Is There an Income Limit for First Time Home Buyers in Texas?
Plenty of buyers count themselves out before they ever pick up the phone. They hear the words "first time buyer program," assume there is a salary cap somewhere, and decide they must have already blown past it. Around Dallas Fort Worth, that assumption quietly costs people thousands of dollars.
The loan itself usually has no income cap
Start with the mortgage. FHA, VA, and conventional loans have no maximum income. None at all. You can earn 60,000 dollars a year or 600,000 dollars a year and still use an FHA loan with 3.5 percent down, or a conventional loan with as little as 3 percent down as a first time buyer.
What lenders actually look at is your debt to income ratio, which simply means how much of your monthly income already goes toward debt payments. A high income helps that math. It never disqualifies you.
The one exception is USDA. That program is built for rural and small town buyers, and it does cap household income. Everything else on the standard menu does not.
If somebody told you that you earn too much to buy your first home, they were describing a program, not a loan.
Assistance programs do have limits, and they are higher than most people guess
Income limits show up in the down payment assistance world. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation runs Home Sweet Texas and Homes for Texas Heroes, and both set caps county by county.
Here is the part that surprises people. Under the limits effective June 13, 2026, the Home Sweet Texas household income cap is 181,650 dollars in Dallas, Collin, Denton, Ellis, Rockwall, Kaufman, and Hunt counties. In Tarrant, Johnson, and Parker counties it is 165,450 dollars. Wise County comes in at 168,450 dollars. Teachers, police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, corrections officers, and veterans get a higher ceiling through Homes for Texas Heroes, reaching 205,870 dollars in Dallas County and 187,510 dollars in Tarrant County.
Those are whole household numbers, and they sit well above what most DFW families bring home.
The cap is real, but it is probably not where you pictured it.
We see this play out from both directions. Some clients assume they earn too much to qualify for help and find out the ceiling is nowhere near where they thought. Others assume they do not earn enough to buy at all, and in the last few months we have helped several of those families close on their first homes. There are more first time buyer programs on the table than most people realize, and we walk every client through all the options they qualify for.
The mortgage tax credit is where the rules tighten
There is one first time buyer benefit with stricter limits. The Mortgage Credit Certificate, which gives you a federal tax credit every year you hold the loan, is reserved for first time buyers and uses lower income thresholds. In Dallas County the 2026 cap is 121,100 dollars for a one or two person household and 139,265 dollars for a household of three or more.
There are also purchase price limits attached to these programs. In Dallas County that limit currently runs just under 590,000 dollars.
Two different programs, two different sets of numbers. Never assume one answer covers both.
What actually decides your budget
Income limits and buying power are separate questions. With the 30 year fixed rate averaging 6.66 percent as of July 30, 2026, according to Freddie Mac, what you can comfortably afford depends on your rate, your credit, your other monthly debts, and how much cash you have ready. Program eligibility is a side door that may or may not apply to you.
Get the real numbers run before you rule anything in or out.
Ready to find out where you land?
The fastest way to answer this for your own household is a short conversation. Steve Barton can check your income against the current county limits, compare what assistance you might qualify for against a straight FHA or conventional loan, and tell you plainly which route makes more sense. Call 214.673.1319 or visit corecommunitymortgage.com and let's take a look together.