Moving to Texas: What Renters Need to Know

You’ve made the call. Texas it is. Now you need the stuff that actually matters once you cross the line: real rent costs, what your landlord is legally required to do, when your plates need to change, and which corner of this enormous state makes sense for your life. The choices you make in your first 90 days will either set you up or cost you real money. Here’s what renters actually need to know.

How much does it really cost to rent in Texas?

The average rent for an apartment in Texas is $1,180 per month, but that number masks a wide range. But monthly rent is only part of the picture. Here’s what actually hits your bank account before you get the keys:

• Security deposit: Texas does not impose a limit on the amount landlords are allowed to charge as a security deposit, though a common choice is an amount equal to one month’s rent. In competitive Austin and Dallas markets, two months’ deposit on top of first month’s rent isn’t unusual. Budget for it.
• Application and credit check fees: Typically 50-150 per application, and almost always non-refundable even if you don’t get the unit. Texas has a mandatory flood disclosure for all residential leases (effective since 2022), so you’ll also sign off on that at application.
• Pet deposits: Expect a one-time deposit (200-500) and sometimes a monthly pet fee layered on top.
• Income to qualify: Most Texas landlords want to see 2.5x to 3x monthly rent in gross income. On a $1,400/month apartment, that’s 3,500-4,200/month. Have your last two pay stubs and an offer letter ready.

One more line item worth planning for: renters insurance.

💡 Did You Know?

 As of 2026, Lemonade renters insurance in Texas averages around $15- $20/month, making it one of the more predictable line items in your monthly budget. 

What are renters’ rights in Texas?

Texas renter law lives primarily in the Texas Property Code, Title 8, Chapters 91 through 94. Here’s what matters most.

Security deposits

There’s no legal cap on what a landlord can charge. Negotiate if you can. But once that money is in their hands, the rules kick in.

Landlords must return your deposit within 30 days of move-out (§ 92.103). If they keep any portion, they must send a written, itemized list of deductions (§ 92.104). A landlord who misses that window or withholds in bad faith can be on the hook for $100, three times the amount wrongfully kept, and your attorney’s fees (§ 92.109). That’s real leverage, but only if you documented the unit’s condition when you moved in.

Landlord entry

Texas doesn’t set a specific notice requirement for non-emergency entry. Most professional leases include a 24-hour written notice standard, and that’s the norm to expect, but it’s not mandated by state law.

Repairs and habitability

Your landlord must repair anything that materially affects your health or safety, but only after you give written notice (§ 92.052). A verbal complaint doesn’t start the clock. A text with delivery confirmation or certified mail both work. If repairs aren’t made, you may be able to hire someone yourself and deduct the cost from rent, up to $500 or one month’s rent, whichever is greater (§ 92.0561), or take the matter to justice court without an attorney (§ 92.0563).

Rent control

Texas prohibits rent control statewide (Local Gov’t Code § 214.902). Rent can’t be raised mid-lease on a fixed-term agreement. On a month-to-month tenancy, landlords can raise rent with proper notice under the lease, or one month’s notice if the lease is silent (§ 91.001).

Pro Tip: 

Film a full walkthrough video on move-in day and send it to your landlord in writing. This is the single most effective thing you can do to protect your deposit. Landlords who know you documented every existing scratch and scuff are far less likely to invent deductions 12 months later.

What changes when you move to Texas?

These are two separate processes with two separate deadlines. Mixing them up is the most common mistake new Texans make.

New residents are required to obtain a Texas driver’s license from the Texas Department of Public Safety within 90 days of moving to the state. 

Note: it’s the DPS, not the DMV. Vehicle registration moves faster: all new residents must file at a county tax assessor-collector’s office within 30 days of establishing residency. You must register your vehicle before applying for your Texas driver’s license, so do the car first.

As of January 2025, Texas eliminated the annual safety inspection requirement for most non-commercial vehicles under Texas House Bill 3297. However, emissions testing is still required in 17 counties including Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, and Denton. Check whether your new county is on that list before you show up.

Task	Deadline after moving	Where to do it
Vehicle Registration	30 days	County Tax Assessor-Collector office
Driver’s License	90 days	Texas DPS office (appointment strongly recommended)
Auto Insurance Setup	Before registration (required)	Your insurer
Voter Registration	30 days before any election	vote.texas.gov

What are the biggest regional hazards and cost traps in Texas?

Texas doesn’t have one climate. It has about five, and each carries a financial sting.

Central Texas bakes in triple-digit heat that doesn’t quit until October, so budget for electricity in July and August, and ask about AC maintenance before you sign. 

The Gulf Coast deals with hurricane season from June through November and genuine flood risk. FEMA flood maps are not optional reading here, because a unit that’s $200/month cheaper may sit in a flood plain. North Texas gets hard freezes that the infrastructure isn’t always built for, so find your water shutoff valve within the first 48 hours of moving in. 

West Texas runs hot in summer, cold in winter, with almost no public transit. The cost of living is low, but the isolation is real.

Region / Season	What to expect	What it means for your apartment
Central Texas (Summer)	100°F+ for weeks	A/C bills of 200-350/month; check unit age and insulation
Gulf Coast (June-Nov)	Hurricanes, flooding, storm surge	Check FEMA flood zone; confirm renters insurance covers storm losses
North Texas (Winter)	Hard freezes, ice storms	Locate the water shutoff valve on day one
West Texas (Year-round)	Extreme heat and cold, drought	Higher utility costs, limited services outside major cities
Panhandle (Spring)	Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes	Check whether the building has a storm shelter or reinforced interior rooms

💡 Did you know?  

52% of Lemonade renters insurance claims in Texas are weather-related, filed during peak storm months between April and July. (Based on Lemonade internal claims data, 2026)

Where do most newcomers to Texas land?

Texas has four major landing zones. Each suits a different type of move.

💡 Did you know? 

As of 2026, Renters insurance in Austin averages $159.96/year with Lemonade, about 12.8% lower  than the Texas overall average of $183.39/year, likely because Austin carries less weather risk than Gulf Coast metros, which pull the state average up.

How do you get around Texas?

Here’s the honest answer: you almost certainly need a car. Even in the largest metros, transit covers a fraction of the geography, and distances between things are unlike anything in the Northeast or Pacific Northwest.

Metro	Transit name	Reality check
Houston	METRORail (Red, Green, Purple lines)	Covers the Medical Center and Downtown; useless for most suburbs
Dallas	DART Light Rail	Good for downtown commutes; park-and-ride is common
Austin	CapMetro Rail (Red Line)	Limited rail; most Austinites drive everywhere
San Antonio	VIA Metropolitan Transit (bus only)	No rail; car-dependent for most residents
Fort Worth	Trinity Metro TEXRail	Useful for one corridor; connects to DFW Airport

• Toll system: Texas uses TxTag as its primary transponder for toll roads across the state. Driving a toll plaza without one means paying by plate, and the fees are significantly higher. Get a TxTag before your first week of driving if you’re in Austin, Dallas, or Houston, where tolled roads are unavoidable on most major commutes.
• Intercity travel: Amtrak’s Texas Eagle connects San Antonio to Dallas and Chicago, and the Sunset Limited runs through San Antonio west to Los Angeles and east to New Orleans. Both are slow and infrequent. For most intercity travel, you’ll fly or drive.
• Your license and registration deadlines are already covered in the “What Changes” section above. Don’t skip those.

How do you get set up in Texas in your first week?

Setting up utilities in Texas

Texas runs a deregulated electricity market, meaning you choose your provider, not just your rate. In deregulated areas (most of the state, excluding Austin Energy, CPS Energy in San Antonio, and El Paso Electric), use PowerToChoose.org to compare plans. Stick to a fixed-rate plan; variable rates can spike hard during winter cold snaps. See our guide on how to set up utilities for the full walkthrough.

Updating your address and who to notify

Get USPS mail forwarding set up before you move, then work through the rest: employer, bank, IRS, subscriptions. Texas has no state income tax return to file, but your previous state may want a partial-year return. And if you already have a renters insurance policy, here’s how to change your address on renters insurance when you cross a state line.

📍Cross-state insurance reality check: 

Moving to Texas from another state means canceling your old policy and starting a new Texas one, not just updating your address. Time the new policy to start the same day the old one ends so you don’t have even a single night without coverage.

The move itself

Cross-state moves to Texas almost always mean hiring long-distance movers or renting a truck, and summer is peak season so book early. Before moving day, it’s worth running through a moving checklist, understanding what moving insurance actually covers, and if you’ve never done a long-distance move before, how to pack like a pro will save you a headache or two.

What do locals wish newcomers to Texas knew?

Texas rewards planning and not assumptions, especially on commutes, electricity, and flood risk.

• “Close” means something different here. Saying your apartment is “close to downtown Dallas” can mean a 12-minute drive or a 55-minute one depending on I-35E or 635 at 8am. Test the actual commute on a Tuesday morning before you sign.
• The deregulated electricity market will confuse you once. Variable-rate plans can spike dramatically in winter cold snaps. Fixed-rate plans are generally the safer bet for newcomers who don’t want a $900 February electricity bill.
• Flood risk is local and specific. Two apartments on the same street can have very different flood histories. Ask directly, then check the Flood Education Mapping Tool or your county’s equivalent tool before committing.
• Summer runs longer than you expect. May through October is heat and humidity season. Your electricity bill will reflect that. Budget for it from month one.

What mistakes do people make when moving to Texas?

• Not checking FEMA flood maps before signing. Critical in Houston, Beaumont, and anywhere along the Gulf Coast.
• Missing the vehicle registration deadline. The driver’s license deadline is 90 days, but the vehicle registration deadline is 30 days. They are different deadlines. The car comes first.
• Underestimating move-in cash. Texas has no statutory cap on security deposits. First month, last month, deposit, and application fees can all land at once.
• Giving verbal notice for repairs. Landlords are required to repair issues that materially affect a tenant’s health or safety once proper written notice is given, per Texas Property Code § 92.056. A text works. A conversation doesn’t.
• Skipping renters insurance during storm season. June through November on the Gulf Coast and February in North Texas are when things go wrong.
• Not filming a video walkthrough on move-in day. Your 30-day deposit return window depends on what you can prove. Film every room before you unpack a single box and email it to your landlord to create a timestamp.
• Signing based on rent alone and ignoring the commute. A $200/month discount disappears fast in gas and TxTag tolls if your apartment adds 90 minutes of daily driving.

💡 Did you know? 

In the past year, the average payout for a severe weather renters insurance claim in Texas is $1,820, showing how quickly property loss adds up during storm events. (Based on Lemonade internal claims data, 2026)

Before we go

Moving to Texas as a renter means learning a new set of rules quickly: a deregulated electricity market, 30-day security deposit return laws, a 90-day window to handle your license and registration, and weather that will genuinely test your apartment’s infrastructure. None of it is unmanageable, it just requires knowing what you’re walking into before you walk in. Get your renters insurance active, read your lease carefully (especially the early termination and notice clauses), bookmark the Texas Tenant Advisor, and document your move-in condition on day one. You’ll be ahead of most people who make this move.

If you’re ready to get covered before the moving truck pulls up, Lemonade renters insurance takes as little as 90 seconds to set up and works in all four Texas metros.

Moving to Texas FAQs

A few quick words, because we <3 our lawyers: This post is general in nature, and any statement in it doesn’t alter the terms, conditions, exclusions, or limitations of the policies issued, which differ according to your state of residence. You’re encouraged to discuss your specific circumstances with your own professional advisors. The purpose of this post is merely to provide you with info and insights you can use to make such discussions more productive! Naturally, all comments by, or references to, third parties represent their own views, and Lemonade assumes no responsibility for them. Coverage may not be available in all states. Please note that statements about coverages, policy management, claims processes, Giveback, and customer support apply to policies underwritten by Lemonade Insurance Company or Metromile Insurance Company, a Lemonade company, sold by Lemonade Insurance Agency, LLC.  The statements do not apply to policies underwritten by other carriers.