Harris County property tax protest results (2017–2025): Data Analysis of DIY vs Agent Protest Outcomes
By Harsha N Hegde
A look at protest numbers for Single Family Homes
Harris County, TX, has an active property tax protest scenario. Residents are very aware of their right to protest their property assessments. With ~1.1 million single family homes, they form the largest class of properties in Harris County.
To understand the protest scene quantitatively, we at squaredeal.tax, looked at protests for Single Family Homes from 2017 till date. We present our findings here. Data covers HCAD single-family homes (A1) only and is sourced from HCAD public datasets. Percentages and medians are calculated directly from the published records.
How many homeowners protested?
| Year | Single-Family Homes | Protests Filed | % of Homes Protested |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1,061,065 | 251,852 | 24% |
| 2018 | 1,064,976 | 234,129 | 22% |
| 2019 | 1,068,764 | 275,124 | 26% |
| 2020 | 1,072,482 | 289,863 | 27% |
| 2021 | 1,076,718 | 300,212 | 28% |
| 2022 | 1,081,033 | 307,661 | 28% |
| 2023 | 1,086,996 | 354,514 | 33% |
| 2024 | 1,102,650 | 348,052 | 32% |
| 2025 | 1,118,646 | 391,455 | 35% |
Even at peak participation, most Harris County homeowners still do not protest! WHY?!!
Overall protest success (all filers - agents + DIY)
| Year | Protests Filed | Reductions Granted | Success Rate | Median Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 251,852 | 182,057 | 72% | $14,102 |
| 2018 | 234,129 | 124,093 | 53% | $13,830 |
| 2019 | 275,124 | 219,925 | 80% | $15,097 |
| 2020 | 289,863 | 240,245 | 83% | $15,993 |
| 2021 | 300,212 | 252,543 | 84% | $16,637 |
| 2022 | 307,661 | 228,841 | 74% | $21,208 |
| 2023 | 354,514 | 103,020 | 29% | $22,367 |
| 2024 | 348,052 | 85,552 | 25% | $18,991 |
| 2025 | 391,455 | 112,196 | 29% | $18,084 |
A clear structural break appears starting 2023: success rates dropped sharply, even though median reductions remained high.
DIY vs agent success rates
| Year | DIY Success Rate | Agent Success Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 79% | 66% |
| 2018 | 68% | 43% |
| 2019 | 83% | 76% |
| 2020 | 88% | 74% |
| 2021 | 88% | 78% |
| 2022 | 81% | 61% |
| 2023 | 22% | 56% |
| 2024 | 23% | 27% |
| 2025 | 71% | 16% |
Barring 2023 & 2024, homeowners who protested themselves have triumphed professionals. DIY’ers did way better than agents in 2025. Agent success fell sharply this year.
DIY vs agent protest volumes by year (2017–2025)
| Year | DIY Protests | Agent-Led Protests | DIY Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 125,070 | 126,798 | 50% |
| 2018 | 93,610 | 140,537 | 40% |
| 2019 | 151,839 | 123,321 | 55% |
| 2020 | 190,819 | 99,071 | 66% |
| 2021 | 193,042 | 107,200 | 64% |
| 2022 | 209,956 | 97,705 | 68% |
| 2023 | 267,366 | 81,450 | 75% |
| 2024 | 220,766 | 132,813 | 63% |
| 2025 | 86,876 | 312,358 | 22% |
What changed in 2025: context behind the volume shift
The 2025 numbers represent a structural break, not a continuation of prior trends.
- DIY protest volume collapsed to 86,876 in 2025 (down from ~221,000 in 2024 and ~267,000 in 2023)
- Agent-led protest volume surged to 312,358 in 2025 (up from ~133,000 in 2024 and ~81,000 in 2023)
This reversal is stark when viewed against the prior six years, where DIY protests often made up 60–75% of all filings.
- DIY success rate rebounded to 71% in 2025
- Agent success rate fell to 16%
Agent protest volume spiked this year. Mostly from “owning well”?! :)
Why DIY volume collapsed in 2025
DIY filers are highly sensitive to effort versus payoff. After weak outcomes in 2023–2024:
- Many homeowners chose not to spend time protesting by themselves and used professionals instead, at the cost of their success though!
- Informal (iSettle / walk-in) offers appeared less encouraging to casual filers
- ARB hearings felt higher-friction and higher-stress
As a result, casual and unprepared DIY filers exited in 2025. Those who continued to DIY were more likely to:
This filtering effect explains why DIY success rates rebounded sharply despite much lower volume.
Why agent filings surged
Agent incentives differ fundamentally:
- Compensation is contingency-based or volume-based
- Filing additional protests has low marginal cost
- Lower success rates encourage more filing to offset losses
When success rates fell after 2022, agents responded rationally by filing more protests, not fewer. The result? In 2025:
- A surge in agent-led filings
- Lower average evidence quality per case
- A sharp decline in agent success rates
While serious DIY filers remained, volume-driven agent filings flooded the system.
Informal vs ARB outcomes (DIY only)
| Year | Informal Success | ARB Success |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 66% | 34% |
| 2018 | 58% | 42% |
| 2019 | 61% | 39% |
| 2020 | 75% | 25% |
| 2021 | 60% | 40% |
| 2022 | 51% | 49% |
| 2023 | 24% | 69% |
| 2024 | 26% | 71% |
| 2025 | 65% | 35% |
Barring 2023 & 2024, DIY’ers had favorable outcomes in Informal (iSettle + phone).
Median reductions: DIY vs agent
| Year | DIY Median | Agent Median |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $15,000 | $12,944 |
| 2018 | $15,340 | $11,782 |
| 2019 | $16,387 | $12,599 |
| 2020 | $16,568 | $14,085 |
| 2021 | $17,512 | $14,197 |
| 2022 | $21,858 | $18,692 |
| 2023 | $25,010 | $17,862 |
| 2024 | $21,733 | $13,060 |
| 2025 | $20,640 | $13,202 |
DIY’ers have obtained much higher reductions than professionals — AS ALWAYS!
In sum, homeowners who protest by themselves:
- Stand a better chance of reducing their noticed value.
- Get more dollar reduction!
- Are more likely to resolve their protests informally.
- Get to keep more of their tax savings!
- This is a win-win for both homeowners and the county.
More homewners should protest! Filing a protest is easy. Just check your property for reductions on squaredeal.tax and file your protest online at iFile. Use our Harris County protest guide to file your protest online.
Data source
Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) https://hcad.org/pdata/pdata-property-downloads.html
About the Author
Harsha N Hegde is the founder of squaredeal.tax, a DIY platform that helps Texas homeowners protest unfair property tax assessments using comps-based evidence.
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