Ch. 17 · Moving
Illinois to North Texas: taxes, basements, and build timing
The state income tax disappears, the property-tax rate drops, the basement disappears, and the utility year flips from heating to cooling.
More than 23,500 people moved from Illinois to Texas in the latest 2024 reporting period, per Census Bureau data, one of the largest state-to-state flows into Texas. For Illinoisans the move pairs a familiar tax headline with an unfamiliar set of household details: the income tax that ends, the property tax that softens, the basement that does not exist, and a utility year that runs on cooling instead of heating.
This chapter works each change in order, with the tax figures sourced and the new-construction timing explained in the context of chapters 1 and 6. No number here is invented; where a comparison depends on your home value and income, this page says to run it with your own figures.
Part of the Where you're coming from hub. California, Florida, New York, Colorado, Illinois, corporate relocation, and military & veterans each have their own chapter.
Income tax gone, property tax softer
Illinois taxes individual income at a flat 4.95 percent and carries some of the highest property taxes in the country, around 1.9 percent of value by recent Tax Foundation measures, the second-highest of any state. Texas has no individual income tax and property taxes around 1.4 to 1.5 percent of value, with the residence homestead exemption and the 10 percent annual cap trimming the effective rate on your primary home (chapter 7). The Illinois mover usually picks up real money from the tax swap alone, but the property tax on a new build still needs budgeting, because year one assesses at full value as of January 1 (chapter 6), before the exemption and cap take effect.
No basement: slab and clay, and what you give up
Illinois houses are built for frost and basements, with a crawlspace or slab appearing mostly in newer construction. North Texas new construction is slab-on-grade on expansive clay, because the ground does not freeze deeply and the soil moves with moisture instead. You give up the basement's storage and utility space, and you gain foundation care: soaker hoses through dry spells, drainage kept away from the slab, and an honest read on hairline cracks, which appear in well-built homes too (chapter 8). Plan the storage question before you sign, because the square footage you are buying above grade is all the square footage you get.
The utility year flips from heating to cooling
In Illinois the utility year runs on winter heating; in North Texas it runs on summer cooling. Expect the heating bill to shrink to a rounding error and the summer electric bill to become the annual line item, with spring and fall as the cheap months in between. The practical versions of this: check the air conditioning tonnage and insulation on the plan, prefer west-facing glass that you can shade, and time the move for spring rather than July if you have any choice. It is the same annual cost, a different season.
New-construction timing for an Illinois move
If you are moving on a school calendar or a lease cycle, the 60 to 90 day master plan in chapter 1 applies, with two Texas-specific clocks: the January 1 assessment (chapter 6) and the spring severe-weather season. A home that closes before June avoids the worst of the hail months and gives you a full summer to establish the lawn and the soaker-hose habit before next year's heat. When the calendar is fixed and short, builders' quick-move-in inventory is the fastest path, and chapter 2's remote protocol covers buying before you physically arrive, which many Illinois movers scheduling a July lease end do.
Sources
Material factual claims in this chapter link to the sources below. Market figures are reported conditions, not guarantees; verify current offers in writing.
Written by
Theresa De La Rosa
Broker, Covenant Heritage Realty, LLC · TX #807294 · 18+ years in Texas and Florida real estate.
Next in the process
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This guide is the process, not the listings. When you are ready to apply it to your specific move, book a consultation with Theresa De La Rosa, Broker at Covenant Heritage Realty. For the which-DFW-area-fits question, the community and city guides live at indfwliving.com.