McAllen, Edinburg or Mission

“Which city should we build in?” comes up on a lot of first calls. Usually the family has it down to McAllen, Edinburg or Mission and wants somebody to break the tie.

My honest answer is that the lot matters more than the city. All 3 sit in Hidalgo County, and the county has expansive clay in many areas no matter what city name is on the listing. The price range on our McAllen, Edinburg and Mission pages is the same one, because it’s a Hidalgo County range. Wind is the same too. Hidalgo County sits outside the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association coastal area, which takes in Cameron and Willacy, and we engineer for the design wind speed the code sets in all 3 cities. Our post on building a resilient home in McAllen goes deeper.

Cross a city line and the office that issues the permit, the school district on the tax account, the flood map and the water line at the street can all change. Here’s how they compare, with the public sources, so you can check any lot yourself.

What do lots look like in each city?

Each city has the same 3 kinds of lots in different amounts: older lots in established neighborhoods, newer lots in recorded subdivisions, and bigger tracts on the edges of town and in the county.

Our 2026 cost guide puts standard lots in established McAllen neighborhoods at 0.15 to 0.25 acres and premium lots in newer subdivisions at 0.25 to 0.5 acres. Edinburg and Mission follow the same pattern, with infill lots near the older parts of town and half acre and acre lots as you head out.

Lot supply changes every few months as subdivisions open and sell out, so any lot count I printed today would be stale by spring. What matters more than the city name comes down to 2 things.

Buildable area. Setbacks, easements and the shape of the lot decide what fits. A long, narrow lot or an odd shape can rule out the floor plan you wanted before anybody draws it.

Deed restrictions. Subdivision lots almost always come with restrictions on things like minimum square footage, exterior materials, roof pitch and garage orientation. Get the restrictions from the seller or the title company and read them before you make an offer. Restrictions are private rules, so a plan the city would approve can still get turned down by the subdivision.

Who issues the permit?

The city issues the building permit when the lot is inside its city limits. Outside city limits, the permit comes from Hidalgo County.

McAllen. The Building Permits & Inspections Department has 3 divisions: plan review, permitting and inspections. Applications go through the city’s online permit portal. The city posts 3 business days to review a complete residential set. In our own schedules design and permits together take 1 to 2 months, as our preconstruction guide says, because workload and revision rounds stretch it.

Edinburg. The Building Safety Department handles plan review, permit issuance and inspections for new construction. It runs an online portal called Citizen Self Service where you can submit and track permits and schedule inspections.

Mission. The Inspections Division reviews building permit applications for all new buildings in the city. On a new house it inspects the foundation, plumbing, framing, mechanical, A/C and electrical work, and it checks setbacks, sidewalks and buffering too.

Hidalgo County. Outside city limits, a new home needs a Residential Development Permit from the Hidalgo County Planning Department. The county’s permitting FAQ asks for the warranty deed, a development application with a site plan, and compliance with setbacks. Water and electric clearances come after the development permit is approved and the setback inspection passes, and they also need county health department approval.

Every office has its own queue, so ask for current review times the week you submit. We pull the permit with whichever office has jurisdiction over your lot. After that, all 3 of our city pages list the same 6 to 10 months of construction, from contract to keys, for a Sisu custom home.

How do property taxes compare?

The city rate is different in each city. The school district rate is the bigger line on the bill, though, and school district boundaries don’t follow city limits.

These are 2026 tax year rates per $100 of value from the Hidalgo County Tax Office 2026 Tax Rate Schedule, signed October 8, 2026. McAllen’s city rate isn’t on the county schedule, so that one comes from the City of McAllen’s 2026 public hearing notice. The City Commission adopted that rate on September 28, 2026, the same as in 2025 (McAllen News Tribune).

City rates for 2026:

• City of McAllen: $0.448989
• City of Edinburg: $0.63000
• City of Mission: $0.56530

School district rates for 2026:

• McAllen ISD: $0.93220
• Edinburg CISD: $0.85560
• Mission CISD: $1.11300
• Sharyland ISD: $0.95750

Every parcel in the county also pays the Hidalgo County line, which is $0.56910 for 2026. On top of that, the account lists any other taxing units for that parcel. The schedule includes a drainage district, a college district and several EMS districts.

A city to city comparison gets tricky in 2 places.

The school district. Sharyland ISD serves Mission, Alton, Palmhurst, Edinburg and McAllen. So 2 houses with a Mission address can sit in different school districts and pay different school rates. As we say on our city pages, where in the city your home gets built determines the school zone.

Exemptions. The 2026 schedule lists a $140,000 homestead exemption on the school district lines. Run any comparison with your exemptions included, or you’re comparing numbers you’ll never pay.

To check a real lot, look up the parcel on the Hidalgo County Appraisal District property search. The account shows the taxing units and the exemptions on that parcel. If the lot is raw land, pull a finished house on the same street and read its school district line. Do that for 2 or 3 lots before you decide which city costs more.

Where is drainage the bigger question?

Drainage changes street by street, so it’s a question for the lot in every city. Even 2 lots in the same city can sit in different flood zones.

Start with the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and pull the official flood map by address. Zones that start with A or V are Special Flood Hazard Areas, land with a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. Shaded Zone X is moderate risk and unshaded Zone X is minimal risk. If the lot is in a high risk area and you finance with a federally regulated mortgage, the National Flood Insurance Program requires flood insurance, as GAO explains.

Read the Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1 floodplain page before you buy anywhere in the county. A few points from it:

• Hidalgo County and the cities in it all take part in the National Flood Insurance Program.
• Inside a city, the city has its own floodplain administrator. In unincorporated areas, the Drainage District’s general manager is the floodplain administrator.
• A home outside the mapped floodplain can still flood. The district says a third of flood loss claims come from properties outside the mapped 100 year floodplain, and many homes flood because storm water can’t drain away fast enough.

So when the map and the rain disagree, I believe the rain. Go see the lot after a heavy storm if you can, and drive the streets around it. Water still standing 2 days later tells you something no listing will. On our side, a soils report is required before final pricing, and drainage and grading get detailed for each site.

Who brings water and sewer to the lot?

Inside an established subdivision, water and sewer are usually waiting at the street. Toward the edges of town, find out who holds the service area before you assume anything.

In McAllen, McAllen Public Utility runs water and sewer. Other providers serve parts of these cities too. A 2018 federal grant document describes Sharyland Water Supply Corporation as serving an area that includes Alton, Palmhurst, Mission, Edinburg and McAllen. A lot can carry a city name and get its water from someone else.

Get it in writing from the provider that service is available for that lot, and ask who the electric provider is. On rural or undeveloped land, our land guide puts off site costs at $20,000 to $100,000 or more when you have to extend lines, drill a well or put in a septic system. That money belongs in the land budget from day one.

What about ETJ and county lots between them?

A lot outside city limits gets its building permit from the county, even when it sits inside a city’s ETJ. The ETJ matters most when land is being split up or platted.

Under Texas Local Government Code Section 42.021, a city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, is unincorporated land next to its city limits. For cities of 100,000 people or more it can reach out 5 miles. Inside the ETJ, Section 212.003 says the city generally can’t regulate things like how a building is used or how big it is. For the house itself, you’re working with the county, as covered above.

Platting is where the paper matters. The county’s subdividing FAQ is plain about it: subdivided land can’t be sold or conveyed without a recorded final plat, and a survey or a metes and bounds description doesn’t replace the subdivision process. If someone offers you a piece cut off a bigger tract with no recorded plat, stop and bring in an engineer and a title company before any money changes hands.

County land can be a great fit. You get room to spread out. You also take on questions a subdivision lot already answered: water from a line or a well, septic or sewer, the driveway, and where the rain goes. All of that is workable. Price it before you buy.

Which one fits which family?

The city usually picks itself once a family is clear about schools, space and the daily drive. Here are the patterns we see.

A school district comes first. Start with the district boundary and look for lots inside it. Sharyland ISD crosses city lines, so a family set on it could end up with a Mission, McAllen or Edinburg address.

You want room. A shop, a casita, a big backyard or a few animals point to the edges of all 3 cities and the county land between them. Put the utility number in the land budget before you fall for the acreage.

You want city water, city sewer and a recorded subdivision. All 3 cities have them. Compare the deed restrictions, the flood map and the tax account on the actual lots you’re choosing between.

You’re watching the tax bill. For 2026, McAllen’s city rate is the lowest of the 3 city rates. Among the school districts listed above, Edinburg CISD has the lowest rate and Mission CISD the highest. Pull real accounts before you decide what that means for your house.

Work or school sets the map. Drive the commute on a weekday morning at the hour you’d really drive it. A Sunday afternoon drive will make every lot look close.

You already own the lot. About half of our custom builds go on lots the client already owns. The city is decided, so bring us the survey and the soils report if you have one, and we’ll price the house on your lot.

How does Sisu decide with a client?

We decide lot by lot. We walk each one with you and tell you what it will cost to build on.

On a lot walk we check everything in this post. A soils report is required before final pricing, because Hidalgo County has expansive clay in many areas and we engineer the slab and foundation to the report. Our land guide puts a geotechnical report at about $1,500 before closing, which is cheap next to a foundation surprise after you own the land.

If you’re still shopping, Jessica Gonzalez, the licensed Texas real estate agent on our team, can give you a Realtor’s view on lot selection while I look at it as the builder.

Then we price the house for that lot and pull the permit with whichever office has jurisdiction. I’m the general contractor on every Sisu build, in McAllen, Edinburg, Mission or out in the county, and you get a Friday update with photos the whole way through.

Frequently asked questions

Which city is cheapest to build a custom home in?

On the build itself, our published price range is the same in McAllen, Edinburg and Mission, because it covers all of Hidalgo County. The total moves with the lot: site work, fill, utility runs and impact fees. Our 2026 cost guide notes that impact fees vary by city within Hidalgo County.

Do property taxes differ between McAllen, Edinburg and Mission?

Yes. For the 2026 tax year, the county tax office schedule lists $0.63000 per $100 for the City of Edinburg and $0.56530 for the City of Mission, and McAllen kept its rate at $0.448989. Every school district rate on that list is higher than any of the 3 city rates, and school districts don’t follow city lines. Look up the parcel at hidalgoad.org to see what it actually pays.

Does the city or the county issue the building permit?

The city does if the lot is inside its city limits. Outside city limits, including land in a city’s ETJ, you need a Residential Development Permit from the Hidalgo County Planning Department.

Can Sisu help me find a lot?

Yes. We’ll walk lots with you before you buy and tell you what each one will take to build on. Jessica Gonzalez, the licensed Texas real estate agent on our team, can help with the Realtor side of choosing a lot.

What about Pharr and San Juan?

Same checks: which office issues the permit, which school district is on the account, what the flood map shows and whether utilities are at the street. On the 2026 county schedule, the city rate is $0.76760 in Pharr and $0.67650 in San Juan, and PSJA ISD is $0.98250. We build in Pharr too.

Down to 2 lots in 2 different cities? Send Daniel both addresses. We’ll walk them with you and tell you what each one takes to build on before any earnest money changes hands.