Cost of Living in Texas

Texas spans nearly $15,000 in annual cost spread across the six cities tracked here. El Paso sits at the affordable end, where residents need $83,564 per year to live comfortably, while Dallas and Fort Worth both land at the top at $98,460. The state median required income of $93,909 runs about $3,700 below the national median of $97,658, which puts Texas modestly cheaper than the average American city on paper. That gap is real but not dramatic. What makes Texas's cost profile distinctive is its sheer geographic scale: a border city like El Paso operates in a different regional economy than the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and that structural diversity drives most of the spread. San Antonio ($89,204) and Houston ($91,253) fill the middle ground, pulling the state median down enough to sit under the national figure. The distance between El Paso and Fort Worth is $14,896.

The six tracked cities cluster cleanly into three tiers. El Paso stands alone at the low end, requiring $83,564 annually. San Antonio ($89,204) and Houston ($91,253) form a natural mid-range band, sitting within about $2,000 of each other and roughly $7,000 above El Paso. Austin ($96,564) anchors the upper-middle tier on its own, a meaningful step above Houston but just below the top. Dallas and Fort Worth both require $98,460, making them the priciest tracked cities in the state and effectively tied.

For someone choosing where to land, the low tier means a real affordability advantage, particularly if income travels with you. The mid tier offers major-metro infrastructure at a cost that still undercuts the national median. The high tier, Dallas and Fort Worth especially, matches national norms closely. The biggest single jump in the ranking is the $5,311 step from Houston at $91,253 to Austin at $96,564.

Every tracked Texas city shows a positive salary gap, meaning the median local wage falls short of what residents need to live comfortably. No city closes that gap. El Paso residents need $83,564 but earn a median of $37,880, a shortfall of $45,684. Houston comes closest to bridging it, with a gap of $42,763 between the $91,253 required and the $48,490 median salary. San Antonio and Austin sit in the middle range at $43,194 and $43,954 respectively. Dallas and Fort Worth carry the largest gap at $48,720, where a $98,460 requirement meets a $49,740 median. Houston's $42,763 gap is the smallest in the state.

Texas rewards workers whose income doesn't depend on local wages. A remote worker earning $95,000 clears the required threshold in El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston without strain, and comes within a few hundred dollars of the Austin bar. Someone earning the Dallas median of $49,740, though, covers barely half of what Dallas itself requires, which matters whether you're a teacher, a nurse, or anyone paid on local scales.

El Paso makes the strongest case for cost-conscious movers: at $83,564 required, it's the only Texas city that sits more than $14,000 below the national median. If your income travels with you and you want a large Texas city, Houston's combination of relatively lower costs and the state's smallest salary gap of $42,763 is the most defensible choice in the data.