FHA loans in Texas: the requirements and your county's 2026 limit

A real shot, with a smaller down payment

You're parked outside a starter home in Round Rock with the engine running, doing math on the back of a gas station receipt. The house is right. The savings account is... trying. And somewhere in your head a voice says nobody buys a house in Texas without a giant down payment and a perfect credit score.

That voice is working from old information.

An FHA loan is a home loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration, part of HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). FHA doesn't usually lend the money itself. A private lender makes the loan, and FHA insures it, which is what lets lenders say yes to a smaller down payment and a credit file that's still a work in progress. (It isn't a consolation prize. Plenty of people pick it on purpose.)

Think of FHA's rules like the speed limit signs on a Texas road. The rules of the road are the same from El Paso to Beaumont. The only thing that changes from county to county is the number on the sign, and that sign cares how much you borrow, not what you're driving.

1. Small down payment

HUD allows as little as 3.5% down with a credit score of 580 or higher.

2. County limits

Most Texas counties sit at HUD's 2026 floor; 25 counties sit higher.

3. Primary residence

FHA is for a home you'll live in, moving in within 60 days.

What the rulebook actually asks

HUD writes FHA's rules for the whole country in its Single Family Housing Policy Handbook, so they're the same in Texas as anywhere else. Here's the short list, in the order people usually ask:

• Down payment: as little as 3.5% if your credit score is 580 or higher. (That's the headline.)
• Credit score from 500 to 579: HUD caps the loan at 90% of the home's value, which means 10% down. (Slower lane, same road.)
• Credit score below 500: HUD doesn't insure the loan. That's the moment for other paths, and some credit work, to come into the conversation.
• A home you'll live in: at least one borrower moves in within 60 days of closing and plans to stay at least one year. HUD defines a primary residence as the home you live in for most of the year, and a person has only one at a time. (So no lake house, no rental with a guest room.)

Past that, a lender looks at what it would for most loans: your income, your debts, your credit history and your ability to repay.

The two parts people don't expect

Mortgage insurance. FHA charges two premiums of its own. There's a one-time upfront premium, which can be added to the loan instead of paid in cash, and an annual premium that's collected in monthly pieces. HUD says the annual amount depends on your loan-to-value (how much you borrow compared with the home's value), the loan amount and the loan's term. It's the trade that makes the small down payment possible, and it's worth seeing on your own numbers.

The appraisal. An FHA appraisal does more than put a value on the house. HUD's handbook says homes it insures must be "safe, sound, and secure," and the appraiser is the one who checks. If something doesn't meet HUD's standards, the appraiser lists the repairs needed and what they'd cost, and the lender confirms they're done before the loan goes through. (A sagging porch roof is charming in photos. Less so in an FHA appraisal.)

Everything's bigger in Texas, except most FHA limits

HUD sets FHA's loan limits county by county, based on local home prices. For 2026, 229 of Texas's 254 counties post the national floor: $541,287 for a one-unit home. Only 25 counties post a higher number, and nearly all of them sit around three metros:

One West Texas surprise: HUD lists Glasscock County at $813,050, the highest one-unit limit in the state. And one that surprises Houston buyers: Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery and Galveston counties all sit at the $541,287 floor. (Big city, standard sign.)

Remember, the sign reads the loan, not the price. Say you find a $590,000 home in Austin and put 3.5% down, which is $20,650. Your loan is $569,350, which slips in under Travis County's $571,550. Put the same 3.5% down on a $600,000 home there, and the loan would land over the line.

Homes with two to four units have higher limits of their own (yes, FHA can work on a duplex you live in). Find your county in the table below to see the 2026 limit for every Texas county, read from HUD's own data.

These are the 2026 limits. HUD published them in December 2025, and it publishes each new year's limits near the end of the year before, so this table will be updated when the next ones come out.

The Texas parts of the picture

Property taxes. Texas has no state property tax, but your county, city and school district each bill on your home's value, and on most loans those taxes ride inside your monthly payment through escrow. That makes them part of what your payment has to carry. Our guide to Texas property taxes and escrow walks through how that works.

Down payment help. Texas's two state housing agencies, TDHCA and TSAHC, pair their down payment help with a regular home loan through participating lenders. TSAHC, for one, lists a 620 minimum credit score on government loans. Our guide to Texas first-time home buyer programs covers which programmes exist and what each one asks.

Cash to close. Your down payment isn't the only money due at the table. Texas closing costs covers the rest of the list.

A lot of Texans don't ask about FHA at all. They do the math in a parking lot, decide the down payment is out of reach, and push the whole idea to next year. Then next year does the same thing. Nobody should stay parked on the shoulder because of a rumor about what it takes to get on the road.

Find your county's number, bring your savings and your credit picture, and see what fits. Most of the time, the road's more open than it looked from the parking lot.

Questions people ask