Austin, TX · Raleigh, NC
Raleigh is 13% cheaper than Austin overall.
Home Price
Austin: $500,000
Raleigh: $380,000
Monthly Rent
Austin: $1,300/mo
Raleigh: $1,131/mo
COL Index
Austin: 121
Raleigh: 105
Median Income
Austin: $83,800
Raleigh: $75,200
Median Home Price
Monthly Rent (Median)
Median Household Income
Property Tax Rate
Cost of Living Index
100 = national average
Avg. Commute
Unemployment Rate
Median Age
A $100,000 salary in Austin has the same purchasing power as $86,777 in Raleigh — based on each city's cost of living index.
Homes in Raleigh cost 24% more (-$120,000 extra). Expect a larger mortgage and down payment.
Renting in Raleigh saves you $169/month — $2,028 per year. Median rent: $1,300/mo in Austin vs $1,131/mo in Raleigh.
On a median-priced home, Austin owners pay roughly $9,000/year in property taxes vs $3,002/year in Raleigh. That's a $5,998 annual difference.
Median household income is $83,800 in Austin and $75,200 in Raleigh. Raleigh residents earn 10% more — but remember to factor in cost of living.
Average commute is 27 minutes in Austin vs 25 minutes in Raleigh. Commute times are nearly identical.
To maintain the same lifestyle when moving from Austin to Raleigh, here's the salary you'd need:
| Salary in Austin | Equivalent in Raleigh | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $43,388 | -$6,612 |
| $75,000 | $65,083 | -$9,917 |
| $100,000 | $86,777 | -$13,223 |
| $150,000 | $130,165 | -$19,835 |
| $200,000 | $173,554 | -$26,446 |
* Calculated using cost of living indices (national average = 100). Does not account for state income tax differences.
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Cost of Living
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Based on cost of living indices, Raleigh is cheaper overall. Austin has a COL index of 121 while Raleigh scores 105 (national average = 100).
The median home price in Austin is $500,000 vs $380,000 in Raleigh — a difference of $120,000 (24%).
Use the salary equivalence table above. For example, a $100K salary in Austin is equivalent to $86,777 in Raleigh in terms of purchasing power.
Raleigh has a lower property tax rate (0.79% vs 1.8%). On a median-priced home, that means paying $3,002/year vs $9,000/year.
Median monthly rent: $1,300 in Austin vs $1,131 in Raleigh. Annualized: $15,600 vs $13,572.
Austin: $83,800/yr. Raleigh: $75,200/yr (Census ACS).
Lower-cost Raleigh typically lets remote-workers keeping a coastal salary stretch further. Higher-cost cities usually win on amenities and labor-market depth.
Numbers are pulled from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI (home values, rent), the U.S. Census Bureau ACS (income), and BEA RPP (cost-of-living index). Each value is timestamped on the page.
Source feeds refresh on their native cadence — hourly for mortgage rates, monthly for ZHVI/ZORI, annually for ACS. Page caches revalidate every 24 hours via Next.js ISR.
No. This page is educational reference using public data and standard formulas. It is not personalized tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional for material decisions.
City-level metrics (median home price, median rent, median household income, property tax rate, COL index, commute, unemployment, median age) are sourced from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI[1], Census ACS 5-year estimates[2], BEA Regional Price Parities[3], Tax Foundation[4], and BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics[5].
The Cost of Living Index uses 100 = national average (C2ER methodology[6]): values above 100 indicate a city is more expensive than the national average, below 100 less expensive.
Salary equivalence uses the ratio adjustedSalary = salary × (colDestination / colOrigin). This accounts for cost-of-living differences but does not model state income tax variation, which can be significant.
Annual property tax is computed as medianHomePrice × propertyTaxRate. Actual assessed value may differ from sale price. Effective rates vary within a metro; these are metro-wide medians.
Commute-hours calculations assume 250 working days/year and a round-trip commute. "Tied" in the comparison table means values within ±1% of each other.
Last reviewed reflects the maximum retrievedAt timestamp across every sourced dataset feeding this page. When any source refreshes, the next ISR revalidation (every 24 hours) picks the new date.
Cost of living data sourced from [6] C2ER, [2] U.S. Census Bureau, and [1] Zillow Research. Tax rates from [4] Tax Foundation. Last reviewed .