San Antonio's 2025 senior property tax changes and its military retirement advantage are two of the strongest financial stories in Texas 55+ living. Its Kendall County MUD tax trap is one of the easiest to walk into without knowing it. Here is the balanced version.
San Antonio's active-adult market is distinct from Austin's — different counties, different tax mechanics, and nine communities that range from a 1,904-home military-heavy resale flagship to a walkable new-construction enclave in Boerne's Hill Country Mile. Texas has no state income tax, which simplifies the retirement-income conversation, but property tax is where this market gets genuinely complicated county by county.
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Talk to a Specialist →Texas has no state income tax, so Social Security, IRA distributions, pensions, and 401(k) withdrawals all pass through untaxed at the state level — and military retirement pay carries that same exemption, with 100% VA-disabled veterans paying zero property tax. Joint Base San Antonio, covering Lackland, Fort Sam Houston, and Randolph, is one of the largest military installations in the country, and Hill Country Retreat in Alamo Ranch draws a genuinely disproportionate share of military-retiree buyers as a result — 1,904 homes, resale only, HOA around $185/mo. Bexar County's 2025 tax law changes are the biggest recent development in this market: the general school homestead exemption rose to $140,000 and the over-65 additional school exemption rose to $60,000 — $200,000 in combined school-district exemptions for a buyer 65 or older, on top of a school tax freeze that locks in place the year you turn 65 and a separate $85,000 over-65 city exemption from the City of San Antonio. For a 65+ buyer at a $400,000 home, the real all-in tax cost runs well below what the headline rate implies.
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The market's clearest trap sits in Kendall County: Regency at Esperanza in Boerne is subject to Kendall County MUD #1, which pushes its effective property tax rate to 2.4–2.7% — not the 1.8–2.0% base Kendall County rate. On a $600,000 home that gap is roughly $3,000–$5,000 a year, a bill that can run 50–100% higher than a buyer coming from a lower-tax state expects. It's an easy trap to walk into precisely because Esperanza is one of the most attractive new-construction communities in the metro on paper. Beyond that one community, HOA structures vary enormously across the market — from Willis Ranch's roughly $84/mo lock-and-leave fee to Campanas at Cibolo Canyons' roughly $545/mo, which does bundle exterior maintenance. A few of the smaller communities (Sage Stone Oak, Overture Stone Oak, Solea Alamo Ranch) are newer and thinner on published pricing and amenity detail than the market's flagship communities — worth an on-the-ground visit before comparing them seriously against Hill Country Retreat or Esperanza.
| Community | County | HOA |
|---|---|---|
| Hill Country Retreat | Bexar | ~$185/mo |
| Regency at Esperanza | Kendall (MUD #1) | Verify — dual HOA structure |
| Willis Ranch | Bexar | ~$84/mo |
| Campanas at Cibolo Canyons | Bexar | ~$545/mo |
| Scenic Hills | Guadalupe | Includes lawn maintenance |
Military retirees and VA-disabled veterans near JBSA, buyers 65 or older who want to take full advantage of Bexar County's 2025 exemption stack, and buyers who want a genuine low-maintenance option like Scenic Hills or Willis Ranch without resort-tier HOA overhead.
Buyers drawn to Regency at Esperanza's new-construction appeal who haven't yet run the Kendall County MUD math, and buyers who want a single simple tax number rather than a county-by-county exemption puzzle to solve before closing.
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