One $400,000 Budget, Three Houston Suburbs: Where the Monthly Payment Really Lands

Michael Gee | The Gee Team | Real Broker, LLC

A $400,000 price is only the starting point for your monthly budget. What you actually pay each month depends on where the house is, and the difference can be several hundred dollars a month for the same price. This walkthrough follows one hypothetical household through three Greater Houston suburbs so you can see exactly which lines change and why.

Meet the hypothetical buyer and the assumptions

Every number that follows is built on the same simple, clearly hypothetical setup, so only the location changes.

The household is buying a $400,000 single family home, putting 10% down, and financing $360,000 on a 30 year fixed conventional loan. For illustration only, I’m using a 6.5% interest rate, which puts principal and interest at about $2,275 a month. Your actual rate depends on your lender, your credit and the day you lock. With less than 20% down, a conventional loan usually carries private mortgage insurance, so I’m adding an illustrative $150 a month for it.

I’m also holding homeowners insurance at an illustrative $250 a month in every area. In real life insurance is one of the biggest swing factors in Houston, so treat that line as a placeholder until you have a quote on an actual address.

The rest of the payment is property tax, and that is where the three suburbs split apart. School district rates below are the 2026 adopted rates. For these examples, I assume the home qualifies for the general homestead exemption and its appraised value is $400,000. HOA dues, separate flood coverage and maintenance are not included, so add them for a real home. The other local layers are illustrative round numbers that show the structure of each area, not a quote for any specific home.

Stop 1: Katy, where the MUD decides the payment

In Katy, the school tax is predictable, and the special district tax is where the budget gets made or broken.

Katy ISD’s 2026 rate is $1.1171 per $100 of value. After the $140,000 homestead exemption, our buyer pays school tax on $260,000, which is about $2,904 a year, or about $242 a month.

Most newer Katy neighborhoods sit inside a Municipal Utility District, and the MUD rate depends on how much debt the district still carries. For this walkthrough, I’m assigning an illustrative combined 1.5% for the county, the MUD and other local layers, which is about $500 a month on a $400,000 home.

Change the MUD and you change the whole picture. A buyer in an older district with its bonds mostly paid down could see a far smaller number on that last line, while a brand new section could see a bigger one.

Stop 2: The Woodlands, where the rate is lower but the price usually is not

The Woodlands has the lowest tax subtotal under these illustrative assumptions.

Most of The Woodlands is in Conroe ISD, whose 2026 rate is $0.9471 per $100. After the homestead exemption, our buyer’s school tax is about $2,462 a year, or about $205 a month. Check the school district on the parcel, because the Conroe ISD example does not apply to every Woodlands address.

Instead of a city tax, residents pay The Woodlands Township, whose 2026 rate is $0.1694 per $100. With the township’s 3% homestead exemption, that comes to about $657 a year, or about $55 a month. I’m adding an illustrative 0.4% for the county, any MUD and other layers, or about $133 a month.

Here is the catch. At the same price, compare the actual square footage, lot size, age and condition of the homes on your short list. A lower rate helps only if the house itself fits.

Stop 3: Pearland, where the commute and the flood check carry the weight

Pearland lands in the middle on taxes in this example, and its real advantages and risks show up outside the tax bill.

Pearland ISD’s 2026 rate is $1.135 per $100, nearly the same as Katy’s. After the exemption, school tax is about $2,951 a year, or about $246 a month. I’m adding an illustrative 1.0% for the city, county and other layers, or about $333 a month.

For a Texas Medical Center job, compare the actual 288 trip from the Pearland address with the routes from the other homes at your work hours, including tolls. Meanwhile, parts of Pearland sit near Clear Creek and its tributaries, so the flood history and actual insurance quote can move this total more than any tax line.

What I see with my clients: I’ve had buyers walk away from homes during the option period because the insurance quote came in higher than they expected. That’s why I treat the $250 insurance line above as a placeholder, not a number to plan around.

What the three totals tell you

With the same price, the same loan and the same insurance placeholder, this hypothetical buyer’s monthly payment ranges from about $3,068 to about $3,417.

Holding these hypothetical inputs unchanged, that $349 a month is a $4,188 annual difference and $20,940 over five years, and it comes from the tax assumptions. An actual home’s tax bill, exemptions and premiums can change each year.

Three things can flip this ranking for a real home:

• The MUD. A Katy or Cypress home in an older district can come in well under the Pearland number.
• Insurance. A home with a flood history or an older roof can carry a premium far above our placeholder.
• What $400,000 buys. A larger, newer home in Katy may be worth the higher monthly cost to your family.

To see how sensitive the totals are: if the insurance quote is $150 a month higher than the placeholder, add $150 to that home’s subtotal. If its MUD rate is 0.25 percentage points higher on an illustrative $400,000 taxable value, add about $83 a month.

What about Cypress or a home inside the Loop? Cypress works much like Katy, with MUD taxes in most newer neighborhoods. Harris County homeowners should also know that the combined county, flood control, hospital district and port rate is about $0.6715 per $100 for 2026, and the county’s own share rose from about $0.381 to $0.4175. On $300,000 of taxable value, the county increase alone adds roughly $110 a year.

Inside the Loop, most homes pay a City of Houston tax instead of a MUD tax, so the rate structure is simpler. The tradeoff is that $400,000 usually buys an older or smaller home there, and repairs on an older house can outweigh the tax savings in the first few years.

If you’re 65 or older or have a qualifying disability, the math shifts again. You get an extra $60,000 off school taxes, which lowers the school line by roughly $47 to $57 a month in these examples.

How to run this math on a real home

You can rebuild this table for any listing in about 20 minutes, and it is the best 20 minutes you will spend before touring.

1. Pull the property’s taxing units and rates from the county appraisal district’s property search.
2. Ask for the MUD notice if the home sits in a district.
3. If the home will be your eligible homestead, subtract the $140,000 exemption from the appraised value for the school line.
4. Get an insurance quote on the actual address, including flood if it applies, and note the deductible.
5. Add HOA dues.
6. Add the mortgage insurance quote if you’re putting less than 20% down.
7. Compare the total with renting. In September 2026, the average single family lease in Greater Houston was about $2,333 a month.

Keep closing costs, moving costs and a repair reserve in a separate cash to close budget. A monthly payment that fits does not tell you how much cash you need to buy.

If the total feels tight, compare a second area before you give up the features that matter most to you. My first time home buyer guide walks through the rest of the buying costs, and you can read more Houston market breakdowns on the Gee Team blog.

Rates, exemptions and insurance costs depend on the specific property and your loan, so confirm current figures with the appraisal district, your lender and your insurance agent before you commit.

Ready to see how these numbers look for homes on your short list? Book a buyer consultation and we’ll build the monthly picture for each one.

If you’re a veteran or military family buying in Houston, schedule a consultation and we’ll compare areas by the payment you’d actually make.

What you get when you work with The Gee Team

• A monthly cost breakdown for every home you’re serious about
• Tax rates, MUD notices and HOA details gathered before you write an offer
• Area comparisons built around your commute and budget
• Early insurance and flood questions while your option period is still open

Michael Gee | The Gee Team | Real Broker, LLC | 713-517-1794