Killeen, TX Home Loans

Fort Hood is the home of III Armored Corps, and the Army calls it the only post in the country able to station and train two armored divisions. Its units include the 1st Cavalry Division, First U.S. Army Division West and the 3d Cavalry Regiment, plus medical, signal, engineer, chemical, air defense, military police and military intelligence brigades. It began in 1942 as Camp Hood, a tank destroyer training center.

The name has changed twice in a few years. The Army renamed the post Fort Cavazos in 2023, then ordered Fort Hood restored on June 11, 2025, honoring Col. Robert Benjamin Hood, a World War I artillery officer who earned the Distinguished Service Cross. Some forms and web pages still say Fort Cavazos, so search under both names.

We are licensed in Texas, and Debbie Haberny is a Vetted VA Professional, so a buyer arriving on Fort Hood orders can bring a Certificate of Eligibility straight to us. Guard and Reserve members can do the same; VA counts at least 90 days of qualifying active duty or six creditable years in the Guard or Selected Reserve.

Killeen

Killeen is the largest city in the market, with an estimated 161,883 residents in July 2025, up 5.7 percent from an April 2020 estimates base of 153,186. City Hall, at 101 N. College Street, is about 7 minutes from the Main Gate without traffic. Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 put its median owner-occupied value at $215,400, its owner-occupied share at 49.5 percent, its veterans at 23,452 and its mean commute at 25.5 minutes. The Killeen VA Clinic is at Midtown Mall on East Veterans Memorial Boulevard, and 34 Killeen ISD campuses hold the Purple Star designation.

Nolanville

Nolanville has an estimated 7,983 residents (July 2025), up 34.8 percent from an April 2020 estimates base of 5,922, the fastest growth of the places measured. For 2020 to 2024 the Census lists a $244,900 median owner-occupied value (a margin of error of about $67,000), a 64.3 percent owner-occupied share and 1,212 veterans. Killeen ISD serves Nolanville, and Nolanville Elementary is on TEA’s 2026-27 Purple Star list. It is about 16 minutes from the Main Gate and 24 from the Copperas Cove North Gate without traffic.

Temple

Temple has an estimated 98,412 residents (July 2025), up 19.7 percent from an April 2020 estimates base of 82,244. For 2020 to 2024 the Census lists a $239,000 median owner-occupied value, a 52.3 percent owner-occupied share, 7,740 veterans and a 21.0-minute mean commute. The Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center and a Temple VA Clinic are in the city. It is about 36 minutes from the Main Gate without traffic.

Salado

Salado is a village of about 2,565 people (July 2025 estimate), up 7.3 percent from an April 2020 estimates base of 2,390. The Census lists a $445,900 median owner-occupied value (a margin of error of about $32,000), the highest of the places measured, and an 87.4 percent owner-occupied share for 2020 to 2024. The post’s media center names Salado among the neighboring communities in the Cen-Tex Sustainable Communities Partnership. It is about 35 minutes from the Main Gate and 42 from the Copperas Cove North Gate without traffic.

Lampasas

Lampasas has an estimated 7,988 residents (July 2025), up 9.7 percent from an April 2020 estimates base of 7,279. For 2020 to 2024 the Census lists a $198,800 median owner-occupied value (a margin of error of about $21,000), $961 median gross rent, the smallest of the places measured, a 63.5 percent owner-occupied share and 642 veterans. The post lists Lampasas among its surrounding communities, and three Lampasas ISD campuses hold the Purple Star designation for 2026-27. It is about 35 minutes from the Main Gate and 30 from the Copperas Cove North Gate without traffic.

Gatesville

Gatesville, in Coryell County, has an estimated 16,422 residents (July 2025), up 1.8 percent from an April 2020 estimates base of 16,132. For 2020 to 2024 the Census lists a $207,300 median owner-occupied value (a margin of error of about $32,000), a 63.9 percent owner-occupied share, 965 veterans and a 22.8-minute mean commute. The post lists Gatesville among its surrounding communities, and five Gatesville ISD campuses hold the Purple Star designation for 2026-27. It is about 38 minutes from the Copperas Cove North Gate and 46 from the Main Gate without traffic, past the commute radius for the Main Gate.

The Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey gives a rough picture, not a price list. Among Killeen, Harker Heights, Belton and Copperas Cove, median owner-occupied home values ran from $180,500 in Copperas Cove to $287,800 in Harker Heights, with Killeen at $215,400 and Belton at $258,700. Median gross rent in those four ran from $1,043 in Copperas Cove to $1,252 in Belton.

Growth is uneven: measured from the April 2020 estimates base to July 2025, Nolanville’s population estimate rose 34.8 percent, Belton’s 12.7 percent and Killeen’s 5.7 percent. New subdivisions can sit in a special taxing district. For a municipal utility district, the seller must give the buyer a written notice before the contract is signed, and a buyer who never received it may be able to terminate. In a public improvement district, the notice says the buyer will owe assessments and that unpaid amounts can lead to a lien and foreclosure. Ask early whether a lot is in either kind of district, because the charge belongs in the monthly budget we qualify you on.

Schools. Fort Hood has no Department of Defense schools; Killeen ISD runs the schools on post and also serves Killeen, Harker Heights and Nolanville. Students are zoned by home address, and families can file an online transfer request. Texas gives its Purple Star Campus Designation to schools that appoint a military liaison, publish a webpage for military families, run a transition program and back a military family initiative. Counting TEA’s 2025-26 and 2026-27 awards, 34 Killeen ISD campuses, 9 in Copperas Cove ISD, 6 in Belton ISD, 5 in Gatesville ISD and 3 in Lampasas ISD hold it for 2026-27. Zones do not follow city limits; ask the district to confirm the school for any address before you bid.

Gates. The Bernie Beck Main Gate is open 24 hours a day. Visitors without a DoD ID card get a pass at the Marvin Leath Visitors Welcome Center, off I-14 (US 190) on T.J. Mills Boulevard, open 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The post publishes hours only for the Main Gate, so confirm the Clear Creek and Copperas Cove side gates before you plan a commute around them.

Drive Times. Free-flow driving time to the Main Gate, measured October 7, 2026 on OpenStreetMap roads, is about 7 minutes from Killeen City Hall, 13 from Harker Heights, 15 from Copperas Cove and 27 from Belton. US 190 is signed as I-14 through this stretch, and TxDOT’s I-14 Extension Project will carry the interstate from its current end at I-35 in Belton to Business US 190 in Rogers.

Your Basic Allowance for Housing follows your duty station, rank and dependent status, and the numbers live in DoD’s official lookup, not on this page. Bring yours, and we will map them to each part of the area.

Texas has no personal income tax and no state property tax; school districts, cities, counties and special districts set property taxes locally. Property taxes are a significant cost of owning a home in Texas, a Governor’s committee notes, so ask for the tax bill on any home you tour. A homeowner who lives in the home can claim a homestead exemption that removes $140,000 of value from school taxes, and an owner who is 65 or older or disabled can claim another $60,000.

Disabled veterans get more relief. A veteran with a 100 percent VA disability rating, or a finding of individual unemployability, can claim a total exemption of the appraised value of the home they live in, and a lower rating earns a partial exemption on one property. Apply through the county appraisal district, generally before May 1; the 100 percent exemption can be requested up to five years after the tax delinquency date.

County Loan Limits. When entitlement is full, VA puts no cap on the loan; we still approve the amount you ask for, and the appraisal has to support the price. Partial entitlement, for instance after an earlier VA loan, brings county limits into play. The 2026 FHFA one-unit figure is $832,750 in each of Bell, Coryell (home to most of Copperas Cove and all of Gatesville) and Lampasas counties.

Flood. Under FEMA’s rule, a government-backed mortgage on a home in a high-risk flood area comes with a flood insurance requirement; most homeowners policies exclude flood damage, and a new federal flood policy typically has a 30-day wait. Bell County’s Engineer’s Office is the county’s floodplain administrator and takes floodplain determination requests. Look up the flood zone and request an insurance quote before you make an offer; a real estate agent can pull the map for you.

Special Districts and HOAs. On new construction, get the district notice, HOA dues and any special assessments in writing before you sign, and we will build them into your payment figure.

Begin with the Housing Services Office in the Copeland Soldier Service Center, Building 18010. It offers a welcome packet, state landlord-tenant law guides, an off-post rental inventory and VA loan information pamphlets. New Soldiers in-process at the Installation Reception Center, Building 16008, open daily around the clock, and a Newcomer’s Orientation meets every Thursday at the Lone Star Conference Center. Buying? Send us your orders early, and we can pull your Certificate of Eligibility and prepare a pre-approval so your house-hunting trip starts with a budget.

Plan for visitors and paperwork. A real estate agent or relative without a DoD ID needs a pass from the Marvin Leath Visitors Welcome Center, and the post’s Trusted Traveler program is suspended. Texas has enacted the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, which addresses eligibility, enrollment, placement and graduation. A military spouse who holds a license from another state can ask the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation about transferring it; there is no fee, and an application that meets Texas training and education requirements is expedited, for the occupations that agency licenses.

Two communities run on-post family housing. Cavalry Family Housing, a Lendlease community, has more than 5,500 homes, and Liberty Village has about 300 two-bedroom homes. In September 2025 the Army wrote that Liberty Village’s wait is usually no more than three months and that Cavalry Family Housing waits run longer for larger homes. McNair Village, the oldest family area, held a demolition ceremony in March 2025, with all 272 homes slated for removal under a $420 million, five-year plan announced in 2021; its replacement, Heritage Heights, is a new neighborhood for junior-enlisted Soldiers, with more than 500 homes planned.

Off post, Killeen, Harker Heights, Nolanville and Copperas Cove are all within 16 minutes of the Main Gate without traffic, and we can help you buy with a VA loan. Your real estate agent can add what we cannot: which streets feed which school, which new neighborhoods carry an HOA or a special district, and how the flood map treats a lot.