Housing Authority of the City of Austin · effective January 1, 2026

Austin, TX Section 8 payment standards

The voucher payment standards Housing Authority of the City of Austin publishes, copied from its own schedule[1], with HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents for comparison.

Not legal advice — verify current state law and have an attorney review for your state. Payment standards change, and the housing authority's rent-reasonableness review, utility allowance and the family's income decide what it will actually pay. Verify the current amount with the housing authority before you set a rent.

Official schedule. Approved payment standards effective January 1, 2026. The document is labeled "100% of published HUD 2023 FMRS".[1] Retrieved October 21, 2026.

Payment standards

ScheduleSROStudio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR5 BR
All voucher sizes$1,162$1,549$1,650$1,949$2,484$2,882$3,314

Travis County's housing authority (HATC) publishes a separate schedule.

HUD FY2027 Fair Market Rents: Travis County, TX

HUD area: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX MSA. A housing authority's schedule can be based on an earlier FMR year or on ZIP-level Small Area FMRs, so it won't always match these figures.

Unit sizeFY2027 FMR
Studio$1,447[2]
1 BR$1,530[2]
2 BR$1,817[2]
3 BR$2,292[2]
4 BR$2,689[2]

Full Travis County FMR page

How landlords use this

It caps the subsidy, not your rent

The payment standard is the most the housing authority will count toward rent plus tenant-paid utilities. The rent still has to pass its rent-reasonableness review.

The 40% rule at move-in

For a new lease, if the gross rent is above the payment standard, the family's share can't be more than 40% of its monthly adjusted income.

Treat every applicant the same

Use the same written screening criteria for voucher holders as for everyone else. Many states and cities prohibit refusing renters because they pay with a voucher; check your local law.

Sources

  1. Housing Authority of the City of Austin, HCV Approved Payment Standards effective Jan 1, 2026 (PDF) (retrieved October 21, 2026): https://austinha.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/HCV-Payment-Standards-effective-Jan-1-2026.pdf
  2. HUD USER, FY2027 Fair Market Rents, county-level file (FY27_FMRs.xlsx) (retrieved October 21, 2026): https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmr2027/FY27_FMRs.xlsx