The question worth answering first · Prices August 2026, rents September 2026

Renting vs buying in El Paso

El Paso County's median sale price is up 4.3% on the year and Zillow's index of every home in the city up 2.2%, and the city's median rent is up 1.6% on Apartment List's count. Here is the arithmetic, including the property tax that takes five taxing units and their homestead exemptions to work out and the mortgage insurance that stops in the middle of the model, and then the part the arithmetic misses.

Calculator

The short answer

Half the homes sold in El Paso County in August 2026 went for more than $280,615 and half for less, up 4.3% on a year earlier, on 786 sales. That is the county the Texas Real Estate Research Center reports, not the city alone, though the city is most of it. A three-bedroom rents for about $1,650. Run those against each other at a 2% appreciation assumption and the answer turns on how long you stay and on the mortgage rate, which was 7.03% on the 24 September survey.

The two price measures are some way apart. The MLS median, which counts the homes that sold across the county, is up 4.3%; Zillow's index, which models every home in the city rather than the ones that sold, is up 2.2% and sits well below it, at $238,475. The city's median rent is up 1.6% on Apartment List's count. Texas law guarantees nothing either way: a city may adopt rent control only after a disaster and with the governor's approval.

The tax is the cost that decides it. Texas has no income tax and no transfer tax, and it collects instead through the property tax, and El Paso's five units levy more per $100 than any other Texas city on this site. On the median house a homesteaded owner pays about $5,845 a year, 2.08% of the value, after the school district's $140,000 exemption and the county's and the City's $5,000. Unlike the interest, it does not shrink as the loan is paid down, and it does not end when the loan does.

Getting in is cheap and getting out is not. A buyer pays no transfer tax and the seller customarily buys the owner's title policy, so closing runs to about $1,630 plus lender fees. Selling costs about 6.3% once the commission and that title policy are counted, or roughly $17,679 on this house, which is the shape that punishes a short stay.

The calculator below opens with real El Paso figures and every one of them is editable. Three warnings: the property tax rate is set to 2.08% of market value, the homesteaded rate, not the 2.643693 per $100 the five units levy before exemptions, so if you will not live in the house, set it to 2.64%; the insurance figure has no flood policy in it; and below 20% down the owner is charged private mortgage insurance every month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, at which point it stops. All three are explained in the questions below.

Your situation

Compare like for like: the rent on somewhere you would actually be willing to live, not the cheapest listing in the city. Drop the price to around $300,000 and the rent to a one-bedroom figure to compare apartments instead, and put the condo fee in under Assumptions.

20.0% down. The renter starts with this plus closing costs: $57,753: invested instead.

The single biggest lever. Buying costs a lot to enter and a lot to exit, and only time amortizes that away.

Assumptions: every one of them editable

The El Paso County median sale price is up 4.3% year over year, on 786 sales. The Texas Real Estate Research Center publishes no condominium median for the county, and Zillow's condominium index for the city, at $176,689, is down 1.4%. Try a lower number for a condo.

What the renter earns on the down payment they never spent. This is the comparison's hidden lever. A renter who spends it instead of investing it does far worse than this model shows.

Texas cities may not adopt rent control unless the city council finds a housing emergency caused by a disaster and the governor approves the ordinance, under section 214.902 of the Local Government Code. Nothing caps an increase at renewal, and no statute sets a notice period for one: a month-to-month tenancy can be ended, and so repriced, on a month's notice under Property Code section 91.001 unless the lease says otherwise. The one statutory limit is on retaliation: a landlord may not raise the rent within six months of a tenant's good-faith repair request or complaint. Any rent-growth figure here is a forecast with no legal ceiling behind it.

Roofs, furnaces, fences, hail. Averaged out it is a real cost even in the years nothing breaks.

Zero for a house with no association, which is most of El Paso: the Census Bureau counts only about one owner in twenty paying a homeowners' or condominium association fee, at a median of $50 a month. A condominium fee carries the building's insurance, roof and reserves and runs well above that.

Commission and legal fees, charged against the price you eventually sell at. The owner's net worth below is after this comes off.

Net worth, side by side

The buyer's line is home value minus what is still owed minus the cost of selling, plus anything they invested in months when owning was cheaper. The renter's line is one portfolio: the down payment and closing costs they never spent, plus the monthly difference whenever renting is cheaper.

Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 yearsTwo lines over 30 years: the owner's net worth and the renter's. The year-by-year figures are in the table below.$0k$425k$850k51015202530Years
OwnerRenter
Show the year-by-year figures
Year by year, what the owner and the renter are worth
YearHome valueOwedOwnerRenterDifference
1$286,227$222,225$45,970$71,356−$25,386
2$291,952$219,793$53,766$85,505−$31,739
3$297,791$217,184$61,846$100,225−$38,379
4$303,747$214,386$70,224$115,542−$45,318
5$309,822$211,385$78,918$131,484−$52,566
6$316,018$208,166$87,943$148,080−$60,137
7$322,338$204,714$97,318$165,360−$68,043
8$328,785$201,010$107,062$183,357−$76,295
9$335,361$197,038$117,195$202,102−$84,907
10$342,068$192,777$127,741$221,633−$93,892
11$348,909$188,207$138,721$241,984−$103,263
12$355,888$183,305$150,162$263,196−$113,034
13$363,005$178,047$162,089$285,307−$123,218
14$370,266$172,407$174,531$308,362−$133,830
15$377,671$166,358$187,519$332,403−$144,884
16$385,224$159,870$201,085$357,479−$156,393
17$392,929$152,910$215,264$383,637−$168,373
18$400,787$145,446$230,092$410,930−$180,838
19$408,803$137,439$245,610$439,411−$193,801
20$416,979$128,850$261,859$469,137−$207,278
21$425,319$119,639$278,885$500,167−$221,282
22$433,825$109,758$296,736$532,565−$235,828
23$442,502$99,160$315,464$566,394−$250,930
24$451,352$87,792$335,124$601,724−$266,600
25$460,379$75,599$355,776$638,627−$282,851
26$469,586$62,521$377,482$677,178−$299,697
27$478,978$48,493$400,310$717,457−$317,148
28$488,558$33,446$424,332$759,548−$335,215
29$498,329$17,307$449,627$803,536−$353,909
30$508,295$0$476,273$849,511−$373,239
After 30 years
Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 years
On these numbers the money invested elsewhere stays ahead of the equity.

Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 years. Owning costs $2,539 a month in the first year against $1,661 to rent.

Owning, month one$2,539
Renting, month one$1,661
Cash needed up front$57,753
Mortgage payment$1,498
Owner net worth, year 30$476,273
Renter net worth, year 30$849,511
Owning: money not recovered$873,150
Renting: rent paid$816,446
  • The rate is fixed for the life of the loan, so there is no renewal to model, but nothing here credits you for refinancing into a lower one either.
  • Neither household is credited with tax on their investments, and the buyer's gain on a principal residence is tax-free while the renter's portfolio may not be.

An estimate from published figures, not a lender quote.

Questions people actually ask

Is it worth buying in El Paso right now?

It depends more on the house than on the market. The median home in El Paso County sold for $280,615 in August 2026 on the MLS, up 4.3% on the year; that is the county, of which the city is most, and not the city alone. Zillow's model of a typical home value inside the city, which counts every home rather than the ones that sold, is $238,475, up 2.2%. On rents, Apartment List has the city's median rent up 1.6% on the year and Zillow's observed rent index up 3.25%. At 7.03% on a 30-year loan, the mortgage on the median house with 20% down is $1,498 a month before tax and insurance, against a three-bedroom rent of about $1,650. The property tax is what makes the owner's month heavier here: about $487 a month even after the homestead exemptions, a larger share of the price than in any other Texas city on this site.

How long do you have to stay for buying to beat renting in El Paso?

Longer than the low closing costs suggest, because the cost of selling is where a Texas sale takes its money. Getting in is cheap: no transfer tax, no tax on the loan, and a buyer's share of the title company's charges that comes to roughly $1,630 with the inspection and the county clerk's recording. Getting out costs about 6.3%: around 5.5% of commission, and the owner's title policy the seller customarily buys for the buyer, $1,672 at this price on the state's promulgated rates. On a $280,615 house that is about $17,679. On the defaults below owning never catches renting at all: the renter is ahead in every one of the 30 years the model runs. The friction alone is a shorter and different answer: at a 2% appreciation assumption those two ends take about 3.6 years to earn back, almost all of it the cost of selling.

Does Texas have rent control?

No, and El Paso cannot adopt it in any ordinary year. Section 214.902 of the Local Government Code lets a Texas city establish rent control only if its council finds a housing emergency caused by a disaster and the governor approves the ordinance. Nothing caps an increase at renewal, and no statute sets a notice period for one: a month-to-month tenancy can be ended, and so repriced, on a month's notice unless the lease says otherwise. The one limit is on retaliation, which forbids a rent increase within six months of a tenant's good-faith repair request. Rents here are up 1.6% on one of the two indexes this page cites and up 3.25% on the other, which is a market condition rather than a protection. If you are renting long-term, set the rent-growth input above the 2% default and see what it does to the answer.

What are the closing costs on an El Paso home?

For a buyer, low, and for the same reason as anywhere in Texas: there is no transfer tax to pay, and since 2016 the state constitution forbids one. A title company, not an attorney, closes the sale, and the title premiums are promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance, so every insurer charges the same. The owner's policy on a $280,615 house is $1,672 and the seller customarily pays it, though the state's contract leaves it to a checkbox. The buyer pays the lender's policy, $100 when it is issued with the owner's, plus its endorsements; half the title company's escrow fee; the El Paso County Clerk's recording; an inspection; and either a new survey or the seller's affidavit that the old one still holds. Then the lender's own charges and the escrow account for taxes and insurance, which in Texas is large because the tax is. The $1,630 default above covers the title, recording and inspection costs and leaves the lender's out, because those vary by lender rather than by state.

How much do you need for a down payment in El Paso?

Legally, nothing sets a floor: this is a lender's decision rather than a rule. Conventional loans start at 3% down and FHA at 3.5%. On a $280,615 house, 3% is $8,418 and 20% is $56,123. What the low end costs you on a conventional loan is private mortgage insurance: at 3% down, about $197 a month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, which takes 12.6 years and about $29,800. At 5% down it is $149 a month and $21,100. There is also help. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs both pair a 30-year loan with up to 5% of the loan toward the down payment, and the El Paso Housing Finance Corporation, which the City Council created, gives a grant of up to $20,000 toward the down payment and closing costs on a home inside the city limits, to buyers under its income limits who take a homebuyer course first. The City's own first-time buyer program still exists on paper, but its $226,000 price cap is below what homes now sell for and it has not been used since 2021.

Why does this page use 2.08% property tax when the El Paso tax rate is 2.643693 per $100?

Because the rate per $100 is charged on a value the exemptions have already cut, and each taxing unit cuts it differently. A house in the City of El Paso and El Paso ISD, the school district more of the city's residents live in than any other, is taxed by five units: El Paso County 0.458889, City of El Paso 0.759649, El Paso ISD 1.0807, El Paso Community College 0.103563, University Medical Center of El Paso 0.240892, per $100 of taxable value for 2025. El Paso ISD takes off the state's general homestead exemption of $140,000, a flat amount, so it takes a larger share off a cheaper house, and nothing more of its own. El Paso County and the City take a flat $5,000 each, not the 20% many Texas cities grant. El Paso Community College and University Medical Center of El Paso, the hospital district, take nothing off, so their $967 is the same for an owner and a landlord. On a homesteaded house at $280,615 the five lines add up to about $5,845 a year, which is 2.08% of the value. Without the exemptions, which is what a landlord pays and what a buyer who never files pays, the same house would owe about $7,419. In Ysleta ISD, the district the second most residents live in, the school rate is 1.2005 but the district adds its own 20% to the state's exemption, and the same homestead comes to about $5,339. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. A homestead's taxable value may rise no more than 10% a year while the same owner holds it, and the cap lapses on a sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on far less than the appraisal district's market value while you are taxed on all of it from your first year. The exemptions are not automatic either: you apply to the appraisal district, and you can claim a prorated exemption for the year you buy only if the seller did not have one.

Does this calculator favor renting or buying?

Neither, by construction. Both households start with exactly the same cash. Whichever of them has the cheaper month invests the difference. Most calculators credit only the renter with that, which quietly tilts every result toward renting. The buyer's net worth is also shown after the cost of selling, so it is money they could actually walk away with rather than a paper figure. Private mortgage insurance is charged to the owner month by month and then removed the month the lender is legally required to drop it, rather than being averaged away.

What is the calculator not accounting for?

Federal tax, mainly, and it cuts both ways. Mortgage interest and property tax are deductible if you itemize, and whether itemizing beats the standard deduction depends on the household: first-year interest on the median loan is about $15,700 and property tax about $5,845. A principal residence's gain is excluded up to $250,000 single or $500,000 married under section 121, and the renter's portfolio is not. None of that is modeled, and none of it is advice. Four El Paso things it also cannot price: the water that comes off the Franklin Mountains in a summer storm, since the arroyos and channels on the street and FEMA's map decide what a flood policy costs and a homeowners policy does not cover rising water at all; the appraisal district's value, which you can protest every spring and which the 10% cap holds down from the second year of the exemption; the rates themselves, which each of the five units sets every autumn, and the City has already adopted a higher one for 2026; and the address, since Ysleta, Socorro and Canutillo school districts cover more than half the city at their own rates. None of this includes a municipal utility district or a management district. East of Loop 375, in Paseo del Este, the new subdivisions sit in eleven municipal utility districts in the City's extraterritorial jurisdiction, outside the limits, and each levies its own rate for the water, sewer and drainage lines its bonds paid for, 0.6237 to 0.8018 per $100 for 2025, with an emergency services district's 0.10 on top and no City rate. Around Horizon City, Horizon Regional MUD levies 0.6628. Inside the limits, the Downtown Management District adds 0.12 per $100 and the City's Municipal Management District No. 1 0.27. The typical address inside the city pays none of these, but a newer house on the far East side often does, and the appraisal district's record of which units tax the address, and the seller's notice of any district, are the first things to check.

Which figures here are estimates

The prices, rents, tax rates, exemptions and title premiums above come from published sources, each one listed below with the period it describes. These do not:

  • The three-bedroom rent, at $1,650 a month: Apartment List publishes one- and two-bedroom medians only, and $1,650 sits among its three-bedroom listing average, HUD's fair market rent for El Paso County and Zillow's single-family rent index for the metro area
  • The condominium fee, at $250 a month: the Census Bureau publishes a median association fee of $50 for the few El Paso owners, about one in twenty, who pay one
  • Home insurance at $180 a month, between the published El Paso averages of $2,280 and $2,520 a year and below the state's $3,489, with no flood policy in it
  • The buyer's half of the title company's escrow fee, at $600, which the state does not set
  • The county clerk's recording fees, at $130, which are the state's estimate rather than El Paso County's own schedule
  • The utilities and City fees an owner pays over a renter, at $140 a month
  • Maintenance at 1% of the home's value a year
  • Every forward-looking rate: appreciation, rent growth, cost inflation and the return on the invested difference
  • The private mortgage insurance rate, which is priced per borrower by credit score rather than published as a schedule

If you want the payment side on its own, with the biweekly plan, prepayments and the month mortgage insurance stops, the mortgage calculator covers it in more detail. To work out where rather than whether, start with the neighborhood guides.

Sources

  1. Housing activity: El Paso County, monthly · Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University · retrieved
    Supports: A median sale price of $280,615 in El Paso County in August 2026 on 786 sales, against $269,000 on 706 sales in August 2025, up 4.32%, and an average of $313,426, 2,462 active listings and 3.39 months of inventory in August 2026, against 3,048 and 4.39 a year earlier, Figures from MLS listings of single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses, new and existing, physically located within the county, with no split by type and no City of El Paso figure
  2. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved
    Supports: A population of 683,012 for El Paso city on 1 July 2025, against 685,231 a year earlier, all of it in El Paso County, A population of 877,858 for El Paso County on 1 July 2025
  3. Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical home value of $238,475 for the city of El Paso (region 17933) in August 2026, $233,280 in August 2025, so a rise of 2.2% over the year
  4. Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical single-family value of $239,433 in the city of El Paso in August 2026, against $234,144 a year earlier, up 2.3%, A typical condominium value of $176,689 in the same month, against $179,195, down 1.4%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
  5. El Paso Rent Report, October 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved
    Supports: A median rent of $941 for a one-bedroom and $1,126 for a two-bedroom in the city of El Paso, and $1,182 across all bedroom sizes, Rents up 0.9% over September and up 1.6% over the past 12 months, against -2.1% for the state
  6. Apartments for rent in El Paso, TX: average rent · Apartment List · retrieved
    Supports: Average listed rents of $811 and up for a studio, $1,125 and up for one bedroom, $1,192 and up for two, and $1,369 and up for three or more
  7. FY 2026 fair market rents, El Paso, TX HUD Metro FMR Area · United States Department of Housing and Urban Development · retrieved
    Supports: FY 2026 fair market rents of $821 for an efficiency, $1,013 for one bedroom, $1,191 for two, $1,633 for three and $1,998 for four, as gross rents including utilities, The FMR area as El Paso County alone
  8. Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: An observed rent index of $1,519 for the city of El Paso in August 2026, against $1,471 a year earlier, up 3.25%
  9. Zillow Observed Rent Index, single-family homes, smoothed, by metro · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A single-family observed rent index of $1,776 for the El Paso metro area (region 394561) in August 2026, against $1,701 a year earlier
  10. 2025 taxing entities and rates · City of El Paso Tax Office · retrieved
    Supports: The City of El Paso collecting property taxes for the governments listed, at 2025 rates per $100 of maintenance and operations, interest and sinking, and total, City of El Paso 0.549469, 0.210180 and 0.759649; County of El Paso 0.395292, 0.063597 and 0.458889; El Paso ISD 0.769900, 0.310800 and 1.080700; El Paso Community College 0.103563, none and 0.103563; University Medical Center 0.179542, 0.061350 and 0.240892, Ysleta ISD 0.770500, 0.430000 and 1.200500; Socorro ISD 0.668900, 0.270000 and 0.938900; Canutillo ISD 1.152500, Paseo del Este MUDs 1 to 11 at 0.623700 to 0.801800, Horizon Regional MUD 0.662800, Emergency Services District 1 0.100000 and District 2 0.087138, the Downtown Management District 0.120000 and City of El Paso MMD 1 0.270000
  11. El Paso Central Appraisal District: entities and exemptions, 21 June 2023 · El Paso Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: An optional residential homestead exemption of $5,000 for the City of El Paso and El Paso County, 20% for Ysleta ISD, and none for El Paso Community College or University Medical Center, The school homestead exemption for every school district, and no local option tax freeze granted by any entity in the county
  12. 2 in every 5 El Paso County homeowners won't have to pay school property taxes under expanded homestead exemption · El Paso Matters · retrieved
    Supports: The city and county governments with $5,000 homestead exemptions, and University Medical Center of El Paso and El Paso Community College with none, Ysleta ISD's additional 20% homestead exemption on top of the state's, More than 77,000 El Paso County homeowners owing no school tax in 2025 once the $140,000 exemption applied, about 43% of homesteads
  13. Some El Paso homeowners will save hundreds with relief on school property taxes. Others may see their tax bills go up. · El Paso Matters · retrieved
    Supports: El Paso ISD as the largest district in the county, An average taxable home value in the county of just over $223,000 in 2025, and the City's line as the largest part of the bill for most homeowners
  14. Comparing property taxes: El Paso and beyond, May 2025 · Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness, University of Texas at El Paso · retrieved
    Supports: A combined 2024 property tax rate of 2.595740% for the City of El Paso, above San Antonio's 2.079601%, Houston's 2.092362%, Austin's 1.981814% and Dallas's 2.235030%
  15. Median household income, median home value and tenure, tables B19013, B25077 and B25003, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved
    Supports: A median household income of $59,932 in El Paso city, against $79,721 for Texas, Median household incomes of $64,361 in Houston, $66,176 in San Antonio, $74,323 in Dallas, $82,503 in Fort Worth and $90,430 in Austin, A median owner-occupied home value of $209,600 in El Paso city, and 151,778 of its 246,570 occupied homes owner-occupied
  16. Tax and budget: 2026 tax rate notices · City of El Paso Office of Management and Budget · retrieved
    Supports: A proposed 2026 rate of $0.809487 per $100, the voter-approval rate, against a no-new-revenue rate of $0.747490, from https://www.elpasotexas.gov/assets/Documents/CoEP/OMB/Tax-Budget/2026/2026.08.04-NOTICE-OF-PUBLIC-HEARING-ON-TAX-INCREASE.pdf
  17. El Paso City Council approves 2026-27 budget; increase in property taxes · KFOX14 and CBS4 · retrieved
    Supports: A 2026 rate of $0.798000 per $100 adopted on 18 August 2026, about 1.1 cents below the introduced $0.809487, An estimated increase of about $105 a year for a single-family homeowner
  18. 2020 block assignment files, Texas: unified school districts and places · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: Read with the 2020 redistricting file's block populations, at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/Texas/tx2020.pl.zip, and the district names in https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2025_Gazetteer/2025_Gaz_unsd_national.zip, Of the City of El Paso's 678,815 residents in 2020: 304,886 in El Paso ISD, 187,847 in Ysleta ISD, 164,173 in Socorro ISD and 21,909 in Canutillo ISD, 304,886 of El Paso ISD's 319,124 residents inside the city, and all 187,847 of Ysleta ISD's
  19. 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: A land area of 258.823 square miles and a water area of 0.534 square miles for El Paso city
  20. Property tax exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A school district residence homestead exemption of $140,000 under Tax Code section 11.13(b), Local option homestead exemptions of up to 20% of appraised value under section 11.13(n)
  21. Valuing property: limitation on residence homestead value increases · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year once the owner has qualified in the preceding and current year
  22. Official statement, Paseo del Este Municipal Utility District No. 4 unlimited tax bonds, series 2025, 13 November 2025 · Paseo del Este Municipal Utility District No. 4, via SAMCO Capital Markets · retrieved
    Supports: The district wholly within the City of El Paso's extraterritorial jurisdiction, about 15 miles east of the central area of the City, north of Interstate 10 and east of Loop 375, Paseo del Este planned to include about 4,300 acres, with about 10,546 single-family lots developed as of 31 August 2025, Overlapping 2025 rates of 0.801800 for the district, 0.458889 for the county, 0.100000 for Emergency Services District 1, 0.103563 for the college, 0.938900 for Socorro ISD and 0.240892 for University Medical Center, 2.644044 in all
  23. Water resources · El Paso Water · retrieved
    Supports: El Paso Water supplying 97% of all municipal water in El Paso County, The Rio Grande as nearly half the potable supply, and groundwater from the Mesilla and Hueco bolsons, which lie under parts of New Mexico, Texas and Chihuahua, Hueco Bolson pumping peaking at about 26 billion gallons a year in 1989, and consumption down 35% since a 1991 conservation ordinance
  24. Desalination · El Paso Water · retrieved
    Supports: The Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant as the world's largest inland desalination plant, a joint project with Fort Bliss, Up to 27.5 million gallons of fresh water a day from brackish Hueco Bolson groundwater
  25. PSB approves FY 2026-27 budget, rates and fees, 14 January 2026 · El Paso Water · retrieved
    Supports: An increase of $9.99 a month on the typical residential bill, 12% over the previous year's, with stormwater fees unchanged
  26. Rates and fees · El Paso Water · retrieved
    Supports: Residential stormwater charges of $3.00 a month up to 900 square feet of impervious area, $3.71 to 1,200, $7.42 for a typical 1,201 to 3,000, $14.81 to 4,000 and $18.55 above it, Water rates effective with meter readings after 1 March 2026
  27. Sample bill · El Paso Water · retrieved
    Supports: Solid waste charges for the City's Environmental Services Department of $34.65 a month on the water bill: $21.00 for one gray bin, a $5.00 environmental fee, a $6.00 franchise fee and $2.65 of sales tax
  28. Stormwater · El Paso Water · retrieved
    Supports: The Franklin Mountains in the heart of the city, and a summer monsoon that can bring a year's worth of rain in a matter of days to small, localized areas, The 2006 storm, a year's rain in two days, with more than $200 million of damage to homes and businesses and $115 million to the stormwater system, A stormwater utility established by the City Council in 2008, operated by El Paso Water and supported by monthly fees
  29. Stormwater FAQ · El Paso Water · retrieved
    Supports: Flooding when runoff exceeds the capacity of an arroyo or channel, and natural arroyos, some protected from development, as part of the stormwater system
  30. Texas military installations, 2025: Fort Bliss · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: 41,527 direct employees in 2025, 30,288 of them active-duty military, 185,499 military retirees using the installation, and at least $29 billion contributed to the Texas economy
  31. International Bridges · City of El Paso · retrieved
    Supports: The City managing three of the region's international ports of entry, Paso del Norte, Stanton and Zaragoza, whose American sides the City owns
  32. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020: resultados, Chihuahua · Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía · retrieved
    Supports: Juárez as the most populous municipality in Chihuahua, with 1,512,450 inhabitants
  33. Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved
    Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
  34. Texas title insurance basic premium rates · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: A basic premium of $780 plus 0.00494 of the amount over $100,000 for policies from $100,001 to $1,000,000, effective 1 March 2026
  35. Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year for 2025
  36. Best home insurance companies in El Paso, Texas · Insurify · retrieved
    Supports: An average El Paso premium of $2,280 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover and a $1,000 deductible, against a Texas average of $4,656 for the same cover, updated 27 September 2026, El Paso's distance from the Gulf Coast and its hurricanes as a reason its premiums are lower
  37. Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average El Paso premium of $2,520 a year, $210 a month, for $500,000 of dwelling cover, $300,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 20 February 2026
  38. Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average El Paso renters premium of $130 a year, $11 a month, updated 23 September 2026
  39. Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, El Paso city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved
    Supports: A median monthly association fee of $50 among El Paso owner-occupied units that pay one, 7,263 of 151,778 owner-occupied units, or 4.8%, paying such a fee, and 400 paying $500 or more a month
  40. Housing Finance Corporation · City of El Paso Community and Human Development · retrieved
    Supports: The El Paso Housing Finance Corporation, a non-profit created by the City Council, in existence since 1979, The Mi Casa Homebuyer Grant: up to $20,000 of grant funds for the down payment and closing costs on a home within the city limits, after homebuyer education, for a first-time buyer outside the target area, under income limits of $90,600 for one or two people and $105,340 for three or more outside the target area, and $109,920 and $128,240 inside it, The Welcome Home El Paso grant of up to 5% of the loan through participating lenders
  41. El Paso weighs shifting $2.5M from first-time buyer aid to affordable housing · KFOX14 and CBS4 · retrieved
    Supports: The City's first-time homebuyer program, up to $45,000 plus $5,000 toward the down payment or closing costs, last used in 2021, A household income cap of 80% of the area median and a price cap of $226,000, and a proposal of 14 September 2026 to move $2.5 million of unused funds to multi-family construction

These are estimates built from published figures, not a lender quote, a pre-approval or financial advice. Rates, premiums and state and federal rules change; confirm anything you plan to act on with a mortgage professional and read the sourcing methodology.