrong one for a particular household. This guide sets out a sequence of steps for narrowing the choice, and it applies the steps to six places already profiled on this site as worked examples.

The method is simple. First set the budget by the full stack of taxing units rather than the city rate. Then price the hazards that apply to the specific address. Next check the kind of healthcare available and how plan networks reach it, how you would travel to see family, and what the climate and water rules mean for daily life. Finally decide between an age-restricted community and an all-age home, and between new construction and resale. Each step points to a guide that covers it in depth, and every figure here comes from a primary source with its year.

A comparison across places is only useful when the numbers are the same kind. The Census Bureau's 2019 through 2023 five-year American Community Survey estimates describe long-run averages with margins of error; tax rates belong to a specific tax year; stage notices and hospital pages belong to a date. Treat the worked examples below as a demonstration of the method, not a ranking, and replace them with current figures for the addresses you are considering.

Key takeaways

• Build the budget from the full tax stack for the specific address and tax year: Kendall Appraisal District's 2026 table lists combined rates from 1.3845 to 2.3845 depending on city limits and MUDs, and a difference of 1.00 per $100 adds about $3,000 a year on a $300,000 taxable value (our arithmetic).
• Homestead and age-65 exemptions lower taxable value and are not cash; the school tax ceiling covers school district taxes only and transfers as a percentage, and county, city and junior college ceilings exist only where adopted. Texas property taxes do not freeze at 65.
• Price insurance for the address: roof terms, hail deductibles and flood status matter inland, and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's designated area covers all 14 first-tier coastal counties, where most home policies do not cover wind and hail.
• Identify the inpatient hospital and check Medicare network and service area before choosing a town; a freestanding emergency room transfers patients, a critical access hospital has no more than 25 inpatient beds, and plans can change networks during the year.
• Check the airport's own nonstop list, use NOAA 1991 through 2020 normals as station proxies for heat, and read water-stage rules; the Edwards Aquifer Authority reported the San Antonio Pool in Stage 3 on October 8, 2026.
• Verify a 55 and over label in the recorded declaration, not the brochure, and for new construction ask for the district notice under Water Code Section 49.452 because the Section 5.008 seller's disclosure does not apply to a never-occupied new residence.

Step 1: build the budget from the full tax stack

Texas has no state individual income tax, and Article 8 of the Texas Constitution says the legislature may not impose a tax on the net incomes of individuals. The state sales tax is 6.25 percent, and the Comptroller says local jurisdictions can add up to 2 percent for a maximum combined rate of 8.25 percent. What varies by town is the property tax. The Comptroller reports that more than 4,796 local taxing units in Texas, including school districts, cities, counties and various special districts, assess property tax, and each sets its own rate on the value that the appraisal district assigns. See Texas retirement taxes and property taxes and appraisal districts.

Compare the whole stack for the specific address, in the same tax year. Kendall Appraisal District's 2026 adopted-rate table lists a combined rate of 1.3845 for an address outside Boerne's city limits in Boerne ISD, 1.8635 inside the city, 2.0345 where Kendall County MUD No. 1 also applies and 2.3845 where Miralomas MUD applies. The Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector's tax year 2025 list shows school district rates from 0.931900 to 1.257500 across San Antonio-area districts. The Williamson County table for tax year 2024 lists Georgetown ISD at 1.054400, the City of Georgetown at 0.364700 and Williamson County at 0.355670. These come from different years and different units, so they are examples of how rates vary, not a ranking. As an illustration and our arithmetic, each 1.00 of extra combined rate per $100 of taxable value adds about $3,000 a year on a $300,000 taxable value, which is why a MUD line can matter more than the difference between two cities. See Texas MUDs, PIDs and special districts.

Then apply the relief that is real and conditional. School districts must give a $140,000 residence homestead exemption and an additional $60,000 for owners who are 65 or older or disabled, and any other unit may adopt a local option, such as a percentage exemption of up to 20 percent with a $5,000 minimum. The school tax ceiling, set from the year the age-65 exemption is first received, limits school district taxes only and transfers to a new Texas home as a percentage; county, city and junior college ceilings are optional and exist only where the unit adopted one. Texas property taxes do not freeze at 65. Exemptions lower the taxable value and are not cash payments. The homestead and school tax ceiling guide has the details.

Add the charges that never appear on the tax statement: association dues, club fees and special assessments. Property Code Section 207.003 requires an association to deliver subdivision information within 10 business days of a written request, and the guide to HOA, condo, club fees and special assessments explains how to read them.

Step 2: price the insurance and hazard exposure for the address

Insurance is the cost that most often changes a plan. Inland, the Texas Department of Insurance advises homeowners with wind and hail coverage to file claims promptly and notes that some policies pay replacement cost for a roof while others pay actual cash value, which is less if the roof is older or showing wear. It also warns that it is illegal to waive a homeowners deductible under state law. Ask the insurer for the roof terms in writing before an offer. The hazards that recur inland, including hail, wildfire, drought, heat and power outages, are covered in the guide to Texas hail, wildfire, drought, heat and power outages.

On the coast the structure is different. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association says its designated area includes all 14 first-tier coastal counties and parts of Harris County, and that applicants must have been denied coverage by at least one authorized insurer. The Texas Department of Insurance says most home policies on the coast do not cover wind and hail. Flood is separate everywhere: FEMA says any place with a 1 percent or higher chance of flooding each year is considered high risk, and an NFIP policy typically has a 30-day waiting period. The Gulf Coast hurricane, windstorm and flood insurance guide sets out the coverages.

Do not use a town's reputation as a risk label. Hazard follows the parcel: a lot near a creek, a roof of a certain age, a street in an emergency service district or a house on a particular utility can each change the answer within one town. Wildfire is statewide; Texas A&M Forest Service describes itself as the lead agency in Texas for fighting wildfires and publishes tools for homeowners. Obtain a written quote for the exact address, and check the mapped flood status, before comparing towns.

Step 3: match the healthcare facility to your needs

Texas towns that look alike on a map can offer very different care. A full-service hospital in a metro can offer intensive care, trauma and cardiac services, a critical access hospital, according to CMS, is a federal designation for a small rural hospital with no more than 25 inpatient beds, and a freestanding emergency room stabilizes and transfers patients rather than admitting them. The guide to Texas healthcare geography and Medicare gives these definitions and the federal data caveats. Name the inpatient hospital you would use before you decide on a town.

Medicare adds the question of network. Medicare.gov says Original Medicare lets you see any doctor or hospital that takes Medicare, and that a Medicare Advantage plan in many cases limits non-emergency care to providers in the plan's network and service area. A plan can add or remove providers during the year, and Medicare recommends checking whether your providers are in the plans you are considering during Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7. For veterans, the VA describes each facility on its own pages, and the VA says a veteran who must travel far may be reimbursed for travel expenses.

Use the sources in the right order. The plan's provider directory answers coverage; the hospital's own page answers services and location; the federal Hospital General Information dataset answers type and registered address but is incomplete, since its Kendall County extract returned no rows even though Boerne has a freestanding emergency room. No official page supplies a standard travel time, so drive the route yourself.

Step 4: check travel, airports and ground transport

Decide how you will get to the people and places you will keep visiting. San Antonio International Airport lists nonstop service on American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and United to cities including Atlanta, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Houston-Intercontinental and Washington-Dulles. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport lists many domestic nonstop destinations in a monthly-updated page that states it reflects service as of June 2026. Corpus Christi International Airport serves four airlines, and McAllen International Airport lists daily nonstop flights to Austin, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas and Mexico City with seasonal service to Los Angeles and Orlando. Routes and seasons change, so confirm with the airline.

Ground transport is local. VIA Metropolitan Transit says seniors aged 62 and older with proof of age pay 25 cents per trip from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and ride free on weekends, and New Braunfels runs Ride the Rio, an on-demand microtransit service. Neither makes a car unnecessary at a specific address; check that a service reaches the lot. For the question of whether to settle near family or at a destination, see retiring near family versus a destination.

Step 5: read the climate as a number, not an impression

Use NOAA's 1991 through 2020 normals to compare places, and use the Weather Service's heat index to understand what the air feels like. The normal July high is 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit at McAllen Miller International Airport, 96.7 at Waco Regional Airport, 96.1 at Austin-Bergstrom, 95.6 at Dallas-Fort Worth, 94.9 at San Antonio International and 91.6 at the Kerrville 3 NNE station, with normal July lows of 78.8, 74.4, 73.0, 75.8, 74.7 and 69.8 at the same stations. Those stations are proxies for a town, not the town itself, and they do not measure humidity, which the heat index accounts for. The Weather Service lists older adults, especially those with pre-existing diseases or taking certain medications, among those who can experience adverse effects of extreme heat. The Texas summer heat and humidity guide covers the regional pattern.

Weather is not only heat. Drought stages, burn bans and aquifer rules shape daily life in some regions; the guide to Hill Country retirement and water explains how the Edwards Aquifer Authority, groundwater districts and city utilities declare stages. On October 8, 2026 the Edwards Aquifer Authority reported the San Antonio Pool in Stage 3 with a 35 percent reduction in permitted pumping.

Step 6: choose between a 55 and over community and an all-age home

A 55 and over label has a legal meaning. Under the HUD rule the housing must be intended and operated for persons 55 or older, at least 80 percent of occupied units must include a resident 55 or older, and the community must publish and follow age-verification policies. Texas Property Code Section 301.043 exempts housing intended and operated for occupancy by at least one individual 55 or older per unit as determined by commission rules. Advertising phrases such as adult community do not establish that status. Request the recorded declaration, bylaws, rules and fee schedule, as the 55-plus versus all-age guide explains.

Sun City Texas in Georgetown is the age-restricted option in this set, and the Sun City Texas page describes what the developer and association publish. Retirement-friendly master plans can be all-age, so a retiree who prefers one has to check the governing documents rather than the brochure.

Step 7: decide between new construction and resale

New construction can bring a district tax or assessment, a builder's incentive with conditions and an association still controlled by the developer. Water Code Section 49.452 requires a seller in a covered utility district to give the buyer a written notice before the contract is signed, and the Property Code's seller's disclosure of property condition under Section 5.008 does not apply to a new residence that has not previously been occupied. Resale buys an existing appraisal history, an existing roof and an association with a track record. The guide to new construction versus resale compares both. Whichever you choose, ask for the tax statement of the specific address, the district notice and the association's resale information.

Worked examples: six places compared on the same checks

The list below applies the steps to six published places using survey and agency figures from each place's record. Read each line as a profile, not a rank. Each figure carries its source year in the sections above or in the place record, and different units should not be compared as like-for-like.

Georgetown, in Williamson County at the northern end of the Austin corridor: the 2019 through 2023 survey estimates 78,803 residents, a median age of 44.3, 28.2 percent aged 65 and over and a median owner-occupied home value of $398,600. St. David's Georgetown Hospital at 2000 Scenic Drive lists a 24-hour emergency department with a Level IV Trauma Center. The 2024 Williamson County table lists Georgetown ISD at 1.054400, the City of Georgetown at 0.364700 and Williamson County at 0.355670. Sun City Texas is the age-restricted option. See Georgetown.

Fredericksburg, in Gillespie County: 11,254 residents, a median age of 53.6, 33.9 percent aged 65 and over, a median household income of $57,474 and a median owner-occupied value of $442,800, so home values are high relative to local income. Hill Country Memorial Hospital is at 1020 S State Hwy 16. The city's water conservation page reports Stage 4 measures since April 1, 2023 and says groundwater supplies are nearing full allocation, so water rules are part of the decision. See Fredericksburg.

Kerrville, in Kerr County: 24,532 residents, 28.1 percent aged 65 and over and a median owner-occupied value of $272,700. Peterson Regional Medical Center is a 124-bed nonprofit hospital and the VA medical center is at 3600 Memorial Boulevard. It is also a river town: Kerr Central Appraisal District states that Governor Abbott declared Kerr County a disaster area on July 17, 2026, so parcel-level flood checks are essential. The July normal high at the Kerrville 3 NNE station is 91.6 degrees. See Kerrville.

Rockport, in Aransas County on the Coastal Bend: 10,449 residents, 28.9 percent aged 65 and over and a median owner-occupied value of $288,600. ER 24/7 Rockport is a department of Corpus Christi Medical Center, so inpatient admission is elsewhere in that network. Aransas County is in the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's designated area, and the National Weather Service reports that Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on August 25, 2017. Commercial flights come through Corpus Christi, which serves four airlines. See Rockport.

McAllen, in Hidalgo County: 143,789 residents, 13.5 percent aged 65 and over and a median owner-occupied value of $173,800, the lowest of the six. The normal July high is 98.5 degrees, the highest of the stations above. South Texas Health System lists McAllen Medical Center as a Level I trauma center for Hidalgo County, and the airport lists five daily nonstop destinations. The McAllen Chamber of Commerce markets the city to Winter Texans. See McAllen.

San Antonio, in Bexar County: 1,458,954 residents and 13.1 percent aged 65 and over. University Health says University Hospital is the region's only Level I trauma center for both adults and children, and the airport lists nonstop service to cities including Atlanta and Denver. School district rates on the 2025 county list run from 0.931900 to 1.257500, and the Edwards Aquifer Authority reported Stage 3 on October 8, 2026. See San Antonio.

Read across the six, the trade-offs are plain. The lowest home value sits beside the highest July heat, the highest share of residents aged 65 and over sits beside a water-restriction record and a high home price, and a coastal town whose emergency room sends inpatients elsewhere sits inside a windstorm designation. No place wins every column, which is the reason to choose the checks first and the town second.

Putting the steps together

Work through the steps in order and write down an answer for each. Tax stack and insurance quote set the monthly cost; the hospital and plan network set the care; the airport and ground transport set the ability to travel; the climate and water rules set how you use the home; and the community type and construction year set the legal paperwork. If two towns tie, rent in each for a season or visit in the month that is hardest on the property, since a weather or water problem is easier to see in a bad month. Revisit the numbers each year, because tax rates, plan networks, airline routes and drought stages all change.

Finally, keep the sources close. The county appraisal district's property record, the tax office's published rates, the groundwater district or water utility, the hospital's own page, the airport's own page and the Medicare plan directory are the primary places to confirm any figure in this guide.

Places where this matters most

• 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.
• 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.
• KerrvilleThe Kerr County seat on the upper Guadalupe River and the western medical hub of the Hill Country, with a regional hospital, a VA medical center, a large older-resident population, and a July 2026 flood whose recovery the city is still documenting.
• RockportA small Aransas County bay-side city, closely tied to neighboring Fulton, with one of the oldest age profiles in the Coastal Bend, a freestanding emergency room as its local medical anchor, a county-wide windstorm-insurance designation, and a recent history of direct hurricane impact.
• McAllenA Hidalgo County city at the center of the Rio Grande Valley, with two hospital systems close by, a commercial airport, warm winters that attract seasonal visitors, very hot summers, a flat drainage-dependent landscape and a water supply that rests on the Rio Grande.
• San AntonioA very large Bexar County city and metro hub with a concentrated medical center cluster, a university-hospital district, an international airport, a long-standing military retiree community and a property-tax picture that varies sharply by school district, special district and suburb.
• BoerneA Kendall County city in the Hill Country with a historic Main Street district, a younger and higher-income profile than the region's retirement towns, a freestanding emergency room and no inpatient hospital described on the hospital system's pages, and a 2026 flood that put creek risk and water supply at the center of the buying decision.

Communities where this matters most

• 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.

Related guides

• Is Texas a good place to retire? An honest look at the benefits, the costs and the risks
• Retiring near family or choosing a destination: how to decide between a Texas metro and a retirement market
• Texas retirement taxes: state income tax, Social Security, pensions and federal taxes
• Texas property taxes and appraisal districts: how to compare actual total tax bills
• Texas homestead exemption, the age-65 exemption and the school tax ceiling
• Texas MUDs, PIDs and special districts: how to read the bill and the closing disclosure
• Texas healthcare geography and Medicare network considerations
• 55-plus communities versus all-age master plans in Texas
• New construction versus resale homes in Texas