Data sources
Results are built from:
- TCAD preliminary and certified appraisal records.
- TCAD protest, settlement, and hearing-status records, including records released in response to public-information requests.
- Texas Comptroller tax-rate records.
- Fee schedules published by protest firms.
Calculations
- Market-value reduction
- The decrease from the property's noticed market value to its post-protest market value.
- Net tax savings
- The estimated tax bill without the protest, minus the estimated bill after the protest and the estimated protest fee. The calculation uses the property's taxing entities, exemptions, caps, freezes, and applicable tax rates.
- Bulk settlement rate
- The area- and firm-specific market-value reduction rate in TCAD's Topline/JMTD bulk settlement records.
- Fee trap
- A firm-handled protest in which the estimated agent fee is larger than the property's tax savings for that tax year. A homestead cap, tax ceiling, exemption, or the firm's fee formula can produce this result.
Estimates
- Protest fees are calculated from firms' published fee schedules. They are not invoice amounts.
- Tax savings use estimated tax rates when adopted rates are not yet available for that year.
- A modeled result applies an area and filing-path reduction rate to the same property's noticed value and tax rules. It is not a recorded outcome for that property.
Coverage and limits
- Area participation and firm comparisons cover residential property.
- For each property and year, the data shows one of three states: no protest on record, a filing with no outcome on record, or a recorded outcome. A filing with no recorded outcome is not treated as a loss.
- Fee-trap rates cover residential, firm-handled reductions whose tax savings and agent fee can both be calculated. Self-filed protests, pending filings, and outcomes without a priceable fee are excluded.
- Area firm counts use annual agent-of-record data. The 2026 self-filed count uses TCAD's post-deadline filing snapshot. The 2024 and 2025 self-filed counts and total protest participation are estimates because equivalent filing snapshots are unavailable.
- A neighborhood or place name routes to its main TCAD Alpha Area. Area results cover the full Alpha Area, not only the named neighborhood or place.
- Countywide protest totals that include commercial and other nonresidential accounts are not directly comparable to the residential totals on this site.
Updates and corrections
Each result identifies the release and years used. Data is published in complete, versioned releases. Current-year results can change when TCAD publishes additional outcomes or taxing entities adopt rates. Corrections are published in a new release.
To report a suspected data error or ask how a result was calculated, email replies@lotsincommon.com.