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Buying in Harris County, Texas

Harris County is one of 254 counties and county-equivalents in Texas. Its county seat is Houston. County government publishes its offices and parcel tools online. (Official county website: https://harriscountytx.gov) With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 5,009,302, it is the most populous county in Texas. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 203,044 offenses — 40.53 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

State
Texas
County seat
Houston
Population (2024 est.)
5,009,302
Land area
1,703.5 sq mi
County FIPS
48201

Harris County at a glance

Harris County is one of 254 counties and county-equivalents in Texas. Its county seat is Houston. County government publishes its offices and parcel tools online. Official county website. With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 5,009,302, it is the most populous county in Texas. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 203,044 offenses — 40.53 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

Records to check before you buy in Harris County

  • Property record card — the Harris County assessor / appraisal office. Pull the parcel's assessed-value history, exemption status, and last sale. This is the file your future tax bill is calculated from, and it shows whether the current owner is enjoying exemptions you will not inherit. County government sits in Houston; the official county website is the reliable route to the parcel search and the office directory.
  • Deeds & liens — the Harris County recorder / land-records office. Read the deed chain, open liens, easements, and plat maps — the file a listing never mentions.
  • Official flood determination. Check the exact parcel on FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer — not the listing site's licensed model. Zone boundaries cut through streets; the house next door can be in a different zone. Harris County is the primary county for 132 ZIP codes in the Census Bureau's ZIP-to-county crosswalk — and zone lines ignore every one of them.
  • The county's reported-crime record. In the FBI's 2024 file, agencies in Harris County reported 203,044 offenses — 40.53 per 1,000 residents; the largest single category was larceny-theft (113,933). The crime section below sets that beside the Texas county median.
  • Registry check. Run the address through Texas Public Sex Offender Website (Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Crime Records) and note the counts within a mile — then check again the week you close.
  • Permits & code history — the Harris building department. Open permits, expired permits, and code cases tell you whether the renovation in the photos was ever inspected. County permitting is run out of Houston.
  • School assignment — the district office, not the listing. Only the district's own boundary lookup confirms which school an address is actually zoned for.

County list, land area and population: U.S. Census Bureau (population: 2024 PEP estimate). County seat and official website: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-11-04. Flood determinations: FEMA. Registry: Texas.

Reported crime in Harris County — FBI 2024

Agencies in Harris County reported 203,044 offenses to the FBI in 2024 — 38,871 violent and 164,173 property offenses. That works out to a reported-crime rate of 40.53 per 1,000 residents (violent 776.0, property 3277.4 per 100,000).

Inside Texas, the median county in the same file recorded a violent-crime rate of 195 per 100,000 and a property-crime rate of 858 per 100,000 (medians computed from the FBI 2024 county file across 254 counties).

The largest reported categories were larceny-theft (113,933), motor vehicle theft (27,289) and aggravated assault (26,667).

Coverage: 67 of 67 law-enforcement agencies assigned to this county reported at least one month of 2024 offense data to the FBI; 61 reported all 12 months. Counts are reported offenses only (FBI Return A / Arson master files), assigned whole to each agency's primary county; they are not adjusted for non-reporting agencies.

These are offenses reported to law enforcement — not convictions, and not a verdict on any street or address. A CurbFacts report pairs this county record with the ZIP-level picture for the specific address you are buying.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, UCR Return A + Arson master files, data year 2024 (pulled 2026-11-04).

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ZIP guides in Harris County

Registry counts and county crime records for the 130 ZIP codes whose primary county is Harris County.

77002 — Houston77003 — Houston77004 — Houston77005 — West University Place77006 — Houston77007 — Houston77008 — Houston77009 — Houston77010 — Houston77011 — Houston77012 — Houston77013 — Houston77014 — Houston77015 — Houston77016 — Houston77017 — Houston77018 — Houston77019 — Houston77020 — Houston77021 — Houston77022 — Houston77023 — Houston77024 — Houston77025 — Houston77026 — Houston77027 — Houston77028 — Houston77029 — Houston77030 — Houston77031 — Houston77032 — Houston77033 — Houston77034 — Houston77035 — Houston77036 — Houston77037 — Houston77038 — Houston77039 — Aldine77040 — Houston77041 — Houston77042 — Houston77043 — Houston77044 — Houston77045 — Houston77046 — Houston77047 — Houston77048 — Houston77049 — Sheldon77050 — Houston77051 — Houston77054 — Houston77055 — Houston77056 — Houston77057 — Houston77058 — Houston77059 — Houston77060 — Houston77061 — Houston77062 — Houston77063 — Houston77064 — Houston77065 — Houston77066 — Houston77067 — Houston77068 — Houston77069 — Houston77070 — Houston77071 — Houston77072 — Houston77073 — Houston77074 — Houston77075 — Houston77076 — Houston77077 — Houston77078 — Houston77079 — Houston77080 — Houston77081 — Houston77082 — Houston77083 — Mission Bend77084 — Houston77085 — Houston77086 — Houston77087 — Houston77088 — Houston77089 — Houston77090 — Houston77091 — Houston77092 — Houston77093 — Houston77094 — Houston77095 — Houston77096 — Houston77098 — Houston77099 — Houston77336 — Houston77338 — Houston77339 — Houston77345 — Houston77346 — Atascocita77373 — Spring77375 — Tomball77377 — Tomball77379 — Houston77388 — Houston77389 — The Woodlands77396 — Houston77401 — Bellaire77429 — Houston77433 — Houston77447 — Houston77449 — Houston77450 — Houston77493 — Katy77502 — Pasadena77503 — Pasadena77504 — Pasadena77505 — Pasadena77506 — Pasadena77520 — Baytown77521 — Baytown77530 — Channelview77532 — Houston77536 — Deer Park77547 — Galena Park77562 — Highlands77571 — La Porte77586 — Seabrook77587 — South Houston77598 — Webster

The Texas rules that apply in Harris County

Disclosure form
Seller's Disclosure Notice (TREC Form OP-H)
Flood disclosure
Required by state law
Tax reset at sale
No
Reassessment cycle
annual — county appraisal districts appraise yearly;

Traps researched for Texas buyers: MUD and PID districts add a second tax layer; Your first protest window comes fast.

Read the full Texas guide — disclosure standard, tax math, registry and flood

More Texas counties

Hamilton CountyHansford CountyHardeman CountyHardin CountyHarrison CountyHartley CountyHaskell CountyHays County

All Texas counties · Texas buyer guide

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