The 2026 Dallas County appraisal notices are out. We pulled the new DCAD proposed market values the moment they dropped and matched every residential property against last year's roll — 632,407 homes year-over-year — so you can see exactly what's happening on your street this protest season.
Here's the short version: it's a quieter year than 2024→2025. But the homeowners who did get hit, got hit even harder than before — and the pattern of who got hit looks very different than last cycle.
The Big Number
DCAD added $10.98 billion in proposed market value to residential appraisals between 2025 and 2026. The average home went up $17,367 (+3.65%).
For context, last year (2024→2025) DCAD added $11.52 billion with an average bump of +3.50%. So the dollar impact is a little smaller, but the percentage impact on the homes that went up is actually higher. The burden is more concentrated this year.
Even More Homeowners Saw No Change This Year
What Happened
Properties
% of Total
Value increased 142,913 22.6% No change at all 415,341 65.7% Value decreased 74,153 11.7%
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| What Happened | Properties | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Value increased | 142,913 | 22.6% |
| No change at all | 415,341 | 65.7% |
| Value decreased | 74,153 | 11.7% |
Nearly two-thirds of Dallas County homes — 65.7% — received the exact same value as last year. That's up from 58% a year ago. DCAD reassessed fewer neighborhoods this cycle.
But the homes they did reassess saw larger change. About 60,129 homeowners (9.5%) received increases of 10% or more.
The Hardest Hit Cities
We ranked every city in Dallas County by average percentage increase. Here are the top 15:
| Rank | City | Properties | Avg Home Value '26 | Avg % Change | % with 10%+ Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ovilla | 129 | $510,925 | +9.62% | 34.1% |
| 2 | Wilmer | 1,187 | $277,281 | +8.47% | 14.0% |
| 3 | Highland Park | 3,257 | $4,251,384 | +7.87% | 26.1% |
| 4 | Wylie | 456 | $647,348 | +6.83% | 12.1% |
| 5 | University Park | 6,841 | $2,839,361 | +5.02% | 22.6% |
| 6 | Dallas | 278,559 | $546,707 | +4.97% | 12.6% |
| 7 | Unincorporated | 2,360 | $362,462 | +4.32% | 17.1% |
| 8 | Farmers Branch | 9,256 | $455,941 | +3.55% | 10.2% |
| 9 | Irving | 44,832 | $440,295 | +3.06% | 10.8% |
| 10 | Sunnyvale | 2,836 | $697,377 | +2.88% | 7.8% |
| 11 | Richardson | 21,395 | $455,114 | +2.73% | 8.9% |
| 12 | Balch Springs | 6,436 | $249,785 | +2.27% | 11.4% |
| 13 | Hutchins | 1,199 | $277,780 | +2.01% | 7.8% |
| 14 | Seagoville | 5,056 | $290,954 | +1.75% | 5.2% |
| 15 | Cockrell Hill | 860 | $258,472 | +1.50% | 5.0% |
Highland Park is the big story. Last year it went up +3.97%. This year it nearly doubled to +7.87%, and more than a quarter of Highland Park homes (26.1%) got hit with a 10%+ increase. At that price tier, a 10% jump is hundreds of thousands of dollars in assessed value per home.
University Park cooled off. Last year it led the county at +10.46%. This year it dropped to #5 at +5.02%. But the cumulative two-year impact there is still +15.78% — the heaviest in the county when you stack the cycles.
Where the Real Hot Spots Are
County-wide averages smooth out what's really happening. Down at the DCAD neighborhood-cluster level, 2026 has some genuine outliers — clusters where nearly 100% of homes got 10%+ increases:
| Area | ZIP | Homes | % Hit with 10%+ | Avg % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irving — Las Colinas area | 75063 | 332 | 99.4% | +21.21% |
| Dallas — Jefferson Blvd. area | 75224 | 288 | 99.0% | +20.04% |
| Dallas — Lakewood area | 75214 | 267 | 97.0% | +24.08% |
| Duncanville | 75116 | 220 | 97.7% | +25.16% |
| Dallas — South Oak Cliff | 75227 | 225 | 99.6% | +23.69% |
| Richardson — NE sector | 75080 | 808 | 82.8% | +16.73% |
| Dallas — Bluffview/Inwood | 75209 | 244 | 81.6% | +17.62% |
If your home sits inside one of these neighborhoods, your neighbors almost certainly got a 10%+ increase too — which makes a peer comparison protest substantially easier to argue.
Two-Year Cumulative: Who Got Hit Twice
Because we can now compare two full cycles, we can see which areas are getting compounded. Here's the cumulative two-year impact for the cities that landed in the top tier either year:
| City | 2024→2025 | 2025→2026 | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Park | +10.43% | +4.85% | +15.78% |
| Ovilla | +3.95% | +9.47% | +13.79% |
| Highland Park | +3.95% | +7.87% | +12.13% |
| Dallas | +5.19% | +4.92% | +10.36% |
| Wylie | +1.49% | +7.58% | +9.18% |
| Farmers Branch | +2.54% | +3.18% | +5.80% |
| Coppell | +3.40% | +1.12% | +4.56% |
| Cedar Hill | +2.60% | +0.90% | +3.52% |
What This Means for 2026 Protest Season
If you got a notice with a modest or $0 increase, congratulations — DCAD did not touch your neighborhood this cycle. That doesn't necessarily mean your valuation is fair, just that it's the same as last year.
If you got hit with a 10%+ increase, the good news is you are almost certainly not alone. DCAD reassessments move by neighborhood, not by individual home, so roughly 8 out of 10 of your neighbors probably got the same treatment. That concentration is exactly what makes a peer-comparison protest work.
The 2026 protest filing deadline is May 15, 2026 — roughly four weeks away. If you've never filed before, the most important thing to know is that your value cannot go up as a result of protesting. It can only stay the same or go down. There's genuinely no downside to checking.
You can check your assessment for free at CheckMyPropertyTax.com. It takes about 60 seconds, pulls your peer comparison data automatically, and there's no commitment.
About this analysis: We matched 632,407 residential properties across the 2025 and 2026 DCAD certified tax rolls using account numbers. We excluded vacant land, properties under $25,000, and parcels with 5x+ value jumps (typically land reclassifications, not actual appreciation). The three-year comparison uses 627,549 properties matched across all three years. Full methodology notes are available on request. All data comes from DCAD public records.
CheckMyPropertyTax.com provides informational analysis using public appraisal district data. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal or tax advice. Results vary; outcomes are not guaranteed.