What makes buying in Cibolo different?
Cibolo sits wholly inside Guadalupe County and is served by Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, so one tax rate applies citywide — unlike neighboring Schertz, which spans three counties. At roughly 1.93 percent all in, that works out to about $523 a month on a $325,000 home, well below anything comparable on the Bexar County side.
Key Takeaways
- Cibolo is entirely in Guadalupe County — one composite rate of about 1.93%, or roughly $523 a month on a $325,000 home.
- The equivalent Bexar County address runs about $114 a month higher, because Bexar adds college, hospital, and river authority levies.
- Census recorded 287 single-family permits in 2025, down from 324 — but the figures are imputed, not directly reported, so read them as direction only.
- Randolph proximity makes VA the dominant program here. Joint Base San Antonio supports 74,713 direct employees.
- Newer subdivisions may carry a MUD or PID assessment large enough to erase the county tax advantage. Always ask.
What Does the Cibolo Market Look Like Right Now?
Cibolo sits directly east of Schertz in Guadalupe County, inside the Randolph corridor, and shares the same school district as its larger neighbor. What it does not share is the county confusion — and for a buyer, that is worth something.
On construction, the Census Building Permits Survey recorded 287 single-family permits in Cibolo in 2025, down from 324 in 2024. Two honest caveats about that number. First, the Census reported zero reporting months for Cibolo in both years, which means the figures are imputed rather than directly reported by the permitting office — useful for direction, not precision. Second, at roughly 8.6 permits per 1,000 residents, Cibolo is building less intensively than Schertz, Seguin, or New Braunfels. The explosive-growth phase here has cooled.
The market around it favors buyers. San Antonio recorded 16.3 percent year-over-year sales growth in June 2026, the strongest of any major Texas metro, while active listings and months’ supply both rose year over year. Prices continued easing, with annual declines approaching 2 percent, and the typical San Antonio price reduction ran 5.6 percent off the original asking price through the first four months of 2026 — the second largest concession in the state.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, place-level annual data 2024 and 2025. Texas Real Estate Research Center, Texas Housing Insight (August 2026) and Housing | Summer 2026.
What Do Property Taxes Cost in Cibolo?
Texas has no state income tax and funds local government through property tax instead. Your bill is the sum of every taxing unit covering your lot: county, city, school district, and any special districts on top.
Cibolo’s advantage is simplicity. One county, one city rate, one school district, no boundary guesswork.
| Community | County / ISD | Composite rate | Tax per month on $325,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cibolo | Guadalupe / SCUC ISD | 1.93% | $523 |
| Schertz (Guadalupe portion) | Guadalupe / SCUC ISD | 1.92% | $520 |
| Schertz (Bexar portion) | Bexar / SCUC ISD | 2.33% | $632 |
| Universal City | Bexar / SCUC ISD | 2.35% | $637 |
| San Antonio | Bexar / North East ISD | 2.27% | $614 |
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, 2025 Tax Rates and Levies. Composite rates sum county, city, school district, and applicable countywide districts. Excludes MUD and PID assessments and assumes no exemptions applied.
The pattern is clear: everything in Bexar County runs higher, because Bexar adds countywide Alamo Colleges, University Health System, and San Antonio River Authority levies that Guadalupe does not. A family choosing between Cibolo and the Bexar side of Universal City — same school district, a few miles apart — is looking at about a $114 monthly difference on the same price.
The exception to watch. Newer Cibolo subdivisions may sit inside a Municipal Utility District or Public Improvement District, which adds an assessment on top of everything above. It can be large enough to erase the Guadalupe County advantage entirely. Ask before you fall in love with a lot, not after.
What Should Military Buyers Know About Cibolo?
Randolph anchors this corridor. Joint Base San Antonio supports 74,713 direct employees according to the Texas Comptroller’s 2025 analysis, and Randolph houses Air Education and Training Command headquarters and the Air Force Personnel Center. That concentration is why VA is the most-used program in Cibolo by a wide margin.
Your BAH is qualifying income, and it stretches
Basic Allowance for Housing is non-taxable, and lenders count it as effective income. Some programs allow it to be grossed up, meaning it can go further than the same dollar amount of taxable salary. Pull your specific figure from the DTMO rate lookup — the third-party tables circulating for San Antonio in 2026 contradict each other on both the rate and the direction of change, and that is not a number worth guessing at.
Start before orders finalize
PCS report dates do not wait for a clean file. Entitlement, Certificate of Eligibility, and any existing VA loan on a prior duty station should be resolved before you are house hunting on a deadline. If you still owe on a home elsewhere, partial entitlement may still support a purchase here with little or nothing down.
Texas does not allow VA cash-out on a homestead
Under Section 50(a)(6) of the Texas Constitution, VA and FHA cash-out refinancing is unavailable against a Texas homestead. Equity is reachable through a conventional cash-out or a Texas home equity loan instead. Rate-and-term refinancing and the VA IRRRL streamline remain fully available.
Which Loan Programs Fit Cibolo Buyers?
| Program | Down payment | Why it comes up here |
|---|---|---|
| VA | $0 with full entitlement | The dominant program in the Randolph corridor. No monthly mortgage insurance. |
| FHA | 3.5% with qualifying credit | Entry buyers and households rebuilding credit. |
| Conventional | As little as 3% | Strong credit, and the only cash-out route on a Texas homestead. |
| Construction | Varies by structure | Build-on-your-lot outside the platted subdivisions. Texas allows 4–5 draws. |
| First-time buyer | Varies | Assistance and program options for a first purchase. |
Rates are not posted here because they move daily and differ by lender and by file — which is exactly why putting several lenders in competition matters. Run your own numbers in the mortgage calculator first if you want a starting point.
What Should You Know Before You Make an Offer in Cibolo?
- Ask whether the subdivision has a MUD or PID. This is the single biggest hidden variable in newer Cibolo neighborhoods and it can outweigh the county tax advantage.
- Get an outside loan quote before accepting a builder incentive. Not to reject it — to price it honestly against the alternative.
- Ask for concessions structured as a buydown. Sellers in this metro are conceding around 5.6 percent off original list. Applied to a rate buydown, that money moves your payment far more than a price cut of the same size. See how Texas seller concessions and rate buydowns work.
- Confirm the school attendance zone. SCUC ISD covers Cibolo, but attendance boundaries shift as the district grows.
- Have the loan structure decided before the offer. Buydowns and VA concessions both require disclosure and documentation, and discovering that late is how closings slip.
Common Questions
+ Is Cibolo entirely in one county?
Yes, and that is genuinely useful. Cibolo sits wholly in Guadalupe County, which means one county rate applies citywide. Neighboring Schertz spans three counties with tax rates that differ by roughly $112 a month on the same purchase price. In Cibolo you get the Guadalupe rate and SCUC ISD schools without needing to check which side of a creek a property sits on.
+ What are property taxes in Cibolo?
Using 2025 adopted rates from the Texas Comptroller, the composite rate for Guadalupe County plus the City of Cibolo plus Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD is about 1.93 percent. On a $325,000 home that works out to roughly $523 a month. Newer subdivisions may add a MUD or PID assessment on top, so confirm before you commit to a lot.
+ How far is Cibolo from Randolph Air Force Base?
Close enough that it is a routine commute, which is why Cibolo has a heavily military resident base. That proximity is the main reason VA financing is the most common program used here.
+ Is Cibolo still growing?
Yes, though more slowly than a few years ago. Census figures record 287 single-family permits in Cibolo in 2025, down from 324 in 2024. One caveat worth naming: the Census listed zero reporting months for Cibolo in both years, meaning those figures are imputed rather than directly reported by the permitting office. Treat them as an estimate of direction, not a precise count.
+ Should I use the builder’s preferred lender on a new Cibolo home?
Compare before you commit. Builder incentives in this corridor are real and sometimes win outright. The catch is that the incentive is attached to one specific loan, and if that loan carries a worse rate or higher fees, the incentive can cost more than it saves. Getting an outside quote takes a few days and no credit pull.
+ Can a seller in Cibolo help with my closing costs?
Frequently, yes. Roughly 65 percent of 2025 San Antonio closings went at least 3 percent below the seller’s initial asking price, which tells you sellers here are already conceding. The better question is what to do with that money — applied to a rate buydown it usually moves your payment far more than the same amount taken off the price.
About the Author
Adam Bartling is a licensed Texas mortgage broker and loan officer, and a retired U.S. Army Captain. He works exclusively in Texas and exclusively as a broker — multiple wholesale lenders compete for each file rather than one bank dictating the terms.
Having served, he understands PCS timelines and entitlement questions firsthand. Clients get a dedicated processor, no upfront credit pull, and an annual loan review for as long as they own the home. More about Adam.
Cibolo is part of our Greater San Antonio mortgage guide. Nearby communities: Schertz · Seguin · New Braunfels
