Zoning and Land Use in Texas: Exam Guide

Land use is where private ownership meets government power. Cities regulate what you can build and where through zoning, and the government can even take land through eminent domain. The exam tests the difference between those powers, the zoning vocabulary, and the Texas rules that make this state different.

What is police power?

Snippet answer: Police power is the government's inherent authority to regulate private activity and property to protect public health, safety, morals, and general welfare. Zoning, building codes, and subdivision rules all come from police power. Unlike eminent domain, police power does not require the government to pay the owner for the regulation.

Police power is the constitutional basis for zoning. It is the government's authority to make rules that protect health, safety, morals, and the general welfare of the community. When a city says a block is residential only, or sets a building height limit, it is exercising police power.

The key contrast for the exam is with eminent domain. Police power regulates property without paying for the burden, as long as the rule is reasonable. Eminent domain takes property and must pay just compensation. Both are government powers over private land, along with taxation and escheat, and they connect to the limits on the bundle of rights.

Zoning: how it works

Snippet answer: Zoning divides a community into districts, such as residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural, and sets rules for each on use, lot size, building height, setbacks, and density. Zoning is supposed to follow a comprehensive plan. Its goal is to separate incompatible uses and guide orderly growth.

Zoning splits a city into districts and sets rules for each one. The classic categories are residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural, often with subtypes like single-family versus multifamily residential.

Within each district, the ordinance controls things like:

• Use. What activities are allowed, such as homes, shops, or factories.
• Bulk and height. How tall and how large a building can be.
• Setbacks. How far a structure must sit from the property lines.
• Density. How many units or how much building is allowed per acre.

Good zoning is supposed to follow a comprehensive plan, a long-range vision for the community, rather than being decided lot by lot. This separates incompatible uses, so a factory does not open next to a school, and it guides orderly growth. Zoning works alongside building codes and the certificate of occupancy a building needs before it can be used.

Zoning relief and exceptions

Snippet answer: Zoning is not absolute. A variance allows a small deviation from the rules for a property owner facing a hardship. A special or conditional use permit allows a listed use that needs review. A nonconforming use is a use that was legal before the zoning changed and may continue. Spot zoning, which singles out one parcel unfairly, is illegal.

Rigid zoning would be unfair, so the law builds in safety valves. These terms are heavily tested.

A variance is granted by a board of adjustment. It usually requires the owner to show a genuine hardship tied to the land, not just a wish for more profit. A nonconforming use is the classic grandfather situation. If your corner store was legal when you opened it, and the block is later zoned residential, your store can usually keep operating as a lawful nonconforming use. Spot zoning is the trap answer: rezoning a single lot in a way that clashes with everything around it, for the benefit of one owner, is not allowed.

Texas zoning: cities zone, counties generally cannot

Snippet answer: In Texas, cities have zoning authority under Local Government Code Chapter 211, which lets them create a zoning commission and a board of adjustment and zone by a comprehensive plan. Texas counties generally do not have zoning power, so land in unincorporated areas is often unzoned. Houston is also the largest US city with no traditional zoning.

Texas has a distinctive setup, and the exam expects you to know it. Zoning power in Texas belongs to cities, under Texas Local Government Code Chapter 211. That chapter lets a municipality create a zoning commission, adopt districts by a comprehensive plan, and appoint a board of adjustment to hear variances and appeals. Home-rule cities must appoint a zoning commission to zone, and general-law cities may.

The Texas twist is what happens outside the cities. Texas counties generally do not have zoning authority. Unlike a city, a county usually cannot divide unincorporated land into use districts, so large stretches of rural Texas are effectively unzoned. Counties still regulate some things, like subdivision platting, but not use-zoning the way a city does.

There is one more Texas point. Houston is the largest city in the United States with no traditional zoning, and it relies on private deed restrictions instead. So in Texas, land use is shaped by city zoning where it exists, private deed restrictions, and much less by counties.

Nonconforming uses and Texas Senate Bill 929

Texas has also strengthened the rights of a nonconforming use. Under Texas Senate Bill 929, effective in 2023, a city that wants to force an owner to stop a lawful nonconforming use generally must give notice and pay compensation. That compensation can include the owner's costs and the drop in the property's market value. In short, a Texas city cannot simply zone a lawful existing use out of business for free, which is a landowner-friendly rule to remember.

Eminent domain, takings, and the Texas anti-Kelo rule

Snippet answer: Eminent domain is the government's power to take private property for public use, and it requires adequate compensation to the owner. In Texas, Article I, Section 17 of the constitution protects owners, and a post-Kelo amendment bars taking property to transfer it to a private party mainly for economic development or more tax revenue. A regulatory taking happens when a rule goes so far it effectively takes the property.

Eminent domain is the power to take private property, and it is the opposite of police power in one key way: it requires payment. The process of exercising it is called condemnation. Three ideas define a valid taking:

• Public use. The taking must be for a public purpose, like a road, a school, or a utility.
• Adequate compensation. The owner must be paid the fair value of what is taken.
• Due process. The owner is entitled to notice and a fair procedure.

Texas gives owners strong protection here. Article I, Section 17 of the Texas Constitution says property cannot be taken, damaged, or destroyed for public use without adequate compensation. Then came the anti-Kelo change. After the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision allowed takings for economic development, Texas voters amended Section 17. Now public use does not include taking property to hand it to a private entity mainly for economic development or to raise tax revenue. This is a favorite Texas exam point. Texas also requires a condemning authority to provide a Landowner's Bill of Rights and make a genuine offer before condemning.

Two related terms round out the topic:

• Regulatory taking. When a regulation is so severe that it deprives an owner of the reasonable use of the land, it can become a taking that requires compensation, even without a formal condemnation.
• Inverse condemnation. When the government takes or damages property without a formal proceeding, the owner can sue to force payment. Eminent domain and escheat are also covered under involuntary alienation.

Common exam traps to remember

Snippet answer: Land-use questions punish a few confusions: mixing up police power with eminent domain, thinking counties zone like cities in Texas, confusing a variance with a nonconforming use, and forgetting that spot zoning is illegal.

• Police power does not pay, eminent domain does. Zoning regulates for free. A taking requires compensation.
• Texas counties generally do not zone. Zoning is a city power under Chapter 211. Unincorporated land is often unzoned.
• A variance is relief, a nonconforming use is grandfathered. A variance is permission to deviate for a hardship. A nonconforming use was legal before the rule changed.
• Spot zoning is illegal. Singling out one parcel against the surrounding pattern is not allowed.
• Texas bans economic-development takings. Public use does not include handing property to a private party mainly to boost tax revenue.

You can drill these against timed Texas questions in the free practice test, and look up any unfamiliar term in the Texas real estate glossary.

Original practice questions

Use these to check yourself. They are written for practice and are not copied from any real exam.

Question 1. A city rezones a neighborhood and pays nothing to the owners whose allowed uses are now limited. What power is the city using?

• A) Eminent domain
• B) Police power
• C) Escheat
• D) Taxation

Answer: B. Zoning is an exercise of police power, which regulates land for health, safety, and welfare without paying the owner. Eminent domain is different, because it takes property and requires compensation. (Original question.)

Question 2. A parcel of unincorporated land in a Texas county has no zoning classification at all. Why is that common in Texas?

• A) The owner opted out of zoning
• B) Texas counties generally do not have zoning authority
• C) Zoning expired after ten years
• D) The land is federal

Answer: B. In Texas, zoning is generally a city power under Local Government Code Chapter 211, and counties usually cannot zone unincorporated land. That is why large areas of rural Texas are unzoned. (Original question.)

Question 3. A corner store was legally operating before the block was rezoned to residential only. The store keeps running. What is this status called?

• A) A variance
• B) A special use permit
• C) A nonconforming use
• D) Spot zoning

Answer: C. A use that was lawful before the zoning changed is a nonconforming use, often called grandfathered. It may generally continue even though new stores of that type could not open there. (Original question.)

Question 4. A Texas city wants to condemn land and transfer it to a private developer mainly to increase local tax revenue. Is this a valid public use in Texas?

• A) Yes, economic development is always a public use
• B) No, Texas bars taking property for private economic development
• C) Yes, if the city pays double
• D) Only if the county approves

Answer: B. After the Kelo decision, Texas amended Article I, Section 17 so that public use does not include taking property to transfer it to a private entity mainly for economic development or more tax revenue. (Original question.)

Frequently Asked Questions

For quick answers to every common Texas exam question, see the Texas real estate exam FAQ.

What is police power in real estate?

Police power is the government's authority to regulate private property to protect public health, safety, morals, and general welfare. Zoning, building codes, and subdivision rules all come from police power. Unlike eminent domain, police power does not require paying the owner for the burden of the regulation.

What is the difference between police power and eminent domain?

Police power regulates how property can be used, such as through zoning, and does not pay the owner as long as the rule is reasonable. Eminent domain takes the property itself for public use and must pay the owner adequate compensation. One regulates for free, the other buys.

Do counties have zoning power in Texas?

Generally no. In Texas, zoning is a city power under Local Government Code Chapter 211. Counties usually cannot divide unincorporated land into zoning districts, so much of rural Texas is unzoned. Counties do regulate some matters, like subdivision platting, but not use-zoning the way cities do.

What is a nonconforming use?

A nonconforming use is a use of property that was legal before the zoning changed and is allowed to continue, often called grandfathered. For example, a store that was lawful before an area became residential can usually keep operating. In Texas, a city that forces a nonconforming use to stop generally must give notice and pay compensation under Senate Bill 929.

What is the difference between a variance and a special use permit?

A variance is permission to deviate slightly from a zoning rule, like a setback, because strict application would cause a hardship tied to the property. A special or conditional use permit allows a use the district permits only with review, such as a church or daycare in a residential zone. A variance bends a rule, while a permit approves a listed use.

What is the Texas anti-Kelo rule?

After the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision, Texas voters amended Article I, Section 17 of the state constitution. Now public use does not include taking private property to transfer it to a private entity mainly for economic development or to raise tax revenue. It limits how Texas governments can use eminent domain.

Sources and Methodology

This article was reviewed against Texas primary sources and standard real estate principles on July 21, 2026. The definition of police power as the authority to regulate for public health, safety, morals, and general welfare, the zoning concepts of districts, comprehensive plans, variances, special use permits, nonconforming uses, and the prohibition on spot zoning, and the contrast between police power and eminent domain reflect settled property law tested on the national portion of the exam. The rule that Texas cities zone under Texas Local Government Code Chapter 211, using a zoning commission, a comprehensive plan, and a board of adjustment, comes from Chapter 211. The point that Texas counties generally lack zoning authority reflects the limits of Texas county power over unincorporated land. The requirement that a Texas city give notice and pay compensation before forcing a lawful nonconforming use to cease reflects Texas Senate Bill 929, effective in 2023. The protection of owners from uncompensated takings comes from Article I, Section 17 of the Texas Constitution, and the rule that public use does not include taking property to transfer it to a private entity mainly for economic development reflects the post-Kelo amendment to Section 17. The Landowner's Bill of Rights is provided for in Texas Government Code Section 402.031 and Texas Property Code Chapter 21. Statutes, ordinances, and case law can change, so verify the current Texas sources before relying on any point in practice.

Official Source Links

• Texas Local Government Code Chapter 211 (Municipal Zoning Authority)
• Texas Constitution Article I, Section 17 (Taking Property for Public Use)
• Texas Property Code Chapter 21 (Eminent Domain)
• Texas Attorney General: Landowner's Bill of Rights
• TREC: Become a Real Estate Sales Agent

This post is educational content for Texas real estate sales agent candidates. It is not legal advice. Zoning rules, variances, and eminent domain outcomes depend on the local ordinance and current law, so confirm the current Texas Local Government Code, the Texas Constitution, and the local ordinance, and consult the city, county, or a licensed attorney before you rely on any point in a real situation.