Bexar County Property Assessments: Fair or Inflated? A Data-Driven Analysis

By: Danny Johnson | Updated: October 9, 2025

How do Bexar County property assessments compare to real-world sales prices in 2025?

Believe it or not, on average, properties are being assessed at 99.5% of their market value, indicating a slight but negligible under-assessment across the county as a whole.

This article delves into how we found this out along with which zip codes are over-valued and which are more under-valued in 2025.

* Click the map to view an interactive Google My Map.

What is the common perception of how accurate Bexar County assesses values?

We surveyed 10 people and 9 of them said they felt their Bexar County properties were over-valued by BCAD by a large margin.

As real estate investors and cash house buyers, we research values on hundreds of houses per year. We also have bought and sold hundreds of houses. We used to find that we could sell houses for more than the county had them valued at. That started to change right before COVID.

SABOR showed the average home value went up about 19% from 2020 to 2021. Then, according to the yearly report from BCAD, single-family residential values increased about 27.8 percent from 2021 to 2022. Those are massive jumps.

The market has softened from 2023 to 2025 and we have felt the tax assessed values did not reflect this as well as they should. We were curious.

Was this the case for all areas of San Antonio and Bexar? Was it uniform across the price points?

Most of the homes we buy are close to San Antonio's median home value or below. Maybe it's just the case that these relatively lower-valued areas have more of a disparity. Could there be big differences by zip code within Bexar County?

We wondered what the comparison of BCAD values for 2025 compared to actual sales prices for the first two quarters of 2025 would look like. We decided to pull the data and take a look.

The results surprised us!

Read on to discover the top 5 zip codes that were over-valued and the 5 zip codes that were under-valued by BCAD for 2025. See which zip codes had the biggest changes between Q1 and Q2. We also provide a table with the results for Q1 and Q2 for all zip codes. Find out how whether your zip code could have possibly paid more in property taxes that it should have or got a slight advantage!

Comparing Actual Sales Prices to Bexar County Tax Assessed Values

We used an open records request to get all county valuation data for 2025. We then retrieved all sold prices from the MLS for Q1 and Q2 within Bexar County.

Bexar County started mailing valuation notices on April 11, 2025. We felt pulling data for properties sold in Q1 could reflect valuations made within the same time frame. We wanted to see what the trend was after the valuations were made, so we also pulled sold data for Q2 of 2025.

Property Valuation Concepts to Understand

• Assessed/appraised value (by BCAD in Bexar County) is what the Bexar County Appraisal District estimates as the “market value” (or fair value) of a property for county tax purposes.
• The county assessed value is based on models, assumptions, comparable sales, cost approaches, etc.—it may lag or lead the real market.
• Actual sale price (sold price) is what a buyer agreed to pay at a point in time.
• The difference (or ratio) between the assessed value and the sale price is a useful metric: e.g. assessed ÷ sale price (or sale price ÷ assessed). A ratio of 1.0 means the assessment exactly matched the market sale. A ratio below 1.0 means assessed was lower; above 1.0 means assessed was higher than what the market paid.

Considerations Made to Best Align Valuation Comparisons

We wanted to compare apples to apples, so to speak.

Because of appraisal delays, neighborhood differences, property-specific quirks, and outliers, we wanted to look at aggregated data. This is why we chose to analyze the ratio of assessed value to sold prices by zip code.

We chose to only analyze single-family residential properties to keep things simple.

We also found that new construction homes sales skewed the data sharply. This is because newly built homes usually only have tax assessed values based on the empty lot and no improvement or only very small improvement value. This meant that the sold price was almost always drastically higher than what the county had assessed it at. We excluded these by only analyzing properties built before 2024.

Without a sold price, it's hard to say what the true value of the property would be. We could use other automatic valuation tools, but those are just models as well. This is why we limited the data to properties that were sold in the quarter being analyzed.

In the tables below, ratios over 1.0 indicate where the assessed values were greater than the sold prices on average. Ratios below 1.0 indicate where assessed values are lower than what properties were selling for.

Top 5 "Over-Assessed" Zip Codes - Q1 2025

(Where tax values were highest compared to sale prices)

* Map showing top 5 zip codes in Bexar County where properties were over-assessed in Q1 2025. Click the map to view an interactive Google My Map.

Top 5 "Under-Assessed" Zip Codes - Q1 2025

(Where tax values were lowest compared to sale prices)

* We excluded 78069 with a ratio of .88 and average sales price of $109,417 due to there only being 3 sales that quarter.

* Map showing top 5 zip codes in Bexar County where properties were under-assessed in Q1 2025. Click the map to view an interactive Google My Map.

Top 5 "Over-Assessed" Zip Codes - Q2 2025

(Where tax values were highest compared to sale prices)

* Map showing top 5 zip codes in Bexar County where properties were over-assessed in Q2 2025. Click the map to view an interactive Google My Map.

Top 5 "Under-Assessed" Zip Codes - Q2 2025

(Where tax values were lowest compared to sale prices)

* We excluded 78124 (1 sale), 78069 (3 sales), 78002 (3 sales), and 78108 (1 sale) due to a low number of sales.

* Map showing top 5 zip codes in Bexar County where properties were under-assessed in Q2 2025. Click the map to view an interactive Google My Map.

Comparison of Q1 and Q2 2025 Assessed Values Vs Sales Prices

Overall, the total ratio of BCAD assessed value to the sales prices for Q1 fell in Q2. The overall ratio for Q1 was .9949. That fell to .9922 in Q2. This shows the county is actually very good at assessing values when look at as a whole.

Now, let's look at the biggest "risers" and "fallers" zip codes from Q1 to Q2.

Q1 2025 Percentages Sold Above and Below Assessed Value

As shown in the chart below, the number of properties sold for above and below their assessed values in Q1 2025 is very evenly distributed. 45.6% sold below assessed value and 44.9% sold above assessed value. Remarkably, 9.5% sold within $1,000 of the assessed value!

Q2 2025 Percentages Sold Above and Below Assessed Value

As shown in the chart below for Q2 of 2025, the number of properties sold below their assessed values went up slightly. 46.8% sold below assessed value and 48.1% sold above assessed value. This quarter also saw a decrease in the percentage sold within $1,000 of the assessed value with 5.1%.

Distribution of Assessment Ratios (Zip Code 78245)

What about the distribution of ratios for the assessed values to sold prices within a zip code. For this visualization, we used data for Q1 2025 for the zip code 78245. The reason we chose this zip code is that there were 165 properties sold during that quarter. The overall ratio for the zip code was 1.04, so it was closer to evenly valued but not completely. This gave us a good data set to work with.

What is interesting is that the majority of properties in this zip code are clustered around the 95-110% range of their assessed values. You would think there would be a larger number of outliers. It does not surprise me that there are a few far outliers on the side of being over-valued. This is because some homes need costly repairs and sell for far below assessed value. It is not as common to find a home being sold for way over assessed value.

Distribution of Assessment Ratios (Zip Code 78201)

Let us look at a zip code where the overall ratio was more skewed towards being over-valued. For this visualization, we used data for Q1 2025 for the zip code 78201. The overall ratio for the zip code was 1.13 with 47 properties sold.

Unlike the previous zip code which was heavily clustered around a ratio of 1.0, the distribution in 78201 is much more spread out. While there is a cluster of properties assessed close to their sale price (10 properties fall between 0.95 and 1.05), there is a significant number of properties with very high ratios.

Notably, 8 properties have a ratio of 1.50 or higher, meaning their assessed value was at least 50% greater than what they sold for. This indicates a much wider and more inconsistent range of assessment accuracy in this area compared to the 78245 zip code data.

We believe this discrepancy highlights the fact that there are older homes that need a lot of repairs that sell for far below market value in 78201.

Distribution of Assessment Ratios (Zip Code 78212)

Let us look at a zip code where the overall ratio was more skewed towards being under-valued. For this visualization, we used data for Q1 2025 for the zip code 78212. The overall ratio for the zip code was 0.89 with 44 properties sold.

The distribution for zip code 78212 is quite different from the others. It shows a strong concentration of properties with ratios below 1.0. The most frequent ranges are between 0.80 and 1.00, which accounts for 23 of the 44 properties.

This is known as a negative skew, suggesting that in this specific zip code, it is more common for properties to be assessed for less than their final sale price. While there is one significant outlier with a ratio of 1.85, the overwhelming trend in this area is toward under-assessment.

We believe this discrepancy highlights the fact that there are more homes in 78212 being improved to add value above what is assessed. There are many historic homes in this zip code. These homes can be updated and easily sold for a higher price. This is reflected in the data.

Complete Q1 2025 Data Analysis: Bexar County Property Sales vs. Assessed Values By Zip Code

The following table provides a comprehensive overview of Bexar County property sales from January 1, 2025 through March 30, 2025. It compares the average assessed values determined by the Bexar County Appraisal District (BCAD) against actual sale prices recorded in the market. The data is broken down by ZIP code to highlight regional variations in assessment accuracy.

Complete Q2 2025 Data Analysis: Bexar County Property Sales vs. Assessed Values By Zip Code

The following table provides a comprehensive overview of Bexar County property sales from April 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025. It compares the average assessed values determined by the Bexar County Appraisal District (BCAD) against actual sale prices recorded in the market. The data is broken down by ZIP code to highlight regional variations in assessment accuracy.

Assessment Methodology vs. Market Transactions: Understanding the Gap

The Bexar County Appraisal District (BCAD) determines property values using mass appraisal techniques that differ significantly from how individual buyers and sellers establish prices in real-world transactions. This fundamental difference creates a natural disconnect between assessed values and market realities.

How BCAD Determines Property Values

BCAD employs a mass appraisal system that relies on statistical models and standardized property characteristics. Appraisers typically evaluate properties in batches by neighborhood, using formulas that consider factors like square footage, age, construction quality, and amenities.

This approach, while efficient for assessing thousands of properties, often fails to account for property-specific conditions that would impact an actual sale price. With just 77 appraisers responsible for evaluating over 720,000 property tax parcels, as noted in county data, the district faces significant limitations in conducting detailed individual assessments.

How Market Transactions Determine Value

In contrast, market transactions reflect the specific negotiation between a buyer and seller who have thoroughly examined a particular property. These transactions account for factors that mass appraisals might miss, such as:

• Interior condition and upgrades not visible from exterior inspections
• Neighborhood nuances and micro-market trends
• Specific property defects or unique positive features
• Current mortgage interest rates affecting buyer purchasing power
• Emotional factors and buyer/seller motivation

The Texas Property Tax Code Section 23.01 requires appraisal districts to determine market value as of January 1 each year. However, by the time assessments are finalized in April or May, market conditions may have already shifted significantly, creating further disparities between assessments and current sale prices.

Our analysis of Bexar County property transactions from 2019 through 2023 reveals a consistent pattern: assessed values frequently exceed actual sale prices, with the disparity varying by neighborhood, property type, and price range.

Practical Advice for Homeowners Facing Assessment Disparities

If you believe your Bexar County property assessment exceeds your property's actual market value, you have several options for addressing this disparity. Here's a practical approach to ensure you're not overpaying on your property taxes:

Step 1: Review Your Notice of Appraised Value

When you receive your annual Notice of Appraised Value from BCAD (typically in April), carefully review all property details for accuracy. Check square footage, number of rooms, lot size, and property classification. Even small errors can lead to significant overassessment.

Step 2: Gather Compelling Evidence

The most effective evidence for challenging an assessment includes:

• Recent comparable sales: Identify 3-5 similar properties that sold for less than your assessment
• Property condition issues: Document problems that would reduce market value (foundation issues, roof damage, outdated systems)
• Appraisal reports: Recent mortgage appraisals can provide professional opinions of value
• Market trend data: Evidence of declining values in your neighborhood

Step 3: File Your Protest by the Deadline

The deadline to protest your property tax assessment in Bexar County is May 15 or 30 days after receiving your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later. You can file your protest:

• Online through BCAD's website
• By mail using the form attached to your notice
• In person at the BCAD office

Step 4: Prepare for the Informal Hearing

Before your case goes to the Appraisal Review Board (ARB), you'll have an opportunity for an informal hearing with a BCAD appraiser. This is often the best opportunity to resolve your protest quickly. Organize your evidence clearly, focusing on your strongest points first. Be prepared to explain why specific comparable sales are relevant to your property and how condition issues impact your property's value.

Step 5: Consider Professional Representation

Given the significantly higher success rates and larger reductions achieved by professionally represented property owners, consider hiring a property tax consultant or attorney, especially if:

• Your property has a high value (over $500,000)
• The assessment-to-market value disparity is substantial
• You've been unsuccessful in previous protest attempts
• You don't have time to gather evidence and attend hearings