Houston, TX · Austin, TX
Houston is 20% cheaper than Austin overall.
Home Price
Houston: $320,000
Austin: $500,000
Monthly Rent
Houston: $1,262/mo
Austin: $1,300/mo
COL Index
Houston: 101
Austin: 121
Median Income
Houston: $67,800
Austin: $83,800
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 Houston has the same purchasing power as $119,802 in Austin — based on each city's cost of living index.
Homes in Austin are 56% cheaper (-$180,000 less). That's a significant down payment and monthly payment difference.
Renting in Houston saves you $38/month — $456 per year. Median rent: $1,262/mo in Houston vs $1,300/mo in Austin.
On a median-priced home, Houston owners pay roughly $6,080/year in property taxes vs $9,000/year in Austin. That's a $2,920 annual difference.
Median household income is $67,800 in Houston and $83,800 in Austin. Houston residents earn 24% more — but remember to factor in cost of living.
Average commute is 29 minutes in Houston vs 27 minutes in Austin. Commute times are nearly identical.
To maintain the same lifestyle when moving from Houston to Austin, here's the salary you'd need:
| Salary in Houston | Equivalent in Austin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $59,901 | +$9,901 |
| $75,000 | $89,851 | +$14,851 |
| $100,000 | $119,802 | +$19,802 |
| $150,000 | $179,703 | +$29,703 |
| $200,000 | $239,604 | +$39,604 |
* 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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Property Tax Calculator
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Houston Calculators
Austin Calculators
Based on cost of living indices, Houston is cheaper overall. Houston has a COL index of 101 while Austin scores 121 (national average = 100).
The median home price in Houston is $320,000 vs $500,000 in Austin — a difference of $180,000 (56%).
Use the salary equivalence table above. For example, a $100K salary in Houston is equivalent to $119,802 in Austin in terms of purchasing power.
Austin has a lower property tax rate (1.8% vs 1.9%). On a median-priced home, that means paying $6,080/year vs $9,000/year.
Median monthly rent: $1,262 in Houston vs $1,300 in Austin. Annualized: $15,144 vs $15,600.
Houston: $67,800/yr. Austin: $83,800/yr (Census ACS).
Lower-cost Houston 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 .