Tamera Mowry was born in Gelnhausen, West Germany to Darlene Mowry (née Flowers), who managed her children's careers and also worked as a security guard, and Timothy Mowry, who was in the U.S. Army at the time of her birth and later became a custody officer/jailer with the City of Glendale Police Department when the family moved to California.

Darlene, who is Bahamian American, and Timothy, who is English American, met in high school in Miami, Florida. During a live taping of "The Wendy Williams Show" in 2010, Mowry announced that for years, she and her twin sister believed they were of Italian descent on their father's side, however, after researching their family tree on Ancestry.com, they quickly discovered that his ancestry instead lay in Great Britain. Her family is "close-knit" and "deeply religious", as the sisters became born again Christians when they were eight.

She also has two younger brothers, actor Tahj Mowry and Tavior Mowry, who is not an actor. Tamera is two minutes older than Tia.

Tamera Mowry married Fox News Correspondent Adam Housley after dating for almost six years. Confirmed by Mowry while being interviewed on The Wendy Williams Show, they married on May 15, 2011 and her dress was designed by Carolina Herrera. They married at the Vintage Estate in Yountville, California (Villagio Inn and Spa) in California's Napa Valley. In April 2012, Mowry confirmed that she and her husband are expecting their first child, a boy, due in November of 2012.