Texas Title Insurance Rates, Explained
Title insurance works differently in Texas than in most states, and the difference is worth understanding: you cannot shop for a better rate, because the rate is set by the state. What you can do is understand what you are buying and who customarily pays for it.
Rates are set by the Texas Department of Insurance, not by the title company.
Texas is a promulgated-rate state. TDI sets the Basic Premium Rate for title insurance, and every title company in Texas must charge it. A title company quoting you a lower premium is not offering a discount; something else is going on.
Last reviewed 15 August 2026. Promulgated rates and the rules governing them are revised periodically. Always verify the current rate for your transaction directly with TDI or with your title company before relying on any figure.
What You Are Actually Buying
Title insurance is not like your other policies. It does not protect against something that might happen in the future; it protects against something that already happened in the past and has not been discovered yet. An old lien, a forged signature three owners back, an heir nobody knew about, a boundary encroachment, a recording error.
It is also a one-time premium paid at closing rather than an ongoing cost, and an owner's policy lasts as long as you or your heirs hold an interest in the property.
Owner's Policy
Insures your ownership interest up to the purchase price. The premium is calculated from the sales price on the TDI Basic Premium Rate schedule, which is tiered, so the rate does not scale in a straight line with price. In most Texas markets, including Central Texas, the seller customarily pays for the owner's policy, though this is negotiable and gets negotiated more in a soft market.
Lender's Policy
Required by essentially every lender, and it insures their interest, not yours. When it is issued at the same time as the owner's policy, it is issued at a substantially reduced simultaneous-issue rate rather than a second full premium. The buyer customarily pays this one.
Endorsements
Add specific protections to a base policy. Common ones in Texas include the survey deletion, which amends the standard survey exception, and endorsements covering restrictions, encroachments, and minerals. Each carries its own promulgated charge, usually a small percentage of the basic premium or a flat fee.
Escrow and closing fees
Separate from the insurance premium and not promulgated. Escrow fees, document preparation, courier, recording, and tax certificates vary between companies. This is the part of a title quote where the numbers genuinely differ, so it is the part worth comparing.
What This Means in Practice
Do not choose a title company on premium. You cannot, because it is the same everywhere. Choose on how well they close: responsiveness, how carefully they run title, and whether they catch problems in week one rather than the day before funding. A cheap escrow fee is poor compensation for a closing that slips.
Get the specific number early. Ask your title company for a written estimate of title charges as soon as you are under contract. It is not a large line on a Central Texas closing statement relative to the property taxes, but it is not trivial either, and it should never be a surprise.
Who pays is negotiable. Custom is not law. In a competitive market sellers hold the line on the owner's policy; in a slower one it becomes another term on the table. It is one of several things we negotiate on your behalf rather than accepting by default.
Read the survey exception. Whether you delete it, and whether you get a new survey or accept an existing one with a seller affidavit, is a real decision with real consequences for what your policy actually covers.
Nothing on this page is legal advice or a quote. Title insurance rates, rules, and endorsement charges are established and revised by the Texas Department of Insurance, and the figures that apply to your transaction should be confirmed with your title company and the current TDI schedule.
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